Thread: Legal Loophole Could Help Criminals Hide In Houston

MS-13 Gang Originates In El Salvador

POSTED: 4:38 pm CDT April 14, 2006

HOUSTON -- A legal loophole could help dangerous criminals hide in Houston. KPRC Local 2 uncovered the problem on a recent trip to the border. It can tie the hands of the Border Patrol as they deal with the MS-13 gang.

The roots of the MS-13 gang are grounded in El Salvador. That's why the Department of Justice is fighting to overturn a nearly 30-year-old court ruling that prohibits the U.S. from detaining and immediately deporting people from that country.

In cases of illegal immigrants from other countries, including Mexico, our government has what's called expedited removal, which allows the U.S. to detain and deport illegal immigrants without sending them before an immigration judge. It speeds up the process.

But the law requires that El Salvadorans be granted a hearing before a judge. The government simply does not have enough jail space to hold all of these people before their court date.


http://www.click2houston.com/news/87042 ... u&psp=news[/i]

Why am I not shocked?? What's the reason for this?

Originally Posted by gofer

Why am I not shocked?? What's the reason for this?

The Houston Police Department (HPD) is in no way motivated to take any sort of action against illegal immigration. The chief of police stated a few years ago that as long as (illegal immigrants) are working and not breaking the law, they (HPD) see no need to get involved. This leaves us to assume that HPD does not consider crossing the border illegally to be breaking the law. (What a coincidence! Our protestors feel the same way.)

An HPD officer told me that illegal immigrants are referred to as "undocumented workers" and are protected by law. He went on to express the city's support for the "Westpark Job Pool", which is a somewhat underground system of providing a meeting place for contractors and these "undocumented workers". (Comedian Carlos Mencia refers to a similar system where "beaners", as he calls them, hang out in front of Home Depot waiting to be picked up by contractors.)

I took a cruise down Westpark Drive and noticed this "job pool" where illegal immigrants loitered curbside, near bus stops, and in gas station parking lots over a stretch of about a mile and a half. As I drove down the street I noticed many of them waved at me. It took a brief moment to register in my mind that they were attempting to flag me down because I was driving a pick-up truck.

I was greatly disturbed to find that the HPD knows where a large amount of illegal activity occurs on a daily basis yet refuses to do anything about it. Let it also be noted that HPD has no problem arresting hundreds of people in one big swoop. A few years ago, HPD officers raided a K-Mart parking lot and arrested 425 people (men, women, and children), who were customers of the K-Mart store and other businesses within the shopping center. HPD's excuse for this brutal force was that they were following orders in a raid which was supposed to target street racers. I would also like to note that I was the ONLY person on the street protesting the following Monday (to the evening rush hour traffic). My sign read: "425 Arrested! You Could Be Next! Stop Abuse of Power!"

It is quite odd indeed that our immigrants are more motivated to stand up for rights than we, ourselves, seem to be.

getting that message out to some Houstonians I know.