CRASH: The New Broken Window--Illegal Immigration Enforcement

During the 1980s and 1990s, people like Rudy Giuliani put the "broken windows theory" to work in some of America's most violent and crime-ridden cities.  It apparently worked.

Now comes evidence that enforcing our immigration laws on the streets leads to reduced crime...especially violent crime.  This is exactly the opposite of what people like Bill White (former mayor of sanctuary city Houston, Texas) and Harold Hurtt (one of White's police chiefs) told us would happen.  They insisted that policing illegal immigration will result in MORE crime, since the illegals will be less prone to report perdators in their midst (among other things).

What is really significant here is that Hurtt is now the ICE Director of the Office of State and Local Coordination (OSLC).  In other words, this anti-enforcement devotee is in charge of the interface between state, local, and Federal law enforcement.  The Obami are nothing if not consistent.

Hurtt and his views on immigration enforcement play a pivotal role in the drama between the Feds and Arizona...and every state in the Union.  What the study shows is that Hurtt and the other sanctuary "thinkers" are not only mistaken, they are exposing Americans...and very likely immigrants...to greater risk of harm.

And, according to the study, after a period of adjustment, everyone...including Hispanics...found they could live quite nicely with our laws being enforced.  Imagine.

Maybe enforcing our laws...contrary to what the Collective tells us...actually works to make all law-abiding people safer.  Maybe living with dignity is something to which every good person responds well.

CRASH: The ICE Conspiracy With Illegal Aliens

A good working definition of a conspiracy is this: an agreement between parties to do or facilitate any illegal or wrongful act, or a lawful act by illegal means.

That definition seems perfectly applicable to the actions of John Morton, the Obami who heads ICE, and his staff.

Consider this: Morton, via his staff, is circulating an internal memo for comment that calls for an ORDER directing BOTH Federal and state officials acting under ICE authority to NOT detain illegal aliens legally stopped for traffic violations.

Under item 3, "Policy"--

3.1 Only immigration officers may issue detainers [a notice that ICE intends to take someone into custody].

3.2 Immigration officers shall issue detainers only after an LEA has exercised its independent authority to arrest the alien for a criminal violation.

3.3 As a general matter, immigration officers should not issue detainers aganist an alien charged only with a traffic-related misdemeannor unless or the until the alien is convicted, unless--

• the alien has a prior criminal conviction;
• the alien previously has been...deported...or allowed to voluntarily return to his or her native country...
• the alien is the subject of an outstanding immigration warrant...
• ...is part of an existing criminal investigation;
• an articulable reason exists to believe that the alien presents a danger to national security or a genuine risk to public safety; or
• the...the misdemeanor involves driving under the influence..., physical injury to a person or property, or flight from the scene of an accident. (emphasis added)

The memo goes on to state that ICE will issue a detainer ONLY IF the LEA has made an actual arrest.  The ICE agent has the right to second-guess the LEA, and ONLY issue a detainer IF he/she feels it "comports" with the "policy", and even then says that the ICE official "MAY" issue a detainer.  If it suites ICE after issuing a detainer, the detainer can be "withdrawn or rescinded and the LEA notified".

The policy is schizophrenic on its face; EVERY traffic misdemeanor...by definition...presents a "risk to public safety".  But the ICE agents get to determine if that risk is "genuine" or not.  They MAY...or may NOT...issue a detainer, even after the LEA has jumped all the hoops, and after issuing a detainer THEN may simply blow the whole deal off.

Morton has already implemented a "catch and release" policy, whereby ICE catches removable aliens in jails or through local arrests, and then releases all but the most serious offenders from custody. Making matters worse, ICE agents are now defaulting to the most time-consuming deportation process – even obviously removable aliens are routinely dumped on the overloaded immigration court dockets to await hearings before an immigration judge – instead of using the perfectly legal and more efficient administrative procedures available to them to remove an illegal alien. This means that even criminal aliens can hang around for many months after they are discovered. While in proceedings they are usually free to continue their life of crime or impaired driving, as was the case with Carlos Montano, the drunk and illegal driver who recently killed a nun in Virginia. A very large share will not bother to show up for the immigration hearing when the day finally arrives. It's no wonder that the number of aliens removed this year is noticeably lower than last year.

But this policy goes farther, stipulating that ICE will not even take a look at the illegal aliens who expose themselves to law enforcement by committing a traffic violation. And, neither will those local officers who have discovered lots of illegal aliens in the course of enforcing traffic laws.

The locals are rightly upset. For one thing, Congress never intended for ICE to micromanage the 287(g) agencies in this way. One local officer had this to say about the proposed policy: "Just as many of us suspected, the introduction of Harold Hurtt [Yom Steel's boss, the embattled ex-police chief who kept Houston as a sanctuary city until several of his officers were killed by illegal aliens] as the director of OSLC is leading to policy proposals and changes that will slowly chip away from the little power we have at a local level to try and control the influx of illegal immigrants. Soon, the administration will make so many changes, they will then claim there is no longer any need for 287(g) and we will be back to where we were years ago – with no ability to identify illegal immigrants, beyond the ineffective Secure Communities, in our jails. That will, once again, place a larger burden on our local governments and place our citizens in danger."

Everyone SHOULD send their comments to ann.yom@dhs.gov.  Expect to get an automated response saying she's out of the office...on vacation, we guess.  No kidding.

This is one of those outrageous moves that show the Collective has revolted against the people.  It should be investigated by Congress, but that will almost certainly have to wait the seating of the NEW Congress.

