Illegal immigration agenda

Northwest Florida Daily News: Leave it to Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who is known to have an old-fashioned hankering to stamp out illicit drugs, to keep pushing for a solution to yet another problem that’s already well on the road to solving itself.

The problem: illegal immigration.

Scott told The Associated Press he hopes the Legislature will pass a law next year cracking down on illegal immigrants. Lawmakers failed to pass an immigration bill during their last session. The governor’s belief that illegal immigration is a dire threat that requires a statewide remedy is out of step with today’s reality.

Check out this tidbit from the same AP report: “Local law enforcement officers are already allowed to ask the status of immigrants they arrest, but (the immigrants) don’t have to answer. And the Obama administration recently made mandatory its Secure Communities program, which requires local law enforcement officers to check the fingerprints of those they arrest against Department of Homeland Security immigration databases.”

In a July 16 editorial, we noted that Mexico’s declining birth rate and expanding job opportunities, coupled with the stagnant U.S. economy, have slowed the flow of immigrants across the border.

So. Illegal immigration has declined, and local law enforcers already are empowered to quiz immigrants they arrest about their status and check their fingerprints. Yet Scott is still jabbing the immigration panic button and wants more laws on the books.

We’d suggest the governor spend more time trying to repair Florida’s economy. The state’s jobless rate is stuck at 10.7 percent ... despite his promise to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.