An historic moment in the destruction of our national sovereignty and the final breakdown of the rule of immigration law took place in Charlotte Tuesday.

A group of 10 illegals were arrested Tuesday in front of CPCC in Charlotte as part of a “coming out” protest. The Charlotte Observer reports that this was supposed to be a test case for the new Obama administration policies on not enforcing immigration law at all unless the illegal alien in question has a felony criminal record and sometimes not even then.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told jail authorities Wednesday not  to put detainers on the protesters, said Julia Rush, the spokeswoman for the  Mecklenburg Sheriff’s Office. The detainers are used to keep defendants in jail  while immigration authorities decide whether they should be deported.

Tuesday’s arrests were expected to be one of the first chances to see how a  new Obama administration policy on illegal immigrants is implemented. The  administration announced last month that those without criminal records – who  are found to be a low priority because they are students, were brought to the  United States as children or have long family ties to the country – would be  released from jail and granted work permits.

Someday this could well be regarded as the final turning point in the breakdown of the rule of law as it regards immigration and the beginning of US citizenship becoming an essentially antiquated, meaningless distinction in terms of one’s ability to work and live here.

This story shows the shocking changes in our nation’s cultural and legal tolerance for illegal immigration over the last decade.

When I started reporting about 13 years ago, illegals never gave their names to reporters for fear of deportation. Reporters always used just a first name and maybe a photo of them in the shadow or behind. Now they are marching in the streets, stopping traffic and demanding their rights. They are also giving newspaper interviews using their photos and full names.

But most shocking of all? Thanks to President Obama, they will be given work permits for their trouble.

That’s right. If you aren’t a hardened criminal, you now get a work permit if you are an illegal. That puts illegals into direct competition with those in this country with only high school diplomas, only a third of whom have full time jobs. Yes, you read that right. Only a third have jobs, MSNBC reports.

Only about a third are working full-time, compared with two-thirds of recent college grads, according to an Associated Press-Viacom poll … Four in 10 of those surveyed whose education stopped at high school are unemployed. Less than a quarter have part-time jobs, the poll of 18- to 24-year-olds found …

The Obama administration is setting up a desperate competition for survival between illegals with work permits and the lower to lower middle class. Already economically devastated, they will be forced into government dependence unless the job market improves drastically.

Which, of course, is the plan.