OPINION & EDITORIAL
Keep on turning in illegal immigrants
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Also by Sam Clegg:
- Robin Hood only lives in fairy tales, liberals' fantasies (February 7, 2008)
- Let me keep my own cash, SSFC (January 24, 2008)
- What's traditional about prejudice? (January 21, 2008)
- Don't bother filling diversity positions (December 5, 2007)
- AIDS class reveals societal problems (November 7, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Legal migration deserves reform (January 30, 2008)
- The key word is 'illegal' (December 4, 2003)
- Illegal immigrants not welcome (September 14, 2007)
- Sensenbrenner wrong on immigration (March 27, 2006)
- Green-light immigrants (February 28, 2005)
by Sam Clegg
Thursday, February 21, 2008
With an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants residing in this country, local police and federal authorities have a massive stake in finding new ways to deport a great many of them — this is commonly known as upholding the law. Fortunately for the taxpayer of Wisconsin, that is exactly what the Dane County Sheriff’s Office under David Mahoney is doing, despite recent pressure to change their approach.
Dane County officials notify federal authorities in Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they have undocumented inmates in their custody. The process is simple. A Dane County jail inmate’s information is run through the National Crime Information Center’s database, which enables officials to determine if an immigration violation has taken place, and if it has, the individual is reported to ICE. Under pressure from the ACLU and immigrant rights advocates, the sheriff’s office has recently agreed to review the policy this year, and one can only pray they will continue to enforce the law.
It is unrealistic to assume we can magically whisk away the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently residing in this country. It is also economically and constitutionally reprehensible.
However, this should not stop Dane County from doing its duty. If an immigrant enters the United States illegally, he or she should be deported if doing so is realistically cost-effective. Enforcing immigration law everywhere, all the time, would require an omnipresent police force that would be little more than the foxhound of an overbearing federal government. However, if the law was to be enforced — and it should — the most cost-effective place to begin is prison, with those who are already incarcerated. By continuing to execute its current policy, Dane County refrains from engaging in a witch hunt for the vast majority of otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants while at the same time ridding the undocumented population of its most harmful element.
Civil liberties groups such as the ACLU and the Centro Hispano, a Madison-area Latino advocacy organization, are wary of Dane County’s cooperation with ICE because of the fact that illegal immigrants guilty of less serious offenses are currently being reported to ICE by Dane County police. Additionally, Stacy Harbaugh, an ACLU community advocate, informed me that because the immigration violations are civil violations and not criminal ones, they should remain unreported.
The law has sided with the sherriff on the issue, however.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Muehler v. Mena that officers do not need reasonable suspicion of an immigration law violation to question an individual about his or her immigration status during a routine traffic stop or other interactions with police. As the law applies to Dane County and other localities, if an undocumented immigrant is stopped by police for something as trivial as rolling a stop sign, he or she could be checked via NCIC and deported. Obviously, it is necessary for the sheriff’s office to be sensible. Reviewing someone’s immigration record during a traffic stop is a waste of taxpayer money, and while doing so would be constitutional, it would also be unnecessary. By the same token, the same Wisconsin taxpayer should not have to foot the bill for an illegal immigrant’s stay in prison.
The Centro Hispano and the ACLU, however, oppose the cooperation between Dane County police for low-level offenders.
Peter Munoz, executive director of the Centro Hispano, told me in an interview that if there are undocumented immigrants guilty of a violent crime within our prison system, we should “get them out of here,” but that the deportations should stop there. His declaration is particularly poignant and appropriate considering that most of the violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the Latino community are committed against other Latino individuals.
Contrary to the opinions of Mr. Munoz and the ACLU, when Sheriff Mahoney conducts his review, he must ensure Dane County continues its current policy of reporting any illegal immigrant who is incarcerated for any crime.
The law is an unavoidable fact of this country. Yes, coming here, even illegally, entails certain benefits. Those benefits are counterbalanced by a responsibility greater than an ordinary citizen’s to obey the law.
