Thread: ALIPAC: Immigration program puts children at risk

Official: Immigration program puts children at risk
Illegal Immigration

Posted: Today at 4:47 p.m.
Updated: Today at 6:17 p.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The chairman of a state panel that reviews child fatalities said Wednesday that a federal program to combat illegal immigration could put children at risk.

The so-called 287-G program trains local law enforcement officers in determining whether people charged with crimes are in the U.S. illegally and to file paperwork to begin deportation proceedings.Thirty-eight officers, including 18 Wake County detention officers and 10 Cumberland County deputies, recently completed 287-G training.

Tom Vitaglione, chairman of the state Child Fatality Task Force, said he fears officers who participate in the program will focus more on someone's immigration status when making an arrest rather than protecting innocent children involved in a case.

"Incentives are on identification and deportation rather than protection of the children, and that worries us," Vitaglione said. "We just worry that we're gonna have some real tragedies come down the line."

Last month, an Alamance County deputy arrested a Hispanic woman after a traffic stop on Interstate 85, leaving her three children in a car along the highway. They were picked up by their father eight hours later.

Authorities said the woman, who identified herself as Maria Chavira Ventura, spoke limited English and was driving with expired tags and without any form of identification, registration or proof of insurance. She gave the deputy an address in Burlington and said someone could pick up the children, authorities said.

Ventura, whose real name is Maria Perez-Mejia, actually was traveling from her home in western North Carolina to Maryland to visit the children's father when she was stopped. A man from her church who was traveling with the family left the children shortly after the deputy took their mother off to jail.

"While a law was not broken, a policy was not abridged, perhaps judgment was clouded," Vitaglione said, blaming the emphasis on immigration enforcement for the mistake.

Perez-Mejia is in the process of being deported. Her three children remain with relatives in the U.S.

William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, said he sympathizes with the children of illegal immigrants but said they're not the victims.

"The problems that are being caused for these families and for American citizens are the results of the bad choices and criminal behavior of illegal aliens," Gheen said. "The real victims of illegal immigration are the Americans that are losing their lives, their jobs, their wages."

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3305236/

Yep, and another good response to the OBL whining sympathizers is...

"So, which other laws should we stop enforcing in the US because they might
interfere or interrupt children being with their parents?"

In fact, law enforcement people have to place kids in temporary/protective custody all too often - the example outlined in the article presents an unremarkable case.... (translated: so what?)

Yes, leaving those kids in the car was a mistake, but how many law enforcement mistakes have been made against legal Americans that gets no publicity? Mom gives a false name to police, apparently not a problem. Driving without proper license, etc. Is dad even here legally? None of the coverage has mentioned that. And if mom is deported, why don't the kids go with her? Otherwise she will be back across the border as soon as she can find a coyote to bring her.

vortex wrote:

Yes, leaving those kids in the car was a mistake, but how many law enforcement mistakes

Personally, I don't think a mistake was made by the police. The mother actually authorized an adult passenger in the vehicle to care for the children in her absence. It's not fault of the police that the other passenger, an illegal alien, deserted the children. There are only two individuals to blame for this, the mother and the person she authorized to watch her children.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-3403--0-0.html

The mistake was made by the mother and the illegal alien male with her.

One, she should have never been in our nation illegally much less on our roads without a license, tax, inspection, or insurance.

Two, she should not have been traveling with a 27 year old male she did not know that well or trust.

Three, she should not have told the officer the children should remain if there was a trust issue and they should not have lied to the officer about the father being in a nearby town.

Four, they need to find the 27 year old Hispanic male illegal alien that abandoned those children on the side of the road once they were placed in his care and he should be charged with child endangerment.

W

Originally Posted by MW

vortex wrote:

Yes, leaving those kids in the car was a mistake, but how many law enforcement mistakes

Personally, I don't think a mistake was made by the police. The mother actually authorized an adult passenger in the vehicle to care for the children in her absence. It's not fault of the police that the other passenger, an illegal alien, deserted the children. There are only two individuals to blame for this, the mother and the person she authorized to watch her children.

Exactly right, MW. How about sanctuary policies that get OUR children killed? Terrance Aeriel, 18; Dashon Harvey, 20; and Iofemi Hightower, 20, of Newark, NJ. Jamiel Shaw of LA and the Bolognas of San Francisco.

These American children are DEAD, tell me again why enforcing our laws is not a good thing?