Posted on 04/17/2005 8:38:23 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
(Danbury-AP, Apr. 16, 2005 5:15 PM) _ Mayor Mark Boughton has called for deputizing state police officers as immigration agents to crack down on illegal immigrants in Danbury and elsewhere in Connecticut.
Boughton yesterday asked state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to negotiate an arrangement with federal officials to deputize state police as federal immigration agents. He says federal legislation enacted in 1996 permits such a move.
Blumenthal promised to review Boughton's request and respond as soon as possible.
Wilson Hernandez, past president of the Ecuadorean Civic Center, called Boughton's proposal shocking.
I wonder, has this been done in other states/towns?
What are the ramifications? Seems like the status quo has been that local police traditionally see immigration violations as an obstacle to local law enforcement.
Ha! Little Danbury, Ct. stands up to the feds. Excellent!
that's amusing.
20 years ago the l.a. city council told the l.a. police hands off illegals.
My Little town attracts many Polish and Puerto Ricans, mostly cleaning and nanny services...We had a "raid" done on a house in which 20 guatamalens (sp?) were living in one house.
We seem to end up with a lot of Guatemalans here in Michigan as well.
I'd go even further and advocate that the justice department take over police departments in sanctuary cities who refuse to pick up illegals and turn them over to the INS, AS THE LAW SAYS. The people who just say Bush should handle this do not realize that we do not want fed agents swarming all over us.
I totally agree with you but am against illegal immigration.
It seems, on the surface, to make sense that the local police just hand some arrests over to the INS -- but there is a deeper issue. Local police pay more attention to the local situation. Simple one, what if the illegal is also an informant? Another, what if the illegal to be deported is the sole breadwinner for a family of native-born American children? It may be easy to say "kick them all out" but when it comes to doing that, there are inescapable legal issues.
No doubt the situations are comples from having been ignored so long, but it must all be addressed, because we cannot have an illegal underclass without rights.
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
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