At first glance I thought this headline announced stricter enforcement of our immigration laws: New Curbs Set on Arrests of Illegal Immigrants. Missed the “on Arrests.”
According to the story in the Wall Street Journal,
The new [Homeland Security] guidelines sharply reduce the ability of local law enforcement to arrest and screen suspected illegal immigrants. They are intended to prevent sheriff and police departments from arresting people “for minor offenses as a guise to initiate removal proceedings,” according to Homeland Security. The program will instead focus on more serious criminals. (emphasis added)
The usual arguments of limited resources were made. So, what’s the problem? It is this: our government, under Obambi, is treating the violation of our border as a trivial matter, one that is not, all by itself, a “serious” criminal offense. This is because they don’t take our nation’s sovereignty seriously.
The virtue of allowing local LEOs to screen suspects as to their immigration status is precisely one of limited resources: if the locals can catch a lot of illegals in their net, it just might free up the feds to act and prevent illegal immigration in the first place. As usual, every criminal element has its supporters. Again from the WSJ:
Opponents said the program, known as 287g, was intended to identify criminal aliens but instead has led to racial profiling; it allowed local police to identify and arrest illegal immigrants for such minor infractions as a broken tail light. Program supporters said it has been an effective tool for combating illegal immigration.
“Racial profiling” is the usual nonsense spouted when an identifiable group, in this case Hispanics, commit 99 percent or higher of the particular crime, in this instance illegal border crossing. Of course there is profiling: it would be beyond stupid to screen white, elderly women, for example, with the same frequency as one should screen young Hispanic-appearing males.
In my area, there are tons of illegals. All an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent would need to do would be to stop at any of the local day laborer holding areas, i.e. places where immigrants, mostly illegals, congregate in hopes of getting a job for the day. That’s apparently too hard for ICE under this administration.
As for avoiding arrest by local LEOs, there’s a good reason why illegals, when driving, tend, in my experience, to be extra polite and cautious on the roads. Why? To avoid a traffic stop that will land them on the quick road back to their home country. So it’s hardly a bad thing, this natural deterrent to bad behavior.
The only logical conclusion is that the Obama administration is soft on crime, which seems to be a theme: soft on national defense, apologizing for every wrong ever done by any American, soft on economics (”yes, let’s tax small business owners, we want to show them who’s in charge”). “Speak many pretty words; carry no stick” would seem to best fit.
