The Wait Is Over, The Crackdown Begins
By Greg L | 2 March 2008 | Illegal Aliens, PWC Politics | 21 Comments

Monday, March 3rd is the day when the Prince William County Police Department begins enforcing their new General Order that permits officers to question suspected illegal aliens about their immigration status, and turn over to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement foreign nationals who do not have legal presence in the United States. After more than nine months of public debate, policy development, officer training and resource allocation, Prince William County residents have finally overturned the Department’s previous policy that restricted officers from even asking a suspect about his legal status unless he was suspected of committing a felony offense. It took a frustratingly long time to correct a policy that was in violation of federal law and make it into something that made sense, but at least we got this fixed. The waiting is over.

Monday is either going to be unremarkable, or the opportunity to kick-off a significant enforcement effort. If Chief Deane has his way, tomorrow is going to be duller than dull, with no apparent change in law enforcement behavior so as to assuage the fears of a loud but rather small faction of leftists that think the best way to achieve a harmonious society is to stop enforcing the law. I’m sure Deane would love to come back to these folks and tell them that really, there wasn’t any reason to worry, and yes a few illegal aliens will get caught up in this, but just enough to keep the Board of County Supervisors off the back of the Police Department. There are others who would be very interested in demonstrating the effectiveness of this new approach to dealing with rampant lawlessness however, who might get to call some different shots.

It’s not hard to find folks that one would reasonably suspect of being illegal aliens. Hundreds congregate in front of a number of convenience stores in the county, looking for day jobs that will pay them in cash, with no “gringo papersâ€