The Washington Post is reporting that a man arrested for drunk driving and killing a nun in Virginia had been arrested previously for drunken driving, discovered to be an illegal immigrant and was released pending a deportation hearing.
And this one is on President Bush's administration, but it makes my point that Arizona is not the only place that currently checks folks for immigration status on folks arrested for other crimes. The fact the federal government's enforcement releases these folks back into the population is what is at issue.
If you are interested, follow the links at the bottom of the story that show that in this one county 13 percent of those arrested on crimes are also illegal immigrants. Please keep telling me how this is not a problem.
There's also an interesting note about the federal government's endorsement of this local enforcement in Virginia, which is in contrast to its current stated and legal battles with Arizona.
From the WP story: "Prince William is one of a few dozen communities in the country that participate in a federal program that deputizes local police officers to act as immigration agents and check the immigration status of people they arrest."
Maybe illegal immigration is more of a problem if the issue is in the D.C. backyard and not somewhere way out west. Check out pages 15-16-17 of the pdf of these local police statistics.
If the feds are going to sue anyone, it should be the cities who declare amnesty for illegal immigrants, that is truly an issue the federal government should sue over.
As to deportation hearings, how long should that take.
Judge: "Are you here illegally."
Suspect: "Yes"
Judge: "You're gone."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
My cousin was killed by a drunk driver who was also an illegal alient with no license, no insurance and a BAL of around .25.
I covered a similar accident in Lapeer County Michigan. It took more than five years to get the illegal alien extradited from Mexico to face manslaughter charges.
Can we keep productive, law-abiding aliens and deport U.S. citizens who kill?
I understand Arizona's frustration but I don't trust it to apply this law fairly. Isn't this the state that let a private prison put two dangerous white guys (U.S. citizens)in a medium-security prison only to have them ... duh ... escape and kill an innocent couple?
I agree that we can keep law-abiding legal aliens, but we have a process for people to come here legally. That should be followed. What's the point of holding up traffic for an hour on the Blue Water Bridge at Port Huron and then leave the borders open on the souther tier and let people funnel through without any inspection? That's simply nuts.
I don't want open borders, either, but I am leery of Arizona cops stopping people on the street for their paperwork. I am leery because I know they won't stop blond Swedes and red-haired Irishmen ... only brown people.
OK, I don't want them stopping people on the street either. The Arizona law (and nearly every other State in the union already does this) allows officers only to check on citizenship after a lawful arrest for another violation. They have to be under arrest for another crime before there can be a citizenship check. Legal aliens are required by federal law to carry their green cards or other paper work on them at all times. So what is the problem?
People should actually read Arizona's law and what it does, and doesn't say, before they assume what will happen.
When I was on the police department in California we did this every day back in the 1970s. The fact that Immigration would never follow up even back then is why we are in the difficulty we are in today.
Jim the original Arizona law REQUIRED all police officers to ask those they stopped for whatever reason to show proof of citizenship. They no longer are required, they can ask. And some will. But how many brownskinned latinos will be asked, simply because they are brownskinned? And how many who are legal citizens, but probably still have an accent, will be asked? It isn't the worst thing in the world, but it is profiling. Period. Although I should point out there are blonde haired, blue eyed mexicans, but they are not likely to be any more worried than red haired irishmen. We are a nation of aliens. And those who got here first were illegal, everybody was illegal. Our borders should be open, remember "give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to be free?" It wasn't followed by, "just don't try it without getting citizenship papers first." I agree the illegal aliens are a problem. But it is the bad illegal aliens, the human traffickers and drug dealers that are creating the havoc. Most illegal aliens come here yearning to be free. They clean toilets and dig ditches and wash dishes for little money, the kind of money most of us would turn up our noses at. Most don't want to be illegal. Until the Mexican government is stabilized, until the Americans stop wanting the brownskinned slaves that clean thier houses and take care of thier childrne for practically nothing, things won't change. Finish the big wall, close it up and open a real border where people can get through even if they have to wait an hour or two in traffic.
Anonymous:
I'm not concerned with the "orginal" law, I am talking about the one that was passed and then challenged by the Obama Administration.
Legal aliens are REQUIRED to carry identification showing their legal status. If someone is arrested for a crime (traffic or otherwise) what is the problem, when there is a reasonable suspicion for asking for those papers - a driver's license for example - to make sure someone is here legally.
If they possess a driver's license (that would be nearly all of us) the issue is closed. By the way, this has been happening in states other than Arizona for many decades from my own personal experience and observation.
If you followed the links in the story you will see that the federal government authorized the Virginia police in this jurisdiction to do exactly what Arizona is proposing.
Allowing illegal aliens to come to this country and then be having them subjected to substandard wages and part of the underground economy is not very humane, at least in my thinking.
I am having trouble following your logic. You are for open borders, but then you say build a fence and funnel them through. Open borders are simply that, no guards, no checks, no nothing. Are you for that?
If someone is arrested for a crime not related to illegal immigration doesn't that put them in the classification of people you say we should be targeting anyway?
I don't think we disagree all that much (if I understand your position). I don't want good people coming here illegally and then being subjected to inhumane conditions and poor wages.
The fact that the Obama administration sued Arizona and lined up on the side of Mexico and the drug cartels AGAINST the citizens of Arizona is a bizarre position to support.
If the federal government is not interested in enforcing its own immigration laws - to the detriment and danger to Arizona residents - at least don't stand in the way of Arizona standing up for Arizona.
Post a Comment