http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/23255.html

Illegal Immigration and Local Government
March 05, 2007 01:00 PM EST

by Tom Fitton

Last week Judicial Watch hosted an exciting panel on illegal immigration at the National Press Club entitled, “Local Governments and Illegal Immigration.” Panelists included: Mayor Louis Barletta of Hazelton, Pennsylvania; Starletta Hairston, former Beaufort County, South Carolina; and Council Member and Virginia Delegate Jackson H. Miller. Each panelist shared personal accounts of the effect illegal immigration has had on them and on their communities, as well as the importance of local government in the fight against illegal immigration.

The discussion focused on the need for local governments to step up to the plate and take on the escalating problem of illegal immigration, then addressed the issue of whether federal government programs will make a difference in the struggles of local community leaders against illegal immigration.

My opening remarks:

The breakdown in our immigration system and the resulting lawlessness is a crisis. Chances are a short drive around your town will bring you face to face with one of the more visible signs of a defunct border security system: illegal alien day laborers loitering on street corners, seeking illegal work. Most of them are here illegally from Mexico. They likely crossed the border hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from your home.

Communities across America are wrestling with the local consequences of the illegal immigration crisis. Drugs, violent crime, overcrowded schools, and an overburdened healthcare system are just a few of the social problems caused by rampant illegal immigration.

As the federal government continues to fail in one of its most basic functions, to protect our borders, local officials are increasingly being left to clean up the mess. Some local governments rely on the rule of law and place a priority on the rights of American citizens. Others, unfortunately, flout the law and place a priority on the needs of illegal aliens.

Judicial Watch has taken key steps to confront this lawlessness – most notably, by suing localities in Herndon, Virginia and Laguna Beach, California to stop government officials from supporting illegal immigrant labor, and by suing the Los Angeles police department to end police policies which prevent its officers from asking anyone about their immigrant status or cooperating with federal immigration authorities. In this lawsuit we stand opposed by ACLU lawyers representing illegal immigrants seeking to defend the LAPD’s sanctuary policy.

We are also using open records laws to investigate the enforcement, or lack thereof, of our nation’s immigration laws. Houston, Chicago, Westchester, New York, and of course the federal government here in D.C. have all been subject to Judicial Watch scrutiny.

Local governments should be hauled into court for their undermining of our nation’s immigration laws. But local governments should be praised when they seek to support federal immigration law by passing appropriate local laws or by partnering effectively with federal immigration authorities. Our panelists lead a nationwide movement by local and state governments to battle illegal immigration. There is a saying in political circles that “all politics is local.” The same can now be said of the devastating impact of illegal immigration. And if we’re going to deal with it effectively, local communities need to join the fight.

What is interesting here today is that these local and state leaders on this panel are not from the Southwest but are from Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina. Our panelists seem to understand that, nowadays, every town is a border town.

I cannot do justice to this enormously successful panel in the space of this update, so check the “Watch and Listen” page of Judicial Watch’s Internet site soon. The panel, in its entirety, will be available for viewing in the coming week. And spread the word. Americans would benefit from learning more about this cutting-edge topic. If you’d like to read more about Judicial Watch’s fight against illegal immigration, please click here to visit our Internet site.