BURN: Deemocrat Police Chiefs Play The Fear Card On Immigration

This was totally predictable.  A cabal of collectivist police chiefs have flopped the fear card on the table in response to Arizona-style laws being proposed across the nation.  It is a tried and untrue tactic of the collective.

In the face of overwhelming support by the people citizens of Arizona and the entire U.S., the collective is trotting out the canard that enforcing law will result in more crime.

"This is not a law that increases public safety. This is a bill that makes it much harder for us to do our jobs," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said. "Crime will go up if this becomes law in Arizona or in any other state."

Well, too late, Charlie!  The law IS the law in Arizona, and several other jurisdictions are headed in that direction.

But let's look at the argument these APPOINTED police chiefs are putting forward:

The new Arizona law will intimidate crime victims and witnesses who are illegal immigrants and divert police from investigating more serious crimes, chiefs from Los Angeles, Houston and Philadelphia said. They will join their counterparts from Montgomery County and a half-dozen other U.S. cities in meeting Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday morning to discuss the measure.

 I've heard the same nonsense from Bill White, candidate for Texas Governor and former Mayor of Houston, Texas.  "Why, golly, if police are made immigration cops, they just won't have time for effective crime prevention."  As I wrote a while back:

How does it REMOTELY cost good crime fighting...for the city to ALWAYS refer the illegal alien to ICE?  I suggest the opposite is true, and for this reason; illegal aliens are disproportionately likely to commit crime, as compared to other segments of our population.

In fact, I think it deductively obvious that RELEASING an illegal alien from either a custodial stop or actual incarceration is IRRESPONSIBLY EXPENSIVE.  We have them; we know or can learn their status; how is "catch and release" anything but a poke in the eye of immigration law...or effective police work?  A very good case can be made that the White policy...which is used by other Texas mayors...cost several peace officers their lives.

The other half of that BS is that illegal aliens will not cooperate with police investigations if they are prone to suffer the consequence of being in this country illegally.  There are several things wrong with that--

1. There is nothing in the Arizona law that would suggest that a witness would have their immigration status questioned.  (Read the law, dammit!!!)
2. The same "reasoning" would argue that we should not enforce drug law, since a drug user would have the same theoretical reluctance to provide information to police investigating a crime.  (The same applies to any law and offender.)
3. The idea presupposes that illegals are cooperative with police investigations now.  That isn't established: "[Pinal County Sheriff Paul] Babeu called the police chiefs' argument "'flawed from the beginning.'"  Cooperation from illegal immigrants, particularly those coming from Mexico, is already low, he said, because they are in the United States illegally and because of law enforcement corruption in their native countries.  "'Somehow when they appear in the U.S., magically their perception of law enforcement improves overnight?'" Babeu said." 
4. Police are not stupid; they extend protection within their discretion NOW to witnesses or informants in exchange for information.  In the Arizona law, there is more than adequate discretion for officers to simply avoid the ambit of immigration status when questioning a cooperative witness.
5. The argument that there is a population of people who will not cooperate with public safety because of their own illegal status works AGAINST, rather than FOR the Deemocrat chief's case.  They are, by admission, people who present both a prey population for criminals, and a population of abettors of crime.

 The chiefs behind this are APPOINTEES by very Deemocrat administrations (Houston, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Tuscan and Phillidelphia.  Sheriffs, like Babeu and Arpio, who have to face voters, and who deal with the horrific consequences of illegal immigration every day, are supportive of the new law.

Deemocrats and their appointees like "catch and release" in lieu of enforcing the law, just as they are pushing amnesty (aka "comprehensive immigration reform") instead of securing our borders. 

BURN: ICE Chief Outlawry Approved By Vanity Fair

The "public servant" who heads Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Nappy Jan declared himself an outlaw the other day.  See, according to the Obami, enforcing the law is optional.

Echoing comments by President Barack Obama and others in the administration, Morton said that Arizona’s new law targeting illegal immigration is not “good government.” The law makes it a crime to be in the state illegally and requires police to check suspects for immigration paperwork.

    Morton said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona officials. The best way to reduce illegal immigration is through a comprehensive federal approach, not a patchwork of state laws, he said.

“I don’t think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are the solution,” Morton said.

But, as Bruce McQuain points out, thinking about the Arizona law isn't really part of Morton's job description; enforcing IMMIGRATION law is his job.

Deciding what is or is not "good government" at the state level is not Mr. Morton's job, either.  That job belongs to the people of Arizona.  Who are, BTW, supported overwhelmingly by the American people.

But, one has to ask, HOW the HELL would it be a bad thing for the discharge of his DUTY if Arizona hands his personnel bunches of illegal aliens, ripe for deportation?  Is he doing an adequate job at present?  Not if dozens or hundreds of terrorists are entering through Mexico, as seems evident.  (h/t Doug Ross)

The terribly sophisticated types at Vanity Fair find all this too, too droll.

Morton’s disapproval differs from the stance of, say, Apollonic Arizona bureaucrat Gary Pierce. Morton’s agency “handles detentions and deportations,” according to Politico’s Ben Smith, which means that his opinion—again, unlike that of Pierce—actually matters. Smith also adds, “Morton's position also appears aimed at undercutting the argument from the state law's advocates that it is harmonious with existing federal law.”

Apparently, the Eastern elitist writers and readers of that pap have no issue with Morton's official declaration of outlawry.  His opinion...and his actions...certainly DO matter.

Morton's signal that he intends to selectively defy his duty, out of a callously political motive, WILL matter to the American people, and to the courts.  It tells us, again, about the Obamic orientation to democracy and the rule of law.