Thread: SOB -Miles from Mexico, deputies fight border crime

Miles from Mexico, deputies fight border crime
1 commentby Melissa Blasius - May. 14, 2009 10:35 PM

Pinal County Sheriff's Deputies are miles from the border, but they still fight illegal immigration each and every day.

In the cover of darkness, they use night vision technologies to patrol, always with the threat of drug smugglers attacking.

Spending a shift with Deputy Jesus Lopez, you start to see the blurring of the lines between border cop and beat cop. Deputy Lopez is a former military policeman, who served in Afghanistan. He just wrapped up his first year with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.
He's getting used to the midnight patrols in the desert washes where he's looking to arrest smugglers, confiscate drugs, and call in federal immigration officers to pick up illegal immigrants.

The ethical dilemmas in the expanding border war are also becoming routine.

During one shift last month, Deputy Lopez pulled over a car in Casa Grande. The driver didn't have a drivers license. Lopez says both the man and his wife admitted they were in the country illegally, but their two young daughters in the back seat were U.S. citizens.

Lopez allowed the family to walk away, saying deputies have some discretion on when it's appropriate to call Border Patrol when they encounter suspected illegal immigrants. In this case, Lopez chose not to call in federal immigration officers, saying he wouldn't want to split up the young family through deportation.




http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/ar ... 09-CR.html

Send them all back home together ...

Lopez does not belong in border patrol. It's not his place to subvert federal laws, which he did by letting these illegal aliens go.

During one shift last month, Deputy Lopez pulled over a car in Casa Grande. The driver didn't have a drivers license. Lopez says both the man and his wife admitted they were in the country illegally, but their two young daughters in the back seat were U.S. citizens.

Lopez allowed the family to walk away, saying deputies have some discretion on when it's appropriate to call Border Patrol when they encounter suspected illegal immigrants. In this case, Lopez chose not to call in federal immigration officers, saying he wouldn't want to split up the young family through deportation

First of all, did he really allow them to "walk" away, or did he allow the unlicensed illegal to continue driving, putting other "young families" at risk because he never passed or even took a driving test in the U.S.? Here in AZ, if someone is found to be unlicensed, uninsured, or if the vehicle is unregistered (how could he be registered?) (not just one, like unlicensed only, but if he was also uninsured or unregistered) the vehicle should have been towed and impounded. I didn't read that that happened. I guess only American's get their vehicles impounded.
Second, who said the family would be split up. If mom and dad care so little about their children that they would be willing to leave them behind, then that's their choice. I don't believe it's mandatory to leave young children behind. They can bring them with them, can't they?