But the king of local immigration enforcement is still Arpaio.Basically what's being touted here by the writer and by everyone else who writes in these terms is that immigration enforcement is quasi-illegitimate, and police may investigate immigration crimes only during the course of the investigation of other, real, crimes. The Arizona law was of course drafted specifically in mind of successful judicial and political attempts to kill similar laws. The reality is that virtually all illegal immigrants in the American Southwest are Mexican or other Hispanic, so stopping people for suspected illegal immigrant status will always be open to the absurd charge of racial profiling.
Arpaio, a 78-year-old ex-federal drug agent who fashions himself as a modern-day John Wayne, launched his latest sweep Thursday afternoon, sending about 200 sheriff's deputies and trained volunteers out across metro Phoenix to look for traffic violators who may be here illegally.
Deputy Bob Dalton and volunteer Heath Kowacz spotted a driver with a cracked windshield in a poor Phoenix neighborhood near a busy freeway. Dalton triggered the red and blue police lights and pulled over 28-year-old Alfredo Salas, who was born in Mexico but has lived in Phoenix with a resident alien card since 1993.
Dalton gave him a warning after Salas produced his license and registration and told him to get the windshield fixed.
Salas, a married father of two who installs granite, told The Associated Press that he was treated well but he wondered whether he was pulled over because his truck is a Ford Lobo.
"It's a Mexican truck so I don't know if they saw that and said, 'I wonder if he has papers or not,'" Salas said. "If that's the case, it kind of gets me upset."
Sixty percent of the nearly 1,000 people arrested in the sweeps since early 2008 have been illegal immigrants. Thursday's dragnet led to four arrests, but it wasn't clear if any of them were illegal immigrants.
Critics say deputies racially profile Hispanics. Arpaio says deputies approach people only when they have probable cause.
Furthermore, if I am merely walking down the street or driving legally in my car, a cop can ask me for ID; I am asked to show identification at the bank, when using a credit card, and used to be when buying alcohol, all of these cases being of considerably less import than illegal immigration. If somehow a cop were to ask me to show that I am in the country legally, I would do so by showing ID - then maybe I'd have a laugh.
The job of the police is the enforcement of the law, not just laws that liberals like. "Racial profiling" is a canard designed to prevent the police from doing the part of their job that liberals don't like.
My Law of Racial Profiling:
ReplyDeleteIf a non-white racial group breaks a law more often than whites, the given law should not be enforced, else the proper enforcement of this law will be considered unjust racial profiling.
Dalton gave him a warning after Salas produced his license and registration and told him to get the windshield fixed.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty darn generous. I've never gotten off with a warning in my dealings with traffic cops. And Alfredo Salas whines about it?
Your open borders success story of the day.
ReplyDeleteJulio Flores, jealous that former flame Jaritza Calderon, 28, was seeing other men, lured her to his East Gun Hill Road apartment to pick up a cable box in 2008 - but killed her instead.
Flores will be deported back to Guatemala if he is ever released from prison because he entered the country illegally, his attorney David Leung said.
Because crime rates differ substantially according to age, sex and race - it is necessary to 'profile' in order to be efficient and effective: otherwise the police (and everyone else) will misplace their effort and resources, unjustifiably persecute those groups almost certain to be innocent (elderly Japanese women?), and allow crime to escape detection and prosecution.
ReplyDeleteThis is, to put it mildly, obvious.
It is an indication of the moral inversion - indeed psychotic unrealism, i.e. utter lack of reality-testing - of our ruling elites in the media, education, academia and civil administration, that this even needs to be said.
I like modern day John Waynes. This country could use more of them.
ReplyDeleteYes, heaven forbid that we should actually notice that the vast majority of illegals are Mexicans. Meaning distinct ethnically from (what still counts as) the majority of Americans.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty darn generous. I've never gotten off with a warning in my dealings with traffic cops. And Alfredo Salas whines about it?
ReplyDelete---
Are you kidding?! That's 5 minutes of his life he'll never get back!
Well there is a very simple solution to this. Make it mandatory for every person in the country, American citizen or not to carry an official ID card with a biometric chip. Make it legal for the police to stop and ask anyone at anytime to produce their official ID card. People caught without such a card would automatically be brought to the nearest police station so further checks on their residence status could be caried out.
