Thread: Once again, Politics Trumps Public Safety

Once again, Politics Trumps Public Safety
Thursday , August 23, 2007
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294244,00.html
By Bill O'Reilly

It's coming to a head. It's coming to a head, ladies and gentlemen. Now last night, I hammered Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker for not being tough enough on illegal alien criminals. I talked with the mayor today. He is reconsidering his position.

Shortly after yesterday's segment, I received this letter from Anthony in New Jersey: "I'm a probation officer in this state and we are routinely issued memos by the judiciary ordering us not to contact ICE when we receive an illegal alien on probation. Despite that order, I have contacted ICE on four separate occasions because I deemed the men to be dangerous. After my call, two of them were deported and two others picked up by the Feds."

Anthony is to be commended for protecting the public. The governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine is to be challenged, even though today the Jersey attorney general ordered local police to contact ICE when a suspected alien is arrested on serious charges.

Likewise, the mayors of Portland, Oregon and Houston, Texas, both sanctuary cities, have explaining to do. In Portland Tom Potter is soft on illegal aliens, affording them every protection he can. Potter continues to do this, despite the murder of 15-year-old Danny Countryman, who was allegedly strangled by Alejandro Gamboa, an illegal with a drunk driving conviction.

Clackamas County authorities never reported Gamboa to ICE after his first conviction. That murder happened near Portland, not in the city. But Portland still refuses to alert ICE about criminal alien arrests in most cases.

Likewise in Houston where Mayor Bill White watched as Juan Salinas was charged with killing a family of three in a drunk driving crash. Salinas, an illegal from Mexico, had two prior charges — assault and public intoxication. But ICE knew nothing about him.

The soft system in Harris County released Salinas on $1,500 bail. That's $150 cash. So he was free to kill the Williams family, including two-year-old Xavier.

Now clear thinking Americans understand the failure of local authorities to inform the Feds about illegal criminal activity is insane. Every arrest is public information. Every one. So there's no reason on this earth why ICE should not be informed immediately when aliens are taken into custody. It's just common sense.

The Feds can track criminal records in foreign countries, while the locals can't. The Feds may have the alien on a terror watch list that the locals know nothing about.

The reason Mayors Booker, Potter, White and others failed to aggressively combat alien crime is political. The men are all liberal, all Democrats. And they're playing to their perceived base.

So politics is trumping public safety. And innocent Americans are dying because of it. That's not acceptable. And Congress must now get involved and withhold funding from sanctuary cities. We'll have more on that tomorrow. And we do expect new legislation this fall dealing with specific alien crime. And that's “The Memo.â€

While I don't always agree with BillO on all aspects of illegal immigration, immigration in general, etc. I am glad that he has chosen to single out and emphasize the problems with our local metro area city/county government.
I think he gets this one correct though.

I think the 'supremacy' of state vs. Federal laws needs to be considered in much greater detail. For example, the recent judges ruling in Kansas basically re-asserted the supremacy of Federal laws in dealing with immigration-related legal matters (similar to the verdict in the Hazelton PA situation). BUT... if states/cities don't have the legal power/jurisdiction to do their own enforcement, how can they have the power or flexibility NOT to cooperate with Federal law enforcement - you can't have it both ways...
BillO is right: refuse to help enforce the law (in effect, 'writing your own') should mandate the automatic loss of all Federal funds to that jurisdiction - plain and simple.

I watched O'Reilly when he passionately made these statements, and was pleasantly surprised. I still don't trust him, but at least he is speaking the truth and exposing enforcement flaws.

Hopefully there will soon be similar reports on all major networks.