Thread: GA: Norwood's immigration policing bill reintroduced

Norwood's immigration policing bill reintroduced

Walter C. Jones | Saturday, September 8, 2007 at 12:30 am
A bill to empower local police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants gained a new chance for passage Friday, seven months after the death of the congressman who authored the measure.

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced The Charlie Norwood CLEAR Act of 2007, naming it for Norwood, who pushed passage of the bill until his death Feb. 13.

Norwood, R-Augusta, first introduced the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act in 2003 and wound up getting nearly one-fourth of the House to cosponsor it, although the measure never won passage.

Blackburn had 75 co-sponsors for H.R. 3494 when she introduced it, topping the list with U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens, who won a special election in July to complete Norwood's term.

"Charlie Norwood understood the problems caused by illegal immigration and was widely respected for his leadership on the issue," Broun said in a statement from his office.

His legislative director, John Kennedy, said Broun had intended to introduce the bill but yielded to Blackburn.

Blackburn acknowledged that because the Democrats control the House and the Senate, passage will be an uphill battle.

"We are realistic," she said. "We know it's going to be difficult, but we know that this bill has had bipartisan support in the past."

Similar bills have stalled in the Georgia General Assembly when opposed by local police officials.

"The police chiefs in the state are somewhat divided on it," said Frank V. Rotondo, executive director of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police.

Some worry illegal immigrants won't report crimes they witness or crimes in which they are the victims if they fear they could be deported for contacting police, he said. Many police chiefs also predict their jails will overflow with undocumented immigrants waiting for federal authorities to transport them.

Blackburn's version addresses that worry by requiring the federal Department of Homeland Security to transport them within 48 hours of arrest.

She estimates there are 400,000 immigrants who have been ordered to leave the United States, including 85,000 with criminal records. The bill would put information about them in a database available to local police so they can concentrate on these immigrants first.

The measure also aims to prevent cities such as San Francisco, Houston and New York from declaring themselves "sanctuary cities" where illegal immigrants face no police enforcement or denial of government benefits.

Blackburn said the growth of the sanctuary movement is fueling support for her bill.

"This is the type of issue that is really infuriating to the taxpayers," she said. "They know that they are the ones who are going to be paying for these benefits."

http://savannahnow.com/node/357109

Some worry illegal immigrants won't report crimes they witness or crimes in which they are the victims if they fear they could be deported for contacting police, he said. Many police chiefs also predict their jails will overflow with undocumented immigrants waiting for federal authorities to transport them.

Gee, we often hear this BS rhetoric so let's analyze it. First, if there weren't any illegals here, they wouldn't be committing crimes. Therefore, there wouldn't be a need to report crimes by "innocent" illegals because they wouldn't be here being victims to crimes by other illegals.

SO DEPORT THEM ALL AND THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED.
Well that was easy!