Posted on 09/15/2006 5:24:11 PM PDT by radar101
Mayor Nick Inzunza's proclamation that National City is a sanctuary city is, we presume, a gesture of gentleness to illegal immigrants. But if he had first consulted the City Council and clarified what he means by sanctuary city, he might have accomplished more than a headline.
Apparently, his focus is not on turning National City into a Maywood. That Los Angeles County city has dismantled its traffic-enforcement police because it arrested too many unlicensed drivers and impounded their cars. That's a relief. No city in California has so few drivers – and so few bad drivers – that it can protect public safety without traffic police. Then there's the point that Inzunza himself made about using “local authority to provide service to all our residents.” Illegal drivers need protection from bad drivers, too.
No, his focus is on not turning National City into an Escondido, which is contemplating an impracticable ordinance to outlaw renting to illegal immigrants; or a Vista, which is requiring employers of day laborers to register with the city; or a San Diego, which is moving migrants from squalid canyon camps.
Was there any indication that National City might follow that path? Not that anybody noticed. Inzunza's sanctuary city announcement is simply buzzword-blazing grandstanding, an attempt to renew his own personal standing after news reports of his slumlord activities.
And it hardly makes National City a sanctuary city. Definitions vary, with most centering on local ordinances – passed by city councils, not decreed by mayors – that direct law enforcement officers not to inquire about the immigration status of suspects. Some cities further prohibit local law enforcement from assisting federal officials in apprehending illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes or in identifying them after their arrest, conviction and incarceration.
As a matter of policy, most police and sheriffs in California do not routinely check immigration status, much less conduct sweeps of day laborer sites to catch illegal immigrants. There's a good reason for that: Crime victims who may be deported if they report crimes won't report them.
Also as a matter of policy, however, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department is training deputies to work with federal officers to apprehend illegal immigrants who commit deportable crimes and to identify those in custody who are already under deportation orders. That, too, is a service to the community, particularly in high-crime areas.
National City's violent crime and property crime rates are generally quite higher than the national average.
Mayor Inzunza's announcement of plans to help his police department tackle crimes that affect all of his constituents – now that would be worth a headline.
At least Long Beach impounds the car (charging about a grand to get it back - so its likely to stay impounded)...but they let the illegal walk with a ticket.
I think their real purpose is to get 'junk' off the road and I guess letting invaders bring them to them is a good mechanism for that.
(Hate to see some of those cars go the the wrecker, at least one of them was mine 'till traded and gifted to someone else)
ping
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