Thread: NE-State Law Not Answer on Immigration

Editorial, 3/5: State law not answer on immigration
Posted: Friday, March 4, 2011 11:59 pm

Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady dropped some cold facts into the raging dispute over immigration policy.

Advocates of an Arizona-style law for Nebraska should pay heed.

Among the reservations and problems Casady presented in a letter to the city finance director was this: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service now takes into custody about half the illegal immigrants detained in Lancaster County.

That's because Congress has not given the agency sufficient resources to do its job.

"I fear that for many of the defendants arrested by my officers, we would simply be incurring these costs only to have the defendant walk out of jail after satisfying their local charges with little or no further action by USCIS," Casady wrote.

What more evidence do those pushing for an Arizona-style law need to convince them that any real solution to the nation's immigration policy must come at the federal level?

Casady said that adding immigration enforcement responsibilities to his department's duties would mean additional local costs and consume staff time.

"Contrary to popular belief, there is no mammoth database into which a police officer can submit a name and determine within a matter of moments whether this person is a citizen, an immigrant, and if the latter, whether he or she is a legal or illegal immigrant. It simply does not exist," Casady wrote.

In a hearing Wednesday, Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont made a passionate plea for respect of the law. "We are a nation of laws. If we abandon the enforcement and respect for our laws, we lose the social compact that makes this nation truly great and unique among the nations of the world."

Janssen has a point. But his remedy is misguided. Another state law is not the answer.

Perhaps a better way to pressure the federal government to perform its duties under law would be to emulate something else the state of Arizona has done -- sue the federal government. "What we're seeking is to force the federal government to do its job," State Attorney General Tom Horne said.

A lawsuit seems like a cheaper and more properly focused tactic than saddling local law enforcement agencies with new duties.

The Journal Star editorial board continues to believe that only comprehensive reform of immigration policy at the federal level will solve the country's immigration woes. The facts presented by Casady make that clear.

http://journalstar.com/news/opinion/edi ... d805d.html

Casady said that adding immigration enforcement responsibilities to his department's duties would mean additional local costs and consume staff time

Sadly I suffer from what is called "Common sense"

I think even though it MAY mean additional cost and time to the police dept I think that is better than extra time and costs than the staff at the welfare office that these invaders bring?

The life saved may be their own.

so the police chiefs now can determine what laws to enforce and not enforce?

it doesnt work that way

He's right in some ways. Obama did not increase the number of ICE agents, or enforcement facilities because he issued a policy amnesty of only taking the aliens he deemed criminal enough.

There's not much the local PD can do, except turn them loose after time served, if ICE will not take them.

Deportation is a top down problem and it bottleneck is at ICE because of DHS and Obama.

Dixie