Jesse Issa Maali, a Palestinian-American millionaire businessman who has contributed generously to Palestinian charities, is upset because federal prosecutors are criminally prosecuting him for hiring illegal immigrants. Since laws against illegal immigration are rarely enforced, Maali’s lawyer argues that the prosecution of his client amounts to selective law enforcement. Similar complaints were voiced after Attorney General John Ashcroft rounded up Middle Eastern illegal immigrants in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

I wish we enforced immigration law uniformly so that Maali and his supporters wouldn’t be able to make this argument. But that’s not going to happen. Until then, selective enforcement will have to do. Just as Bobby Kennedy vowed to go after mobsters who so much as spit on the sidewalk, the feds should use any law at their disposal to prosecute suspected terrorists and their financial backers.

Jesse Issa Maali