Jamiel's Law may move to ballot
Posted on Monday, May 05 @ 10:00:01 EDT
Topic: Illegal Immigration News in the US
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 Mayoral candidate Walter Moore said Thursday he has begun a drive to
put "Jamiel's Law" on the March 2009 Los Angeles city ballot — the same
one in which he is trying to unseat Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
If adopted, the law would permit Los Angeles police officers to
arrest gang members for breaking U.S. immigration law. It would
supersede Special Order 40, a 29-year-old LAPD policy that bars
officers from arresting or questioning people solely on suspicion of
being in the country illegally. Moore told a crowd of about 200 people
— gathered at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre to hear about his proposal —
that he decided on an initiative after hearing no response from City
Council members to his request for an ordinance.
Jamiel's Law is named for Jamiel Shaw II, 17, who was shot to death
by suspected gang members on March 2 close to his Arlington Heights
home. Police arrested Pedro Espinoza, 19, who reportedly entered the
U.S. illegally at age 4. Police say Espinoza is a member of the 18th
Street Gang. He was released from jail, where he was being held on a
weapons charge, a day before the killing.
Topics: Los Angeles, illegal immigration, murders, brown on black, gangs, illegals, crimes, laws, Mexico, America, enforcement, Jamiel's Law. Jamiel Shaw
May 2, 2008
LA Times Opinion Section
Espinoza had been arrested by Culver City police and jailed and
released by the Sheriff's Department, so the LAPD and Special Order 40
did not come into play. But Moore has dismissed that point, saying, in
effect, that if his law had been in place, LAPD officers at some point
prior to his weapons arrest would have seen Espinoza, identified him as
a gang member, and arrested him on immigration charges.
The killing of Jamiel Shaw II, and Moore's advocacy for the change
in the law, has united some black and white illegal immigration
opponents, threatened to widen a gulf between African Americans and
Latino immigrants, and forced city officials to refocus on Special
Order 40. At least some LAPD officers appear to believe, incorrectly,
that the policy prevents them from cooperating or even communicating
with immigration authorities. A senior lead officer who misquoted
Special Order 40 in a March newsletter, adding in anti-cooperation
language, acknowledged that he got the wording not from the LAPD manual
but from the American Patrol anti-illegal-immigration web site.
LAPD Chief William J. Bratton said he would clarify the policy for
his officers. He also told the Times editorial board that he would make
no changes to the order.
Moore repeated his assertion that the Times caters to Latino
illegal immigrants because its parent company, Tribune, also owns the
Spanish-language paper Hoy.
"The mayor, the City Council, and L.A. Times/Hoy won't take action," Moore said. "It's up to you."
Also speaking at the event were KRLA radio personality Kevin James and the young victim's father, Jamiel Shaw Sr.
James called for audience members to support Moore's campaign
financially. "It's really expensive to run for mayor of Los Angeles
against a former gang member who is the incumbent," James said.
Villaraigosa was not a gang member, but the claim that he was has become popular among illegal immigration opponents.
Shaw criticized the deputy district attorney prosecuting Espinoza,
saying he worried she would try to portray his son as a gang member
because he was carrying a red Spiderman backpack. "I want everybody to
know," he said, "the fix is in."
Posted by Robert Greene on May 2, 2008
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