Texas Moves Ahead With Secure Communities Program

[JohnDoe2]

Texas Moves Ahead With Secure Communities Program

by Julian Aguilar
an hour ago

Republican lawmakers in Texas, unfazed by state governments across the country opting out of a controversial immigration enforcement program, are instead seeking to expand it here.

Through the Secure Communities program, administered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, local law enforcement compares the fingerprints of those arrested to a federal database to determine if the individual is eligible for deportation under current federal immigration laws. In a proclamation issued Tuesday, Gov. Rick Perry added expanding the program to the “callâ€

[defaoite62]

sigh...

While I think 287g and Secure Communities are both a step in the right
direction it's not enough.

The following is an email I sent to Annise Parker, Mayor of Houston, last
week after she sent me an email explaining that Houston is not a
sanctuary city because Houston uses Secure Communities and 287g.

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Mayor Parker,

I played bagpipes at Shatavia Anderson's memorial service, it was one of the most upsetting
things I've ever done. I watched video yesterday of Officer Wills funeral and when they showed
his pregnant wife and children, tears welled up in my eyes. I cannot begin to fathom the sense
of grievance and loss that family must be going through right now. Both cases are doubly horrific
because the perpetrators should not have been in the country in the first place.

Let me ask you the following questions.

Why was Johoan Rodrigues arrested five times but only deported twice? Why did he not
serve jail time for repeatedly breaking immigration laws?

Are you or are you not in support of amnesty for illegal aliens?

Did you or did you not support the use of city funding for day labor sites during your time as a city
council member? Which would send $50,000 of city money to support sites for the gathering and
employment of illegal aliens within the city limits thus making this city a haven for illegals.

Is General Order 500-5 still part of city policy?

Houston may or may not be a sanctuary city by some definitions because of the 287g and Secure Communities
programs but deporting an illegal immigrant after he's broken the law is sort of like closing the barn door after
the cow got loose...it doesn't work. Most times, by the time they are discovered, someone else has been robbed,
or raped, or hit by a drunk driver. The large number of violent crimes committed against citizens and police
officers within the city attest to the failure of these programs to protect those they were was designed to
protect. As far as I know, the Congressional Research Service still lists Houston as a sanctuary city.

The fact is that Houston is a magnate for Illegal immigrants, the high number of jobs and the fact that they
can exist virtually in peace without fear of the police bring them here in large numbers. This is how cities
like Houston get labeled a sanctuary city. Illegals bring with them a criminal culture, hiding from law
enforcement, false identification and criminal gangs. They exist outside of the law. It's not until one of
them, inevitably, commits a heinous crime that we pay any attention to the issue.

The truth is 287g and Secure communities treat the symptom but not the disease and the term "law
abiding illegal" is an oxymoron. I'm not asking for law enforcement to stop people for "driving while
Mexican" or for racial profiling but certainly something can be done to make it so that illegals no longer
feel welcome here. How about going after those that employ illegals, those that house them and detaining
those who are stopped for traffic violations if they cannot produce proper identification to prove they
are who they say they are?

There are a myriad of corners throughout the city where day laborers congregate daily for work. You
and I both know that the vast majority of these workers are not legal to work in this country. These
sites out in the open under the nose of law enforcement send a message to the illegal community that
it's OK for them to live here. It also gives the appearance to the citizens of this city that the politicians
and law enforcement are not concerned with illegal immigrants or the crime that goes with them or
our protection. City ordinances can be passed the prohibit or regulate the solicitation of jobs on public
streets and to go after employers who would violate tax and labor laws by hiring illegals.

In Houston, Parker said her problem with Arizona-style laws is that it gives too much discretion to officers
on the street in determining who might be here legally and who isn't. Parker said 20 percent of her city's
population wasn't born in America, and that she wasn't just referring to Hispanics born elsewhere.

"Are we as Americans willing to carry and display, for any police officer who wants to stop us, something
that proves that we were born here and have the right to be here?" she asked.

It's called a valid driver's license and/or social security card which I must show anytime I have an
encounter with a police officer.

Sure, it's the federal government's job to enforce illegal immigration but it also a municipal issue as
it's the police officer on the street who most encounters illegal immigrants and has a way and means
of identifying illegals and deciding whether or not to detain them based on their information.

Let's face it, the federal government has no intention of enforcing immigration law or securing the border.
It falls upon the individual communities as well as the states to protect ourselves. Jan Brewer and the
state of Arizona are a good example. Our state of Texas is working hard to incorporate laws that would
make it harder for illegals to remain and function here and an amendment has just passed in congress
that prohibits DHS from sending money to sanctuary cities.

In short, if you don't want Houston to be called a sanctuary city then act like you mean it.

Thank you, ----------------------------------------------

For what it's worth I didn't get a reply and I doubt I will. I just hope I
don't have to send her another email because another illegal killed
someone anytime soon.

In my opinion Secure Communities is an easy out for local and state
governments. Put it in place and they can slide on the whole immigration
issue. We need to hold their feet to the fire, secure our borders, no
amnesty, no catch and release.

Def