BUMP!!!
Posted on 11/26/2005 1:31:05 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Polls show less tolerance for sanctuary in such cities as Houston
PEÑITAS, TEXAS - The No Trespassing sign tacked to a mesquite tree outside Elizabeth Nelson's property, along with the snarling of Marcos, her fierce Rottweiler, make her feelings clear: Illegal immigrants aren't welcome.
"There are good people coming just to make a living, but there are bad people, too," said Nelson, fed up with the sight of immigrants streaming into Peñitas, a town of 1,200 along the Rio Grande. "You just don't trust anybody."
Her attitude reflects what some anti-immigrant activists describe as "an awakening." More Americans, they say, are beginning to take a tougher stance against illegal immigration. And they're beginning to question the so-called sanctuary policies that are designed to protect illegal immigrants in such cities as Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
"Every political survey that is done shows concern about immigration ranks up there with education, employment, and health care," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a lobby group that opposes illegal immigration. "It's on the minds of people everywhere because it's no longer a localized phenomenon."
A recent Austin lawsuit has drawn attention to the debate, fueling discussion of whether cities and towns should report illegal immigrants or leave enforcement to the federal government.
On Nov. 4, the parents of a teenager killed in January 2004 sued the Austin police department. Humberto Garcia claimed that his daughter, Jenny Garcia Hayden, might be alive if police had reported her killer to immigration authorities after his illegal status was purportedly discovered during an unrelated investigation before the murder.
Austin officials deny any wrongdoing. They say their policy, based on a 1997 city resolution, is aimed merely at ensuring that city employees do not discriminate against illegal immigrants.
"The policy certainly would not prevent a city employee from reporting an illegal immigrant" to federal authorities, said Anne Morgan, an Austin city attorney.
In Peñitas, 16 miles west of McAllen, and many other spots along the Texas-Mexico border, local police routinely detain undocumented migrants and hold them until Border Patrol agents arrive. But in Houston and many other large metropolitan areas, police leave immigration enforcement to federal agents.
Shift in attitude seen
In recent years, however, attitudes about such policies have begun to shift, Melhman said, as residents and officials in such communities as Suffolk County, N.Y., and Danbury, Conn., question sanctuary policies.
"The average cop on the beat would be more than happy" to report an illegal immigrant, he said. "Usually, these directives are from top brass who for the most part are politicians, not cops."
Recent polls show strong opposition to illegal immigration from the southern border, including among Americans of Hispanic origin.
In May 2005, a Zogby International poll said 81 percent of those surveyed believed that local and state police should help federal authorities arrest illegal immigrants; 53 percent supported the deployment of troops on the border, and 56 percent opposed undocumented migrants' participation in a guest worker program proposed by President Bush.
In Arizona, where illegal immigration is now the nation's highest, a Northern Arizona State University poll found that 84 percent of those residents surveyed favored increased spending on border enforcement, and 70 percent wanted stepped-up deportation of illegal immigrants.
Pro-immigration advocates say police shouldn't get into the business of immigration enforcement. That would encourage racial profiling and hinder police who investigate crimes against immigrants, they say.
Law's complexities cited
"Immigration law is incredibly complex, and state and local police don't have the training to enforce the law and they make mistakes," said Michele Waslin, who directs immigration policy research for the National Council of La Raza, the largest national Hispanic advocacy organization. "If they did, it's very likely there would be racial profiling."
Waslin also said that while national interest in immigration has heightened, police associations continue to resist assuming immigration duties. And she said she knows of no major metropolitan area that has reversed its sanctuary policy
"Congress is trying very hard to pass laws that would force police to enforce immigration laws, but as far as I know, state and local police have not changed their minds," she said.
Immigration policies are flawed, she added.
"The immigration system is broken, it needs to be fixed," she said. "But having local police enforce immigration is not a solution."
Plan unveiled in Houston
Despite such views, a Department of Homeland Security plan unveiled in Houston earlier this month envisions asking local police to help with immigration enforcement.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said President Bush had ordered him to take control of the 7,000 miles of northern and southern borders, and the goal is to catch and remove every person who enters the country illegally.
