It's time for Arizona to sue the federal government

In Arizona, 6,100 of the state’s 41,000 prison inmates are here illegally, according to Tasya Peterson, a spokeswoman for Brewer.

The last time the feds kicked in to help, she said, was in 2008. According to figures provided by the state, it cost Arizona $120.4 million to incarcerate illegal immigrants that year, not counting the expense of arrest and prosecution. The feds picked up about 10 percent of the tab: $12.8 million, leaving Arizona taxpayers to shoulder the rest of a burden that exists because the federal government can’t – or won’t – do its job.

Brewer last week informed Obama that we are now shelling out $150 million a year to incarcerate illegal immigrants.

Instead of our own government suing us this week – what, five lawsuits over SB 1070 isn’t enough? – perhaps the Justice Department might like to conserve its resources and pay its bills which, in Arizona, are long, long past due.