ReplyDeleteProblem solved, no one would be able to claim racial profiling.
I think it's obligatory for every mainstream news article about immigration to have a picture showing forlorn hispanic women and children huddled together clutching their American flags (or wearing American flag T-shirts). I think pictures of county jails filled with Mexican gangbangers would be more representative.
ReplyDelete@kritisk borger
I value my freedom and privacy and wouldn't want to have a biometric ID card. This isn't necessary, if the current laws are enforced the problem will be solved over time.
That's pretty darn generous. I've never gotten off with a warning in my dealings with traffic cops. And Alfredo Salas whines about it?
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty rich. I've never gotten a warning from a cop either, just tickets.
National ID cards are pretty common all over the world:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_document#National_policies
AS far as "freedom and privacy" go,
US has it over the EU only in matters relating to the right to bear arms and freedom of speech and I don't see how a national ID would plausibly have a negative effect on either of those rights. Saying that, USGOV has become too inept and anti-American to be trusted with issuing national ID cards- it just needs to be radically downsized or even dismantled.
What's the problem with racial profiling? Anybody who knows statistics and isn't a flaming idiot(read liberal) would know that doing it saves police resources and increases the likelihood of nailing criminals.
ReplyDeletekritisk, why bother American citizens? Make it a felony to hire illegals and give huge fines for it - half of which would go to the people who report those who hire illegals. Ban them from getting any type of aid, ban shelters and make it a felony to be an illegal alien. And make the jails for illegal aliens really trash.
I live in Michigan and just moved from one city to another. I went to change my voter registration for the upcoming primary. I had to check a box that said I was a citizen. I asked if I needed proof and she said NO. I then said that anyone could mark that box and vote and she said that was exactly right! No one checks. In fact she said that she was not allowed to ask anyone if they were a citizen, she could only have them mark the form. WHAT A COUNTRY! If you are worried that giving them amnesty will allow them to vote themselves more benefits - they already are!
ReplyDelete"icr said...
ReplyDeleteAS far as "freedom and privacy" go, US has it over the EU only in matters relating to the right to bear arms and freedom of speech..."
Only? That's all? That's everything, ultimately.
"......and I don't see how a national ID would plausibly have a negative effect on either of those rights."
I don't either. And I don't want to give the government the time and authority to figure out (which they will) how to use it against me.
A national ID card would be just one more instance of anarcho-tyranny in action: the government foisting off ever more rules on the law-abiding because it's easier to do that than actually doing what they are charged to do, or - and which I increasingly suspect is the case - because they just down-right hate us.
"Well there is a very simple solution to this. Make it mandatory for every person in the country, American citizen or not to carry an official ID card with a biometric chip. Make it legal for the police to stop and ask anyone at anytime to produce their official ID card. People caught without such a card would automatically be brought to the nearest police station so further checks on their residence status could be caried out.
ReplyDeleteProblem solved, no one would be able to claim racial profiling."
I have no problem with racial profiling or a National ID. You have to carry your driver's license with you when you drive. Isn't that an infringement of freedom? I also have no problem with fines or rewards for people turning illegals in. I would stop birthright citizenship also.
Although, if you look at passports,they seem to be a way to bother citizens,while they do nothing about the illegals.
Agreed that the automatic citizenship is offered regardless of the entry status of the parents or what citizenship they hold is a major problem. Many other countries are not so lax in this respect. In actuality, those born to Mexican parents in the States are able to acquire dual citizenship.
ReplyDeleteWhat kills me is this, the interviews splattered across the news of illegals who have lived in the States for decades. Usually by means of a translator they prattle on about how their kids are Americans, and their grandkids are Americans... why not during all that time here... was the attempt made to attain legal status/ residency not pursued? That would be the most constant complaint I have heard, that it takes years. Well, if you have intentions to stay stop being lazy and follow the law.
It is offensive to those (some of my immediate family is German) who did come here legally and do reside here legally that specifically illegal Mexicans demand exception to the law. If a law is broken exemption should not be based off of nationality. Frightening that the spin makes it even acceptable on any level to attempt such a strategy.