Thread: Feds Attack Local Communities for Enforcing Immigration Laws

March 20, 2009

From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:

Feds Attack Local Communities for Enforcing Immigration Laws

And so it begins. At a time when many local law enforcement agencies are finding success putting a stop to illegal immigration crime, the Obama administration has decided to interfere. According to the Houston Chronicle:

"Several members of a key U.S. House committee called for greater oversight of a controversial federal program that allows local law enforcement to detain suspected illegal immigrants, citing a recent report that questioned its effectiveness.

"In a hearing Wednesday before the House Committee on Homeland Security, several members of Congress called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to institute improvements...

"'The record is incomplete, at best, as to whether or not this program is a success,' said House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., who also raised concerns about the potential for racial profiling."

This federal program, called 287g, specifically trains local law enforcement officers to help enforce federal immigration law. And thanks in part to a Judicial Watch public education campaign, the number of local law enforcement agencies participating in the program is growing (from 29 participants in 2006 to 67 today).

Why? Because it works!

To give just one example, the Davidson County (Nashville) Tennessee Sherriff's Department significantly reduced crime in the two years after taking advantage of the 287g program. More than 4,000 jailed illegal aliens were placed in removal proceedings. (You can check out some other success stories here.)

Still, the Obama crowd and their fellow leftists in Congress aren't convinced. And they're not stopping with GAO reports and congressional hearings. They're looking for a scapegoat. And they think they've found one in Maricopa County (AZ) Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known as "America's Toughest Sherriff" for his no nonsense approach to illegal immigration and other crime. (As some of you may recall, Judicial Watch encouraged Sherriff Arpaio to crack down on illegal immigration crime in Phoenix, Arizona.)

As MSNBC reported recently, federal investigators, at the behest of top officials in the Obama administration, are turning up the heat on Sherriff Arpaio: "...with President Barack Obama's inauguration, and more specifically his nominating Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, the federal government is heeding community activists' calls for extensive investigation of Arpaio's office."

So there is a drug-fueled civil war creeping across our border from Mexico and our government investigates one of the few effective lawmen on the front lines! At least we know which side the Obama administration is on when it comes to illegal immigration. And it's not our side.

And as if all this were not enough, on Wednesday, [March 18,] House speaker Nancy Pelosi called the effort to enforce federal immigration law "Un-American."

[Then, on April 7, Dept. of Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano released a report characterizing pro-enforcement immigration activists as "rightwing extremists."]

Originally Posted by Dept. of Homeland Security

(U//FOUO) Over the past five years, various rightwing extremists, including militias and white supremacists, have adopted the immigration issue as a call to action, rallying point, and recruiting tool. Debates over appropriate immigration levels and enforcement policy generally fall within the realm of protected political speech under the First Amendment, but in some cases, anti-immigration or strident pro-enforcement fervor has been directed against specific groups and has the potential to turn violent.

(U//FOUO) DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremist groups’ frustration over a perceived lack of government action on illegal immigration has the potential to incite individuals or small groups toward violence. If such violence were to occur, it likely would be isolated, small-scale, and directed at specific immigration-related targets.

She couldn't be more wrong. We are a nation of laws. Respecting the law is what it means to be an American.

That's why Judicial Watch is leading a nationwide campaign to enforce our laws against illegal immigration. This campaign is more important now than ever since it appears the Obama administration and the Pelosi-led Congress has chosen to allow radical immigration activists to set the agenda on the illegal immigration crisis.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/weeklyupda ... washington

I believe that if things continue as they have been going, states will just ignore the Federal directives and enforce their own illimgration laws.

Afterall, the Federal Gov't is not stuck paying for the illegal invaders like the states seem to get saddled with in the final analysis.

Amnesty = DEMZ 4EVER

This federal program, called 287g, specifically trains local law enforcement officers to help enforce federal immigration law. And thanks in part to a Judicial Watch public education campaign, the number of local law enforcement agencies participating in the program is growing (from 29 participants in 2006 to 67 today).

67 today, shouldn't there be at least one 287g Program in each of the 3,000 districts in our nation?