"Immigration is regulated by the federal government, not by the states.

Provisions like the one that requires state law enforcement officials to hand illegal immigrants over to the feds come with no guarantee that the feds will comply with the state's rules.

In fact, in four of the five states where similar immigration legislation has been passed, courts have reportedly ruled that the laws cannot legally go into effect. Some have equated so-called random immigration status checks with racial profiling.

Others have simply pointed out that it's not the states' responsibility to regulate matters of immigration and border control."

State Immigration Laws Overstep Bounds - Recent Legal News - LawQA.com

This Forbes article discusses the very real problem of keeping a balance between states' rights and those of the Federal Government. Supreme Court's Look At Arizona's Immigration Law Could Dramatically Redefine The Federal-State Balance - Forbes