Last Friday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law a controversial new immigration bill. This bill makes it illegal in Arizona to be in the United States illegally, to hire illegal immigrants and to knowingly transport illeagal immigrants. It also requires law enforcement to question those who they have reason to suspect may be illegal immigrants, to arrest those who cannot provide proof of citizenship and to enforce all federal immigration laws to the fullest extent.

Because Arizona is the state with the highest number of illegal border crossings and because of the escalating drug-related violence near the border, the bill enjoyed a 70 percent approval rating from Arizona voters, according to a Rasmussen survey. However, opponents of the bill are concerned that the provision where police officers must question those who they have reason to suspect are in the country illegally will lead to racial profiling of Hispanics.

Supporters of the bill say that profiling will not be an issue because officers will be trained to determine what constitutes a reasonable suspicion and because the law prohibits race or nationality from being used as the only criteria for an immigration check. Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce says that opponents of the bill are merely using the racial profiling argument to cover up their true concern of being deported.

While immigration reform is certainly needed, the success or failure of this bill will likely be determined based on what a reasonable suspicion is defined as and whether or not it is appropriate to have the burden of proof placed on those whose legal status is in question.

President Obama denounced the bill on the same day it was signed into law. He used the bill to emphasize that federal immigration reform needs to be passed, saying, “Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others…that includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona.”

According to Obama, “If we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.” It would seem that Obama, since he doesn’t like bills such as the one passed in Arizona, believes that a federal law would be a better solution than allowing states to solve the problem individually as they see fit.

Our country, however, was founded upon the principles of a very limited federal government. Instead, state governments were to handle matters such as law enforcement.  When you hear people talk about state’s rights, they are speaking of things like the right of a state to control its own affairs rather than being overruled by federal laws. But the Arizona bill, says Obama, threatens “to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.”

Of course, judging Obama’s notions of fairness when it comes to things like health care, it may be better that Arizona decided to take measures into its own hands.

Blake Hasenmiller is a senior in industrial engineering and economics from DeWitt.