Our county is a no 'dumping' zone
Our view: Bay Area officials need to look elsewhere to wash their hands of drug-dealing illegal immigrants.
Article Launched: 07/08/2008 07:28:40 PM PDT

San Bernardino County has long been a dumping ground for the rest of California, but San Francisco has taken it to a whole new ridiculous level, exporting undocumented immigrant drug dealers to private group homes in Yucaipa.

And it has done so without notifying our county's probation department - a fact that has local leaders rightfully indignant.

Fourth District County Supervisor Gary Ovitt is leading the charge, introducing a resolution to the board that demands San Francisco cease and desist from sending any undocumented immigrants to San Bernardino County.

While the measure falls short of demanding compensation for past practices, it does leave that door open.

We applaud Ovitt's proactive approach, and would remind our friends by the Bay that sneaky doesn't sell when it comes to solving problems we all share equally in.

That's certainly a big part of our problem with the "alien dumping," as some are calling it. San Francisco didn't ask or tell us, which is morally - if not legally - wrong.

But it goes beyond that. Illegal immigration ranks just behind the economy and war as a top-of-mind concern among Americans, and for one city to dump its problem on another doesn't fix the problem. It just moves it somewhere else.

We hate to sound all NIMBY-like and say "build your own group homes," but unless San Francisco takes responsibility for its share of the problem, we're going to be left with these kinds of turf wars that, at the end of the day, resolve nothing.

It doesn't end with illegal immigration either. Gangs, drugs, the increase in parolees resulting from overcrowded prisons - these are all problems that are too easily shifted from one community to another.

That San Bernardino County is drawing the line is a good thing. For San Francisco to listen and respond in a constructive manner would be an even better thing.
http://www.sbsun.com/editorial/ci_9820024