Thread: Durham DA hires Hispanic prosecutor

This article doesn't address illegals but I found some of the comments to be almost discriminatory against non-Hispanics and there were some interesting facts.

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-683045.html

DURHAM -- Every time he turned around last week, District Attorney Mike Nifong found himself thinking Feliz Navidad.

It wasn't just because Christmas was on the way.

Nifong said he was celebrating the fact that Frances Miranda-Watkins soon will become Durham's first Hispanic assistant prosecutor.

She starts Jan. 3.

"It's hard for me to imagine we have never had a Hispanic assistant district attorney in Durham before," said Nifong. "But somebody's always got to be the first. In our case, it's Frances. We're glad to have her."

Born in New York City to a Puerto Rican mother, Miranda-Watkins will specialize in felony cases and help Nifong with a rising tide of Hispanics in the local court system.

It was reported last week, for example, that Hispanics account for roughly 45 percent of Durham's drunken-driving arrests while making up only about 8 percent of the population.

Miranda-Watkins, who speaks Spanish fluently, was in the Army from 1972 until 1979 and spent part of that time at Fort Bragg. She went on to receive a law degree from Northeastern University in Boston in 1993.

A day later, she moved to North Carolina, going into private legal practice in 1994.

Colleagues describe her as a passionate advocate for the rights of criminal defendants.

Still, Miranda-Watkins predicted the switch to prosecution work would come naturally.

"I never thought I would get rich practicing law," she said. "I just wanted to be of service to the community. Working for the DA's office is one of the greatest services you can provide. I've been protecting the rights of defendants for 11 years now. But the victims of crime need their rights protected, too. The legal system would fall apart without a good balance on both sides of the coin."

Nifong said a number of issues underscore the importance of Miranda-Watkins' arrival on his staff.

Among other things, he expressed concern that some Hispanics get short shrift from American bureaucrats.

"There are things about being Hispanic in North Carolina and the United States that create issues other people don't even have to think about," he said in an interview. "We set up unreasonable burdens for them. Getting a driver's license is one of them. I can't agree that making it hard for Hispanics to get driver's licenses in North Carolina has anything to do with terrorism. It's too facile to say that this creates an avenue for terror."

State regulations about driving with a revoked license also tend to discriminate against Hispanics, according to Nifong.

After three such offenses, the licenses of defendants are permanently yanked in North Carolina. But the law makes no distinction between people who lost their licenses for drunken driving and those who failed to show up in court for a seat belt violation, Nifong said.

He said those in the first category deserve to be grounded, while those in the second category perhaps shouldn't be.

"They still have family and employment obligations to get to," the district attorney added. "It seems to me that the law is not well considered. I don't know how old our driving-with-a-revoked-license statute is. But I guarantee there weren't a lot of Hispanics in North Carolina when it was written. The laws need to keep up with reality."

Some Hispanics might fail to appear in court for seat belt violations -- and subsequently lose their licenses over it -- simply because they don't speak or read English, said Nifong.

But Nifong soon abandoned his digression to express further delight about the hiring of Miranda-Watkins.

"It'll be like Feliz Navidad every day," he quipped.

Born in New York City to a Puerto Rican mother, Miranda-Watkins will specialize in felony cases and help Nifong with a rising tide of Hispanics in the local court system.

If the "tide" of Hispanics is rising I would assume the population is rising also. I'd be curious as to the percentage of increase in Hispanic applications for citizenship are.

It was reported last week, for example, that Hispanics account for roughly 45 percent of Durham's drunken-driving arrests while making up only about 8 percent of the population.

"There are things about being Hispanic in North Carolina and the United States that create issues other people don't even have to think about," he said in an interview. "We set up unreasonable burdens for them. Getting a driver's license is one of them. I can't agree that making it hard for Hispanics to get driver's licenses in North Carolina has anything to do with terrorism. It's too facile to say that this creates an avenue for terror."

There wouldn't be an issue if the were citizens and spoke English. I don't see where the drivers licensing laws makes it harder for any particular groups to get a license. North Carolina is one of the top five or so states where getting a license is fairly easy.

State regulations about driving with a revoked license also tend to discriminate against Hispanics, according to Nifong.

I can't believe a county prosecutor said this. How does the law discriminate? Does he intend to not prosecute Hispanics for these violations?

While I do not disparge hiring Miranda-Watkins I think that his reasons for doing so suck.

This attitude that it is too hard for North Carolina Hispanics and they are to be treated more lightly rather than to be treated if legal and if illegal deported is such a howling zinger.

Sounds like Nifong might be a racist.

W

There are things about being Hispanic in North Carolina and the United States that create issues other people don't even have to think about," he said in an interview. "We set up unreasonable burdens for them. Getting a driver's license is one of them. I can't agree that making it hard for Hispanics to get driver's licenses in North Carolina has anything to do with terrorism. It's too facile to say that this creates an avenue for terror."


lets see - most if not every last one of them is illegal and so should be deported- next they cause most of the problems with drunk driving so should not be encouraged---

It was reported last week, for example, that Hispanics account for roughly 45 percent of Durham's drunken-driving arrests while making up only about 8 percent of the population.

This paragraph just about says it all! It is just patently obvious that these Hispanics--PROBABLY MOST ILLEGAL--account for a HUGE percentage of crimes in our state and OTHER STATES. WAY OUT OF PROPORTION to the population. So, what are we supposed to do?? Sit back and ALLOW THEM TO BREAK THE LAW just because they are HISPANIC???

THE LAW KNOWS NO RACE, NO COLOR, NO ETHNICITY. THE LAW IS VERY SIMPLY THAT---THE LAW. IF you break it, you get prosecuted. END OF STORY.

And, WHY should we make it any easier for an HISPANIC to get a drivers' license than ANYONE ELSE INCLUDING an AMERICAN. The requirements are the SAME for ALL PEOPLE.