Thread: TX: Opinion: Local councils sometimes break Federal law by

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Opinion: Local councils sometimes break Federal law by ignoring illegal immigration related criminal activity
By Jimmy Godwin
(Created: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 8:32 PM CST)

Today, with the exception of Farmers Branch, it would appear many elected officials believe doing nothing makes their communities safer than doing something when it comes to protecting their residents from illegal alien related criminal activity. What’s even more disturbing is that some cities’ elected officials have even gone as far as making it illegal to even assist the federal government with the enforcement of the current immigration laws. In essence, in these cities fighting crime has become a crime itself!

Cities like Houston and Austin are “sanctuary” cities. Generally according to existing federal law, the city councils in these cities have illegally enacted ordinances that prohibit law enforcement personnel from ascertaining an alien’s residency status, arresting them if they are deemed to be illegal and then bar them from turning the criminal over to federal immigration authorities.

This is true even when the local police know these individuals were previously arrested and deported for committing criminal offenses in the very cities they have illegally returned to. Los Angeles has even gone as far as to restrict law enforcement personnel there from assisting the federal immigration authorities in almost every way imaginable. The criminal illegal aliens love these cities and they’re locally elected politicians.

Other cities and their elected officials are more subtle in demonstrating their lack of will when it comes to effectively addressing illegal alien criminally related activity. These officials have adopted the “do nothing” approach.

Frequently these officials cite public safety as a campaign issue but once elected they rarely do anything. They seldom change policy or incorporate new procedures, they refrain from sharing resources with the federal immigration authorities and they rarely take advantage of various assistance programs offered by other government entities.

Last month for example, the Carrollton City Council was briefed by Carrollton Police Chief David James on the changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act. The change allows for the establishment of a shared resource cooperative agreement between ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and local and state entities. The program is a joint cooperative effort intended to more effectively address illegal immigration related criminal activity.

However, those who frequently listen to the statements made by the “politically correct” on this issue, were not surprised when Carrollton’s Mayor Miller and several other council members decided not to pursue a cooperative immigration agreement. Without a doubt, their decision demonstrates the current politically correct “do nothing” approach towards illegal immigration and related criminal activity many local, state and federal politicians currently share. Essentially, the briefing provided the council with a forum to show their concern but the presentation produced the normal “do nothing” politically correct result.

But why should we care? After all, according to many politically correct politicians, illegal immigration is a federal problem. Right!

Well here’s the bottom line. Those who feel that immigration law enforcement is exclusively a federal issue are partially right with a whole lot of “where the rubber meets the road” wrong mixed in!

Illegal immigration and related criminal activity is a federal law development issue.

However, the enforcement of these laws depends heavily on a local cooperative enforcement effort that has its teeth sunk deep within many local communities’ backside. And the backside is where you and I reside and our local law enforcement patrol: the feds don’t patrol our streets, our local police do.

Albert Einstein once defined insanity as ‘doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.’ It may appear many local, state and federal politicians subscribe to this philosophy: they continue to do nothing while hoping for a different outcome. But do they really?

Who do you think Albert would say is insane, according to his defined standard, when analyzing the illegal alien issue? The city councils in this country who illegally make enforcing federal law illegal, or the voters who continue to elect council members who would even consider doing so in the first place.

I think I know whom Albert would pick. And it’s not the politicians!

Great post, and I agree, it all comes back on the people and their willingness to put the sme people back in office. Just what are they thinking!! I could not venture to guess.