Not everyone agrees with the enforcement priorities.
"People need to remember that 99 percent or higher of the people crossing the border into the United States without proper documents are Latin American labor migrants ... not potential Muslim terrorists," said Prof. David Spener, a sociology professor at Trinity University in San Antonio.
"A lot of people who have had anti-immigrant sentiments all along are now trying to use concerns about national security to advance an anti-immigrant agenda," he said.
Back in Peñitas, police and residents alike say they could use some help.
"There ought to be more security here," said Zaragoza Zamora, who lives on a four-acre tract next to the river levee. "If somebody comes from another country, the police should question them — that would happen to me or you in another country."
Oscar Montiveros, chief of the four-officer Peñitas police force, said his meager budget only allows for patrols from 8 a.m to midnight. Smugglers brazenly move drugs across the river during the day, he said, knowing there is only one officer on duty per shift.
Even so, his department this year has managed to seize a ton of marijuana and detain some 200 undocumented migrants, he said. "And we're not a big department, and don't work past midnight."
ping
"The states say they don't have the money and manpower."
They always say that. I'll bet I could go to every state, look at their budget, and find the money immediately. Heck, we could just stop putting potheads in jail and get the money from the prison budget. Just lock up the bigtime dealers.
Policies protecting illegal migrants draw fire ("Awakening" vs discriminating against illegals)
-----What part of "illegal" do these twits not understand? Protecting American borders should come first, not the rights of a bunch of illegal trash flooding into the country
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1525711/posts
" The only way the Democrats could be worse would be to issue each illegal a $1,000.00 per month stipend!"
What? Housing assistance, WIC, food cards and free medical aren't enough?
"What? Housing assistance, WIC, food cards and free medical aren't enough?"
I meant for each and every, but your point is not lost on me : )
Maybe it's just me, but it really makes my head spin to have to read about groups forming that oppose something that is illegal.
If it's illegal, aren't we supposed to have groups that take care of it?
ALL of our elected officials have been more than miserable failures at regulating immigration according to our existing laws...they have been nearly treasonous.
We need to change the language on this debate and stop talking about new solutions and "marrying" different perspectives to solve the problem or to allow for immigrants. We HAVE a solution, it's the current immigration laws and processes. What we need to do is ENFORCE them.
We know. Our politicians don't care.
I always thought that non-citizens could not buy property in Mexico. You actually buy a 100 year lease.
I must be the only conservative in the US with a degree in Sociology. Talk about lonely.
No one on the left can dare utter the word "illegal".
What this "Richard Head" and his ilk just don't get is that *why* they came here is not relevant. They are here illegally-that is all that matters.
ping
Biggest problem with that is that, despite the tyson's and obvious sweat shop industries, most illegals find jobs in four or five person shops where law enforcement simply is not concerned. They are body and fender men, small grocery clerks (where spanish is a requirement), (yes) gardeners & yard cleaners. They find jobs among legal immigrants and for legal immigrants or where they can work in the back shop and out of public view.
Just as we've always said that it is the small business owner who drives the economy at large, it is the small business owner who facilitates most of the illegal sub-culture within our borders.
Not for busting illegals, anyway. Now if you're a citizen serf, that's another story. If one of us steps out of line, you better believe they've got the "money and manpower" to deal with them.
The way things are going, I'm nearly to the point of believing citizenship is for suckers.
As you may be aware, drug lords effectively control all the areas where Mexico adjoins the United States and facilitate the peasant invasion in order to dilute our law enforcement efforts where they ship their products. If the high profit incentive from the drug trade were removed the cartels would be weakened and far less influential (corruptive) to government representatives on both sides of the border.
Darn reporters. That paragraph should read:
Her attitude reflects what some anti-illegal immigrant activists describe as "an awakening." More Americans, they say, are beginning to take a tougher stance against illegal immigration.
PING
God Bless the Minutemen.
Uphill battle it is, but worth fighting all the way.
Like I said, God bless 'em.
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