06/04/2008
Battle over immigration continues


Monthly commentary from David Gatz
A few years ago a friend and I attended an immigration seminar in McLean, Va., sponsored by a conservative educational organization.

Advertisement


One of the speakers was attorney Howard Foster. Foster heard several other speakers recount a myriad of problems stemming from poor border control and illegal immigration into the U.S.

When Foster spoke, he said, "You have lost." To the audience of perhaps 200, this was the equivalent of hearing that a dear friend had just succumbed to a fatal illness. Foster was saying that the immigration debate was over, futile, in fact. Illegal immigrants are here, he said, and they won't be leaving. The only thing that can be done is to sue their employers in court on RICO (racketeering) statutes, which he did with success in the Zirkle Food case.

I was reminded of Foster's words after the same friend and I attended a recent meeting at Morley Public Library in Painesville put on by a local group called The Rally Team. The Rally Team, which is comprised of concerned citizens from surrounding communities, wants federal laws prohibiting illegal immigration enforced.

Painesville Police Chief Gary L. Smith and Lake County Sheriff Dan Dunlap attended. Following Smith, Dunlap prefaced his remarks by stating that he was warned against attending the meeting because it could be characterized as a "hate assembly." Dunlap said he believed in the right of the people to peacefully assemble, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment, and he addressed the crowd of about 60 people.

The two local law enforcement officials assured the audience the area was not in the midst of a Hispanic crime wave. They discussed the scope of criminal activity in the area beyond illegal immigration. For example, Dunlap pointed to activities in Grand River of some Israelis who have teamed up with the Russian mafia there for nefarious purposes. The chief also reviewed the day-to-day need to protect citizens from things such as burglaries, drug activities, vandalism as well as other petty crimes. Add to that sexual predators who operate both on and off the Internet, and police resources are thin at times.

When asked why they couldn't deport the illegal immigrants "right outside" the room, the local law enforcement officials talked about the prohibitions on stopping people based upon racial profiling techniques. To further complicate matters, it was noted that there are around 80 different documents that could justify the presence of a foreign person in the U.S.
The police agreed that federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are undermanned and only want to go after the worst of the worst criminal offenders. ICE doesn't want to hear about an illegal immigrant who is here and working in a restaurant or a nursery. When asked, Smith said he would have moral reservations about entering a church that was being used as a sanctuary to deport those who had committed no crime other than being in the country illegally. The costs of processing, housing and transportation added to the burden of policing and deporting people because of their immigration status alone.

One representative of the pro-illegal immigration position stated that the police should be concentrating on the outstanding warrants for criminals and not worrying about deporting working illegal immigrants. A college aged woman, her voice quaking with emotion, said that she "would feel bad for a person of color who had to hear this" discussion. She added that she couldn't imagine how that person would feel. Another college-aged woman said that illegal immigrants were only civilly, not criminally, liable for their border crossing actions so what was the big deal?

And so it went.

Barb Garwood is a key member of the Rally Team and believes in government by the people. Among other things, she wonders why we are becoming a bilingual nation and why the government won't enforce immigration laws.

"I think that the police chief and the sheriff are resigned to a problem that is caused by our federal government and our local leaders. When even our Commissioners, Dan Troy, Robert Aufuldish and Raymond Sines, adopt a resolution accepting the Mexican Government-issued Matricula Consular ID card, as they did in 2005, there is little that law enforcement can do to be harsher or more aggressive in pursuing possible offenders.

"Throughout the days that I've worked with the Rally Team, I feel an apathy on the part of citizens, who simply don't know what to do. Many are angry, I believe, but they are helpless. I also think that Smith and Dunlap demonstrated on Saturday that they are doing their jobs with professionalism and integrity."

Across the land concerned citizens are trying to roll the highly contested boulder of local and national sovereignty uphill, and they are getting little help from their elected officials both locally and in Washington. There are powerful people and organizations in this battle for the soul of the country that believe the citizenry does not have the moral authority to insist upon strict enforcement of immigration laws. To defend the borders and national self-determination today is to risk being deemed a "hater." In 1954, President Eisenhower started "Operation Wetback" and millions of Mexican nationals were either deported or left the country voluntarily. The liberal foolishness and political patronage that has allowed this illegal immigration problem to spin out of control wasn't tolerated then. But we don't live in that nation anymore.

When the meeting ended I turned to my friend and said, "We are on our own."

He replied, "No, Howard Foster was right. We have lost."

If that's so, I guess we can still sue for damages. Welcome to the new America.




http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 0548&rfi=6


©The News-Herald 2008