Apparently, even Alabama can’t survive without illegal aliens: Because of the immigration law set to go into effect next week, “The state agriculture commission says squash, tomatoes and other produce are rotting in the fields.” Today’s hearing on the DoJ/ACLU (sorry for the redundancy) lawsuit against the state will almost certainly not lead to any delaying of the mandatory E-Verify requirement, which is the most important part of the new law in any case.

Oh, and note that even the threat of enforcement leads to attrition of the illegal population:

But business leaders and immigrant activists say Hispanic households, whose members often include both legal and illegal members, have been leaving the state since Republican Gov. Robert Bentley signed the law in June.

And yet the DoJ attorney arguing the case said the following:

Orrick also said that provisions of the state law related to daily life, such as housing and education, are aimed at driving people out of Alabama. “A state may not make it impossible for someone to live in this country,” said Orrick.

The whole point of immigration enforcement — at any level of government and in any country — is to make it impossible for illegal aliens to live in the country. So he’s arguing against immigration enforcement, as such. This is of a piece with this administration’s position (as seen last week in the administrative amnesty announcement) that violation of immigration laws is a secondary offense, like not using your seat belt, that will be used only as an enhancement in going after murderers and rapists or, alternatively, as a substitute for such prosecutions when conviction is in doubt, like going after Al Capone for not paying taxes.

In other words, violations of the immigration law passed by Congress will not, in themselves, lead to any action by the executive branch against you. This isn’t even just about immigration any more — this is an extra-constitutional usurpation of power by one branch of government at the expense of another. The lefties are silent, because they like the outcome and are eager to “cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil.” But they’ll come to regret their silence if and when a Republican president turns round on them and uses these actions as precedent in the future.