On both sides of the partisan schism, senators and students alike are demanding a compromise on illegal immigration. This is a good place to start. Allow our attorney general to contact federal authorities when illegal immigrants advance from breaking our civil laws to our criminal ones. Why? Because it is crucial that the sheriff’s office acts sensibly and realizes that we will never see the day when the country is completely free from illegal immigrants. It is also equally crucial that Dane County remembers its responsibility to return its most unwanted import: somebody else’s criminals.
Sam Clegg (sclegg@wisc.edu) is a freshman majoring in political science and economics.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 7:02am):
Illegal is illegal. Enough said.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 7:21am):
A slippery slope....you'll rue the day that you must carry "papers" to cross into Illinois.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 7:52am):
States and cities will have to take up the illegal immigration issue. The politicians in DC have already been bought and they owe big business lobby. Their only answer is amnesty. We as a nation can not afford the new welfare workforce. Stand up now or be sorry later.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 8:34am):
Way to boldly go where every right wing hack has gone before.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 8:55am):
But Sam: In all your reading of Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman, didn't they tell you that labor wants to be free? The invisible hand of the Truly Free Market is pushing all these folks across the border.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 9:23am):
No compromise! They're in the country illegally and they use our Social Security numbers to get jobs. Then we have to pay the income taxes that they owe. They should be sent home.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 9:34am):
Kosovo now belongs to the Albanian Muslims, thanks to Clinton's bombing of the Serbian Christians.
Understand that Kosovo was majority Serbian in World War I, and that there has never been a legal Albanian immigrant into Kosovo.
I wonder if the Nation of Aztlan will be recognozed by Kosovo?
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 10:59am):
To the extent that we have any social and legal problems from unchecked illegal immigration, it has nothing to do with the cynicism and corruption of the Mexican government that deliberately exports, exploits and profits off its own people. The problem is not the fondness for low-paid, off-the-books illegal labor among the upper-middle classes, nor the disdain for the law of illegal immigrants themselves, who crowd to the front of the immigration line. Instead, America's xenophobia, blame-casting and insensitive government have made it needlessly rough on 11 million arrivals who otherwise did us a favor by coming.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/02/ivy_league_populism.html
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 11:06am):
Well, once the illegals go back to Mexico, I can't wait to start working some SWEET housekeeping jobs at the Holiday Inn.
NAFTA did what to what now?
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 11:43am):
A very sensible column, this coming from someone who hasn't often agreed with this author's works.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 11:58am):
No compromise in illegals. Send 'em back!
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 12:31pm):
So the ACLU demands that the sherrif's office not run people's names through the database to see if there are any immigration violations.
Does that also mean we should throw up a fuss about running people's names through the database to see if they have warrants out for their arrest? You know when you get pulled over, your name is run to see if you have any warrants that would require you to be taken into custody. Is that a violation of rights, or is that LAW ENFORCEMENT doing something crazy like ENFORCING THE LAW.
If the laws here - be they in regards to immigration, theft, murder, rape, whatever ... if they're worthless, if we're going to protest every single time one is upheld that happens to affect us personally -- then why even HAVE laws? If this law can be ignored, what other ones should law enforcement ignore?
It's disgusting that the ACLU doesn't understand ... law is law. You don't like the laws, do something to change them... but just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not still the law.
Great column :)
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 2:06pm):
If saying stupid things were pitching strikes, Sam's writings this semester would be a no-hitter.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 2:25pm):
To clarify...
I am not proposing the deportation of the 12 million illegal immigrants who obey all the laws of this country besides the immigration statutes. I was under the distinct impression that I said that very clearly in the article. However, I will repeat it for those of you who utterly missed the argument I was making. Most of the illegal immigrants to this country do satisfy a very real labor concern and the government should not waste an obscene amount of money in pursuing them. I merely argued that those who are in prison are relatively easy to deport and as it is constitutionally permissable and fiscally easy, it should be done. I made very little commentary regarding the vast bulk of illegal immigrants.
