Thread: ESCONDIDO WANTS TO INVITE BORDER PATROL INTO TOWN

ESCONDIDO WANTS TO INVITE BORDER PATROL INTO TOWN

By J. Harry Jones
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 18, 2007

ESCONDIDO – The City Council is considering a policy that would invite U.S. Border Patrol agents to work in concert with Escondido police during routine DUI, driver's license and seat belt checkpoints.

If someone passing through the checkpoint is found to be in violation by police, that person would be directed to a secondary inspection area where Border Patrol agents would determine if the driver, and possibly any passengers, are in the United States illegally. If they are, they would be taken into custody and face deportation.

Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher said a draft of the policy is being prepared, and a report will be submitted to the council within a few weeks. It is being written at the behest of Councilman Sam Abed, who broached the subject with former Police Chief Duane White last year and then continued discussion with Maher when he took over as chief in July, Abed said.

During a council workshop yesterday, Maher expressed serious misgivings about the proposed policy.

“My concern is that the (illegal immigrant) community would see us as an extension of the Border Patrol and would never want anything to do with us,” Maher said.

In an interview, Maher said his concern is that illegal residents wouldn't want to cooperate with the police in any situation, including filing crime reports or acting as witnesses, out of fear of deportation.

“We would have to educate the community about the difference” between the roles of the Border Patrol and police, he said.

Maher said he was unaware of any other local police department working with the Border Patrol in a similar manner.

During yesterday's meeting, Maher said it is stunning how many times officers encounter people at checkpoints without licenses who may or may not be illegal immigrants. He said the department does not check immigration status, but instead issues citations.

During an interview, Abed said he thinks Escondido would be the first city in the county to adopt such a policy.

“I believe we are the most impacted by illegal immigration and we must take the lead in measures to control it,” Abed said. “The majority of our citizens want us to do something about public safety.”

If approved, the policy would be the latest attempt by a City Council majority to crack down on illegal immigration.

Abed was one of three council members who voted to adopt an illegal-immigrant housing ordinance last year, which caused a furor in the city and made national headlines. The ordinance, which would have fined landlords for renting to illegal immigrants, was challenged in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. The city was forced to abandon it in the face of a costly and most likely futile court battle.

Last night, one of the lawyers who worked with the ACLU on the housing ordinance lawsuit expressed concerns about the city's latest proposal.

“This raises serious potential constitutional issues that the ACLU will look at,” Alan Mansfield said.

Mansfield said he is “continuing to work closely with the ACLU in monitoring the actions of the Escondido City Council.”

Mansfield said the issue came up recently when police checkpoints in the city also were staffed by Border Patrol agents.

Mansfield said he was told that the presence of the agents was a coincidence, and not part of a city policy, and that the police had not asked the agents to be there.

Since the defeat of the housing ordinance, the City Council has been discussing other ways illegal immigration can be dealt with at the local level. The council majority maintains that thousands of illegal immigrants in the city are causing overcrowding, increases in crime and other problems, and that the city must deal with it because the federal government isn't doing anything.

The council also is studying strictly enforcing existing laws regulating the number of cars parked in front of houses and illegal garage conversions.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nort ... 8esco.html

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J. Harry Jones: (760) 737-7579; jharry.jones@uniontrib.com

Is This What My Father Died For? wrote on January 16, 2007 10:34 PM:"****“Police Chief Maher said the policy won't apply to people who are here illegally but who aren't committing crimes.“**** Is this what my father died for? To leave a country in the hands of politicians and law enforcement who do nothing to enforce the law, and who say nothing which might ‘offend’ those who are not even supposed to be in this country to begin with? Did my father die to empower spineless, impotent ‘authorities’ who will not uphold the law for fear of endangering their job positions? Did my father help develop weapon technologies which, to this day, are still used to defend this country from enemies found without, only to empower those without convictions who refuse to fight an enemy from within? My father died of cancer from exposure to radiation while developing nuclear technology which helped protect this country. I grew up without a father for that reason. My parents had Robert Oppenheimer in our home before I was born in 1970. My father died for this country, and now the country is allowing individuals who are not here legally to dictate what the status quo shall be. Is this what my father died for? Him, and other patriots like him? Did he obey the law, and live his life in a logical, altruistic manner only to have men like Police Chief Maher and City Councilman Sam Abed spew out logically inconsistent, self-serving rhetoric like this?: ****City Councilman Sam Abed noted, "....there is a big difference between families who are illegal but who have an honest job and play by the rules, and a gang member or anyone else who is committing crimes in the city."**** God help us, we are being destroyed from within because of men like these. Men who care more about their own sphere of influence; who are, indeed, actually enthralled by it. God forbid Federal law should be enforced. And when there is an effort to have enforcement carried out at the Federal level the open-border crowds still cry foul. They themselves are not acting in a logically consistent manner, nor taking their mantra’s to their logical conclusion. If illegal immigration is solely a Federal matter, then they should have no problem whatsoever if steps are taken at the Federal level to deal with it. But no, they protest that as well. Because they care not for the rule of law, they only care for their own selfish, ethnocentric anti-American agenda. If the President were to declare martial law tomorrow to deal with illegal immigration (as I feel he should because of sheer numbers alone) they would cry foul on that as well. So I ask again, is this what my father died for? Police Chief Maher and City Councilman Sam Abed are shining examples of the rot and rut coming to the surface in this country because they are enamored with their own sphere of authority. The way in which this country is going I truly wish my father--- and others like him--- would have failed to help protect the United States from enemies from without. At least then I would have grown up with a father. Sure, this country might have been destroyed from enemies from without for lack of weapons technologies my father helped to develop, but at least we would have gone down in flames as a nation with a sense of true, unadulterated dignity. We would not be crying out as a nation a barely audible, raspy death rattle as we experience societal asphyxiation through the suppression of liberty, truth and justice in the name of diversity. We are headed towards another civil war, and I only hope that there will be enough ashes to cover the festering sores political complacency and apathy have created. If not, I hope this continent implodes itself, because it is no longer the country my father gave his life for. "

