Posted on 04/21/2009 9:40:36 PM PDT by BAW
ESCONDIDO – The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday demanded that the city of Escondido change the way it conducts driver's license checkpoints, which critics say are intended to apprehend and deport illegal immigrants and are resulting in suspicion and resentment among many Latinos.
At a news conference in San Diego with El Grupo – a coalition of Latino and advocacy organizations – the ACLU said the city needs to be more transparent.
Escondido has checkpoints about twice a month, for two hours, on a busy road. Drivers who fail to produce licenses or have revoked or suspended licenses are stopped, and usually their vehicles are impounded. If a warrant check shows that they are illegal
immigrants and are wanted by immigration authorities, they are turned over, Police Chief Jim Maher said. Those who can't be identified are taken to the police station for fingerprinting and a background check.
Andrea Guerrero, an ACLU director, said police should record all interactions between officers and drivers at the checkpoints, list the ethnicity of drivers who are stopped to safeguard against profiling, and appoint an oversight committee to monitor the department.
“Driver's license checkpoints are fishing expeditions for illegal immigrants,” Guerrero said later. Victor Torres, an El Grupo spokesman, said the checkpoints have alienated many of Escondido's Latino residents, about 45 percent of the city's 143,000 population, to the point that they no longer trust police enough to report crimes. It presented two women who talked about their fear of police.
Torres demanded that the city fire the police chief, saying he has encouraged an anti-Latino environment.
(Excerpt) Read more at 3.signonsandiego.com ...
For geographic reference, the city of Escondido is located about 50 miles north of the Mexican border.
What part of illegal does this ACLU Lawyer not understand?
Should be called SACLU (South American Civil Liberties Union).
Napolitano acts like illegals have committed no crime, just like her Swiss cheese border in Arizona.
The Left will not rest until we are all poor and dependent on government...making millions of illegals legal are votes and more people who will need the government for life.
Liberalism is doublespeak for slavery...kindness in exchange for the soul.
Ping!
Except maybe for dirt bikers. I still cop the occasional blast up through sixth on a county road; have to blow out the premix carbon, you know.
The city of Escondido also passed a short-lived ordinance banning rental of apartments to illegal aliens. We’ve been on the ACLU target list ever since. Interestingly enough, they told another local paper that they had nothing to do with El Grupo’s activities... which is a little funny because they’re part of El Grupo and held the El Grupo news conference at ACLU headquarters. Their ‘evidence’ of the checkpoints being used for immigration enforcement consists of one woman in the entire year of 2008 who was stopped for being unlicensed, and upon being checked for warrants was found to have a federal immigration warrant. Escondido committed the (to ACLU) “unpardonable sin” of turning a wanted fugitive over to the agency that wanted her.
It’s the same story with a new cover, they want to be able to drive unlicensed and uninsured and they’re unhappy because the rest of us don’t want then on the road. There’s more on the same story here: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/04/21/news/inland/escondido/ze83eaa56ab2284248825759f00787abd.txt
I just put the off-road stickers on my bikes for 2009. The bikes got a little Sea Foam in the tanks and the engines were started. Idaho changed the rules for off-road bikes this year. The vehicles now have to carry a "restricted" license plate instead of just a sticker. Motorcycle riders are required to have a class M endorsement. The folks with dirt bikes now have to figure out how to affix a license plate. Ditto for the ATVs. Since mine are all dual sport bikes, I just had to plant a little blue sticker in the lower left of my regular street plate.
The license plate and class M requirement did bring a little extra freedom. That run to "blow out the carbon" on a county road is now OK. You can't take it on the interstate or certain other high speed roads. You can find all the details at this link.
I occasionally use Sea Foam also; along with Stabil. No problems so far this spring with the up-to-10% ethanol in Washington's gasoline. Float bowls are clean and jets clean as a whistle. No discoloration anywhere. OTOH, our small motor shops are jammed with lawnmowers and weedeaters that didn't get the Stabil treatment over the winter.
Can’t find anything about a revocation now — maybe it was a joke and I had no sense of humor.
It’s the same story with a new cover, they want to be able to drive unlicensed and uninsured and they’re unhappy because the rest of us don’t want them on the road.
Why is the ACLU pursuing cases for non-Americans at all? They seem to be devoting more than half their resources to illegals while legal citizens asking for their help are told there isn't enough in the coffers to help them.
I'm convinced they're getting huge funding and marching orders from a fellow named George Soros.
These guys are using the El Grupo title because their individual organizations have been discredited to some degree. One of the players is American Friends Service Committee, also a recipient of Soros funds.
I have to change the oil and fire up my lawn mower this weekend. The warm weather has the grass growing at a good pace. The weedeater needs some attention too. I have a very long fence line.
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