Sam Clegg
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 3:02pm):
Good column. Send the illegals back to wherever they came from.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 4:29pm):
A lovely article.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 4:30pm):
Sam, I think the issue lies with your headline. Most people make an assumption of your point based on it, even IF they read all to some of your column.
Michael Johnson (February 21, 2008 @ 4:45pm):
1st...All this will lead to is DWH(Driving While Hispanic)...If you have a spanish accent or sounding name, law enforcement is going to treat differently regardless...When some Hispanic State Rep is pulled over and treated like a terrorist, the problem with this will become clear...
2..Police in major urban areas have been begging illegal immigrants to imform them of crimes in thier neighborhoods...with laws like this, the local tip line will go silent, and crime will start to become a problem in the county...
3rd...Sam, like many on this issue, you seem almost disillusioned that you can't find a way to send 12 million people back a la, Trail Of Tears...Doesn't America have enough history doing things like this???
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 6:16pm):
1. "As the law applies to Dane County and other localities, if an undocumented immigrant is stopped by police for something as trivial as rolling a stop sign, he or she could be checked via NCIC and deported. Obviously, it is necessary for the sheriffâs office to be sensible. Reviewing someoneâs immigration record during a traffic stop is a waste of taxpayer money, and while doing so would be constitutional, it would also be unnecessary. "
2. "Enforcing immigration law everywhere, all the time, would require an omnipresent police force that would be little more than the foxhound of an overbearing federal government. However, if the law was to be enforced â and it should â the most cost-effective place to begin is prison, with those who are already incarcerated."
"His declaration is particularly poignant and appropriate considering that most of the violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the Latino community are committed against other Latino individuals."
3. "It is unrealistic to assume we can magically whisk away the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently residing in this country. It is also economically and constitutionally reprehensible."
Please read the article before you comment. Thank you.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 6:52pm):
Maybe the four children would still be alive if the ILLEGAL ALIEN had been deported after her first conviction but Minneapolis is a sanctuary city. In 2003, the city voted to bar police from asking about immigration status or enforcing immigration laws.
***
Van Driver Arrested for Role in Minnesota School Bus Crash
4 students killed, 14 injured in SW Minnesota school bus crash
COTTONWOOD, Minn.
Authorities have confirmed that the the driver of the van that struck the school bus that killed 4 students on Tuesday is an illegal alien.
Officials at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement are checking to see where she came from and how long sheâs been in Minnesota. FOX 9 has also learned that the name she gave to police, Alainiss Morales, is an alias.
***
"I saw the maroon van run a stop sign, it blew over the railroad tracks and hit the bus, sending it sliding into me," James M. Hancock, 45, of Marshall, told the newspaper from his hospital bed in Sioux Falls, S.D. "The next thing I knew, they were hauling kids out and it was chaos."
The van was driven by Alianiss N. Morales, 23, of Minneota. The Fox 9 Investigator found Morales pleaded guilty in Chippewa County in 2006 to driving without a valid license.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 10:24pm):
"Reviewing someone's immigration record during a traffic stop is a waste of taxpayer money, and while doing so would be constitutional, it would also be unnecessary"
Yeah, wait until they kill some people - after all odds are they'll probably just kill US citizens.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 11:05pm):
Rational and feasible argument. We should focus on the citizens who are breaking the law rather than the illegals who aren't.
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 9:02am):
well who the hell hired a school bus driver who didn't have a valid license. c'mon. that could have happened to anyone, the fact that it was an illegal alien has nothing to do with it.
Point NOT taken
It's the employers who need to get beaten down on, not people that actually want to come to our country for purposes such as LIVING! Therefore, make it easier for people that want to be here to be citizens so that employers cannot exploit the hell out of them. Then by making them citizens they will start paying taxes and will have every right to take advantage of our services.