Life in the U.S. is Changing wrote on January 19, 2007 7:35 AM:"Law enforcement officers from communities unaffected by gangs until the 1980s or early 1990s often find themselves scrambling to obtain training relevant to what are called hybrid youth gangs in the 21st century. These include gangs with large memberships of illegal aliens from Mexico (Mexican Mafia), El Salvador (MS-13), the Dominican Republic, and others. "

The New Neighborhood Gang wrote on January 19, 2007 7:37 AM:"The assumption that new gangs share the characteristics of older gangs can impede law enforcement's attempts to identify and effectively counter local street gangs, and actions based on this assumption often elicit inappropriate responses from the community as a whole. Citizens may react negatively to law enforcement efforts when they sense that gang suppression actions are geared to a more serious gang problem than local gangs appear to present. Because of uncertainty in reporting on problem groups such as "cliques," "crews," "posses," and other nontraditional collectives that may be immigrant gangs, some police department staff spend an inordinate amount of time trying to precisely categorize local groups according to definitions of traditional gangs."

latin resident wrote on January 19, 2007 4:05 PM:"I believe escondido is now one of the worst areas you can live and even worst raise your children in. Every day some thing worst happens in this town and being a mexican woman i feel sad by saying it is the mexican gang members who are doing all of this chaos. i think they should tear down all the apartments around fig, mission washington etc.. and build new single family homes.Escondido is becoming seriously dangerous!"

Escondido Proposes New Effort To Stop Illegal Immigration

Roadside Checkpoints To Look For Illegal Immigrants

ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- In another effort to stop illegal immigration, the Escondido City Council proposed a policy in which U.S Border Patrol agents would work with local police at roadside checkpoints, it was reported Thursday.

Anyone suspected of a driving violation could be pulled aside, where Border Patrol agents would determine if the suspects were in the country legally. If not, they would be detained and deported, The San Diego Union- Tribune reported.

The city became a lightning rod for open-border activists last year when it passed an ordinance aimed at punishing landlords who rent to illegals.

Escondido police Chief Jim Maher said a draft of the latest proposal is being prepared, and a report will be submitted to the council in a few weeks. It is being written at the urging of Councilman Sam Abed, who broached the subject with former Chief Duane White last year, the newspaper reported.

During a council workshop Wednesday, Maher expressed misgivings about the proposal, the Union-Tribune reported.

"My concern is that the (illegal immigrant) community would see us as an extension of the Border Patrol and would never want anything to do with us," he said.

Maher told the Union-Tribune he is worried that illegals wouldn't want to cooperate with the police in any situation, including filing reports or acting as witnesses, out of fear of deportation.

http://www.10news.com/news/10783946/detail.html

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http://www.10news.com/news/10783946/detail.html

Pedestrian killed by hit and run driver

By: North County Times
JANUARY 20, 2007

ESCONDIDO ---- A man, possibly in his 30s, was struck and killed Friday by a hit-and-run driver, police said.

The fatality happened at 8:13 p.m. on Washington Avenue between Rose Street and Midway Drive, Sgt. Justin Murphy said.

The pedestrian died at the scene, he said. A black vehicle was seen leaving the area and paint chips were found, Murphy said.

Comments On This Story

Note: Comments reflect the views of readers and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff.

Al wrote on January 20, 2007 9:22 AM:"Horrible, just horrible. Not a good part of town. ESCO PD, please find this criminal ASAP!"

Skip wrote on January 20, 2007 11:47 AM:"Did the victim have an ID? Why possibly in his 30's. Oh how terrible : a Hit-and-Run in Escondido! That almost never happens? Right?"

To NCT : A Great Idea wrote on January 20, 2007 11:51 AM:"How about having an inter-active map associated with your web page. I would suggest that we track the location, time, and disposition of all Hit-and-Run accidents in Escondido. Just like some of the L.A. newspapers that track gang related homicides, you would get a large human interest, as there would be new numbers every day."

Gary wrote on January 20, 2007 11:53 AM:" In memory of this victim; instead of building a little shrine with flowers at the site, I would propose that the city sets up a Driver's license checkpoint at this location for a minimum of every day for a week."