Wednesday’s injunction ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Susan R. Bolton has dealt a temporary blow to the state of Arizona and its attempt to actually do something about failed federal immigration policy.

As in several other lawsuits, the Obama Justice Department contended that Arizona’s new immigration law overstepped states’ rights and wandered illegally into an area of federal authority.

Bolton agreed, saying that Arizona doesn’t have the right to make its police determine the immigration status of people they may have reason to believe are in the country illegally, and that police cannot incarcerate suspected illegal aliens until such a time when legal status can be determined.

The judge also said the state cannot require or criminalize anyone for not applying for or carrying legal documentation, that Arizona can’t make it a crime if illegal aliens apply for a job, and finally, that the state can’t authorize warrantless arrests of illegal aliens where probable cause has lead authorities to believe a deportable offense has occurred.

These rulings supposedly went even further than what the Obama administration had hoped for.

Having long departed from the land of reason and common sense, it should come as no surprise that the feds would sue the state of Arizona, rather than support its efforts to uphold already existing federal immigration laws.

After all, what would be the point of having state police departments help to identify illegal aliens, especially if they had reasonable suspicion of illegality? Why should a state care about its residents carrying identification papers that prove U.S. citizenship?

Just because we have to carry passports to gain access to any country in the world, and can be indefinitely detained if we’re not able to produce them for foreign authorities, why would we want to apply the same rational protections in our country?

Joking aside, the federal government has said it wants to increase prosecution and fines for those who employ illegal aliens. So why isn’t that compatible with states making it a crime when an undocumented worker applies for a job? And if there is probable cause that a deportable crime has been committed, what possible reason could the federal government have for not wanting state assistance in detainment of a suspected illegal criminal?

There’s one possible answer for this lunacy: The Obama administration isn’t serious about immigration reform because it would rather protect the Hispanic voting bloc, which has historically voted Democratic. And if they are seen to be in support of Arizona’s tough new immigration laws, they risk losing those votes.

It sounds crazy, and yet how else to explain a lawsuit against Arizona for trying to better protect both its own and America’s sovereignty? The immigration issue is paramount to the safety and protection of the American people. It’s about jobs and the economy.

The commonsense approach by the federal government would be to work with Arizona on the aspects of the law they don’t like and together come up with a plan that is agreeable to both sides.

Criminalizing employers who hire illegal aliens is not a solution for immigration reform and hardly seems justified. It isn’t the fault of employers that these people overran our borders looking for work and a means to put food on the table. It’s the federal government’s fault for not upholding its own laws and stopping these immigrants at the border.

It’s past time to secure these borders so that further exacerbation of this crisis is contained.

All concerned need to understand that it isn’t realistic or even possible to deport the millions of illegal aliens already here and devise a plan that offers them a way toward citizenship. This might include acknowledgement fines for having entered the country illegally and fees to finally gain legal status.

The majority of the American public is sick and tired of this issue and wants it solved. The lawsuit by the Obama Justice Department, upheld by Judge Bolton, just continues to raise the level of anger and divide.

And once again, it’s just another case where this administration seems utterly tone deaf to the American public.

Most of us would rather see candidates lose elections for supporting laws like Arizona’s than win because they didn’t have the backbone or integrity to do what is right.

Geoff Cutler is owner of Cutler Tree LLC in Southern Pines and is a regular contributor to The Pilot and PineStraw magazine. Contact him at geoffcutler@embarqmail.com.