Good article
Anonymous (February 22, 2008 @ 2:25pm):
INA section 274a states: a person, or group of persons commits a FELONY when he/they assists an ALIEN by hiring, transporting, sheltering,or assisting them to obtain employment,or encourages that ALIEN to remain in the United States by acting as employer or agent. This means the ACLU and the other groups representing these CRIMINALS have also commited a FELONY.They should be arrested and licenses revoked. Anyone who defends a known illegal alien should be arrested and tried under this law. Judges who side with the ILLEGAL ALIENS have also commited a FELONY and should be removed and tried under INA section 274a. The whole system is corrupt. The constitution is being circumvented by these corrupt attorneys and judges. Americas soveriegnty is being stolen.
Striking Back (February 22, 2008 @ 10:03pm):
Finally, someone in some kind of media somewhere in the USA is reporting some real facts and not a feel good story filled with nothing but opinion and believes we should all just welcome law breaking criminals with open arms.
BRAVO! Perhaps the next generation of media really does a chance.
For those on here who think for instance that the driver of that van who killed 4 innocent US children doesn't matter, I'd like to see you all stand face to face with the THOUSANDS OF LEGAL US CITIZENS WHO HAVE BEEN VICTIMIZED, DISABLED, AND KILLED BY ILLEGAL ALIEN CRIMINALS THAT YOU FEEL SHOULD BE AFFORDED SOME SPECIAL RIGHTS AND NOT HAVE TO ABIDE BY THE LAWS LIKE EVERY LEGAL CITIZEN DOES!
What you all don't realize is this illegal and every other illegal who commits a crime against a legal, US citizen is not responsible in the least for covering the cost of replacing a totaled car when they hit you with no license and no insurance. They don't have to pay for the life long medical care that many require after their injuries sustained at the hands of an illegal alien criminal. Their families are NOT SHATTERED AND FOREVER CHANGED because one of them has been killed by an illegal alien.
So if you think it doesn't matter and you think illegal aliens, illegal immigration, and our wide open borders are NOT a threat to the legal US citizens of this country, I've got a boat load of facts and 4 1/2 years of being permanently disabled at the hands of an illegal alien criminal that says otherwise.
Report illegal alien crime tip links to the IAATS, Illegal Alien Activity Tracking System at http://illegal.globalincidentmap.com
The government doesn't track these criminals, if they did those 4 kids would still be alive like they were last weekend before the school week started as well as thousands of other legal, US citizens. The IAATS is tracking them however.
One tip means we aren't going to stand for one more legal, US citizen to be victimized, disabled, maimed, or killed by an illegal alien criminal.
One tip gives a voice to the thousands of victims of crimes by illegal aliens who are silenced, forgotten about and abandoned completely by our government and our judicial system.
One tip will make a difference because it is obvious it is up to we the people to demand our borders be secured and demand our laws be enforced and demand illegal alien criminals pay the full price for their crimes because our government has no plans of doing it without a fight (figuratively speaking) from us.
CRAIG MCNEES (February 24, 2008 @ 8:30am):
HOW MANY $90,000 DOCTOR BILLS DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE IT COST EFFECTIVE? HOW MANY CHILDREN BORN TO ILLEGALS FOR FREE DOES IT BECOME COST EFFECTIVE? HOW MANY ILLEGALS SITTING IN JAIL, GOING TO COURT, AND BEING ARRESTED FINALLY FOR KILLING SOMEONE DUE TO BEING DRUNK, DRIVING A CAR, AND NOT HAVING A DRIVERS LICENSE OR INSURANCE DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE IT COST EFFECTIVE TO ENFORCE OUR LAWS. WILL IT BE COST EFFECTIVE AFTER YOU LOSE YOUR JOB TO SOMEONE THAT WILL DO IT CHEAPER?
Anonymous (February 25, 2008 @ 12:57pm):
EXACTLY, THAT'S WHY WE NEED TO CRACK DOWN ON EMPLOYERS!!!!!
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