The Discerning Texan

All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke

Thursday, August 23, 2007

NJ Buckles to Anti-Sanctuary Pressure

All I have to say about this is: IT'S ABOUT TIME. And it is time for other cities to follow suit: Houston, Portland, Austin, San Antonio, Los Angeles, New York, Tuscon, et al--are you paying attention yet?? I think Don Surber's comments about the New Jersey case really hit the mark (have you noticed yet that pretty much everything Surber writes hits the mark?):

The gangland slaughter of 3 college students in New Jersey and sundry other violent crimes by illegal aliens forced that state’s attorney general, Anne Milgram, to order all police officers in New Jersey to determine the immigration status of the people they arrest. Yes, you should identify whom you arrest.

Sanctuary City, N.J., has been shut down for the summer.

Jackasses like Newark Mayor Cory Booker have been belligerent in defying requests to identify illegal alien suspects as illegal aliens. They are not immigrants. Immigrants go through the front door. These suspects are gangsters who come here, kill people, get deported and come back.

By refusing to cooperate with federal officials even in the wake of the execution of 3 college students in his pathetic city, Mayor Booker is an unindictable accessory after the fact. Only because he is acting in his official capacity is he immune from criminal prosecution.

In short, the law is on his side.

Or it was until this morning when AG Milgram stepped up to the plate. AP reported, in full (my newspaper pays for this):

TRENTON, New Jersey: Shaken by three recent execution-style killings in a schoolyard, New Jersey’s attorney general on Wednesday ordered all law enforcement authorities to notify U.S. immigration officials whenever an illegal immigrant is arrested for an indictable offense or drunken driving.
One suspect in the Aug. 4 killings of three college students is an illegal immigrant from Peru who was out on bail for other crimes. The case led to an outcry over the lack of communication between local authorities and immigration officials.

Before the new order, “all police departments in our state had complete discretion as to if, when and how to notify immigration authorities,” State Attorney General Anne Milgram said.

The policy takes effect immediately.

Each state is free to set its own guidelines for reporting illegal immigrants who are arrested.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) keeps no record of which states have statewide reporting guidelines, said spokesman Michael W. Gilhooly. ...

How can some of these idiotic politicians even begin to defend purposefully not reporting felons who happen to be in the country illegally to ICE? I am not necessarily advocating that we have to engage in deporting 20 million illegals right now; but it will be a very steep hill to climb for any selfish politician to try and defend not reporting illegal immigrant felons. In fact, what reasonable argument can there be for keeping repeat felons in this country, and continuing to let them commit violent crimes over and over again, and never tell the Feds they are illegals? Franky it is an untenable, unjustifiable postion for any politician who cares about being re-elected.

The New Jersey massacre is the perfect opportunity to get this done now: If this issue is raised to a national level now--with elections on the horizon next year--I fail to see how anyone but the most vehemently left-wing zealots could possibly vote against reporting illegal alien felons to the Feds the minute they are arrested.

I have heard O'Reilly advocate President Bush introducing legislation which would deny federal funding for one year to any cities who are caught failing to report an illegal immigrant felon to Homeland Security (ICE). I seriously doubt that a majority of the cowards in either house of Congress would have the courage to show their true colors and vote against such a bill. So why not force that vote now with grassroots pressure--while these murders are fresh on everyone's mind, and while the do-nothing PC Dems have the Congressional reins. Let's force them to either back their political base or else to enforce the will of the overwhelming majority of the American people.

So what do you say, Mr. President--how about making Congress walk this plank? This is about terrorism and violent crime, not about ethnicity. It is a question of criminal law and counterterroism, and--as much as the La Razas will try to make it so--it is not discrimination against Hispanics, it is discrimination against felons who are a danger to society. And if mayors want to continue play this bullshit leftist game of political correctness, and they willingly continue to purposefully withhold the names of undocumented felons from ICE, then the cities they represent should not get one penny of the Federal taxpayers' money. The time to act is now.

Write the President and write your Congressmen with this message: The notion of "Sanctuary Cities" is endangering the public and our national security. It is time to withhold federal funding from any city or municipality who is found to have failed to report any arrested person who is not in this country legally.

Labels: Border Protection, Homeland Security, Illegal Immigration, Sanctuary Cities