Posted on 10/01/2003 2:00:26 AM PDT by sarcasm
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Charlie Norwood's proposal to enlist local and state police in a nationwide crackdown on criminal illegal immigrants has an uncertain future as it heads for a congressional hearing today. But the Georgia Republican, who has gathered 100 co-sponsors for his Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act, already is winning a kind of victory. "I want to have a big discussion" on the enforcement of immigration laws, Norwood said in an interview Tuesday. "I want people to stand up and be counted." The discussion has begun. The Los Angeles City Council last month took the unusual step of voting, unanimously, against his legislation. Critics charged the measure would chill the relationship between police and immigrant communities. The Miami Herald followed with an editorial urging Congress to "dump" the bill. "Victims of domestic abuse and other crimes won't come forward if they fear that they or a family member might be deported," the newspaper wrote. Norwood, whose 9th District extends from near Augusta to the North Carolina border, countered that some illegal immigrants "have been arrested over and over" for crimes, only to be released back into the community. "That's endangering the lives of law enforcement and it's also endangering the lives of even illegal immigrants that are here simply trying to do a job," he said. Norwood introduced the legislation in response to a case in which an illegal Mexican resident sexually molested a 3-year-old girl. Convicted, he served time in a Georgia prison but later was released to the community instead of being deported, as required by federal law. Required to register as a sexual offender, the convict, Miguel Angel Gordoba, gave a fake address in 2001 and has since disappeared. Such criminals and others who have been ordered to leave the country are the chief targets of the legislation, Norwood said. About 400,000 foreigners with deportation orders against them have not been found, and of those, the U.S. government estimates about 80,000 are criminals. "Two thousand federal agents [assigned to interior immigration enforcement] cannot possibly deal with this because we've been invaded" by illegal immigration, Norwood said. "We need the help of 600,000 local law enforcement people out there." Norwood said that under his legislation, police officers making routine arrests would ask if the person is a legal resident. "What they have to do is ask some legitimate questions to understand who they have just detained for breaking the law," Norwood said. "And in process of all that, if you don't mind, help us find that pedophile from Georgia." Norwood added that local police, had they been involved, might have identified Reynaldo Elias Rapalo before a string of seven rapes that terrorized a Miami neighborhood. After months of searching, police captured the Honduran illegal immigrant last week. Gordon Quan, mayor pro-tem of Houston, and a Pennsylvania district attorney who favors an immigration role for local police are among those scheduled to debate the Norwood proposal at a House Judiciary subcommittee meeting today. A Senate hearing, postponed because of Hurricane Isabel, is expected to consider the issue later this month.
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