Phoenix Mayor Moves to Repeal Sanctuary City Policy
Michelle Malkin reports that Phoenix is moving to revoke its sanctuary city policy for illegal immigrants.
This is an encouraging step. I’d like to see Los Angeles follow suit.
We need to make sure that victims feel comfortable reporting crimes to the police, whether they are illegal or not. But the way to do that is not to hamstring local police with illegal policies that prevent them from asking criminal suspects about their status, or reporting known illegal criminals to ICE.
I understand the instinct to protect an illegal alien who is the victim of a crime, but in the end I just don’t accept it. Charge whomever committed the crime and then deport the victim.
If I am robbed while working in my meth lab, can I report the crime and not be charged? What other crimes can I commit and not be punished for if interaction with authorities on other matters reveals them?
CAL (c9c676) — 12/5/2007 @ 9:08 amIf illegal aliens think that they’ll be deported when they report crimes against, then they won’t report crimes against them. Forgetting for a moment whether or not one cares if, say, illegal 13-year-old girls can be raped with impunity by scumbags, as somebody who has a (US citizen) daughter of that age, I’d prefer that the scumbag who did that get arrested and prosecuted, if only for the safety of my own kid, and I’d not want the illegal alien kid or her parents to worry for a moment about reporting the scumbag, or cooperating with the authorities.
Joel Rosenberg (677e59) — 12/5/2007 @ 9:16 amAnd if said 13 year old was the daughter of the meth lab guy and was in fact raped in the meth lab? Can I get a pass on that in order to help get the rapist off the street?
CAL (c9c676) — 12/5/2007 @ 9:23 amI’m probably the wrong person to ask; I’m of the considered opinion that drug prohibition is hugely damaging to society, on balance, and that the prevalence of meth labs is a good demonstration of that.
Joel Rosenberg (677e59) — 12/5/2007 @ 9:28 amOkay. If my 13 year old daughter is raped in the middle of my counterfeiting operation right on top my $100 plates, can I get a pass on that and get my plates returned once the rapist is in jail?
CAL (c9c676) — 12/5/2007 @ 9:35 amCount on the left to always use the rarest case to justify their continued attacks on US culture and borders.
If you don’t belong here, leave. Period. No one would have committed a crime against them here if they were still in Mexico, so it is their own damn fault. How much crime should WE have to deal with because we are so afraid that illegals can’t live among us without being victims? That doesn’t even make sense as a question, but liberals are the masters of making simple issues complex. We should just duct tape liberals mouths shut and do what we know is right.
Mr.Obvious (d3fe32) — 12/5/2007 @ 9:49 amIt should be obvious to somebody with your chosen handle that illegals as crime victims isn’t exactly “the rarest case” or even a rare case; happens all the time. If you want illegals to be afraid to report crimes, I can’t think of a better way than to persuade them that any contact with local law enforcement will lead to deportation.
That seems to me to be an incredibly counterproductive idea.
If that makes me a “liberal”, make the most of it.
Joel Rosenberg (677e59) — 12/5/2007 @ 11:11 amJoel,
Patricia (aaa977) — 12/5/2007 @ 12:25 pmHow do you know illegals are reporting crime now? If they are, it is doing nothing to stop gang recruitment or crime. Maybe they are afraid of the gangs who run their neighborhoods; isn’t that just as much a possibilility of fearing ICE?
With a name like Rosenberg, there is a 90% chance that you are liberal anyway. All you do here is confirm it.
BTW, how do you know it happens all the time? You liberals are pretty famous for lies and distortions to make your agenda advance. Do you have any data?
Mr.Obvious (d3fe32) — 12/5/2007 @ 12:53 pmPatricia: I know that at least some illegals are reporting crime because I’ve talked with local-to-me police officers who have told me and others that. I guess they could be lying, but I don’t see why they would. Probably the best way for you to verify it would be to ask any of your local cops how much cooperation they think they’d get from any illegals if they started hauling them off to jail for deportation.
Mr. Obvious: I guess you are kind of obvious, although perhaps not in the way you ought to wish to be.
Joel Rosenberg (677e59) — 12/5/2007 @ 1:34 pmI wonder if Mr. Obvious is Danny Festler.
nk (19e0fd) — 12/5/2007 @ 2:36 pmSome and all the time are two different things.
Unless you are being “nuanced” to make a point.
Sorry nk, I cannot possibly rant as long as that guy.
Mr.Obvious (d3fe32) — 12/5/2007 @ 3:03 pmMaybe so, Joel, but not in enough numbers to make any difference whatsoever in the deterioration of the city. Crime in LA and environs is getting worse–I know because I live there.
And Phoenix is not talking about rounding up and deporting everybody. They are talking about reporting criminals to ICE.
I guess you will now say crime would even worse if illegals feared making anonymous phone calls to report crimes, but that’s a stretch.
Patricia (f56a97) — 12/5/2007 @ 7:13 pmI’m confused about how likely it is that illegal immigrant victims will be deported.
My community aggressively identifies and deports people who are arrested for crimes. It’s certainly possible that illegal immigrants are not reporting crimes because they fear deportation but to my knowledge it’s the arrestee whose name is being run through ICE’s database, not the victim or the complainant. The victims aren’t being deported in my community and, if anything, they have an incentive to report crime and get the illegal immigrant criminals who prey on them out of the country.
In fact, I’ve seen very few reports of cases where crime victims were identified and deported. One quasi-exception was the case of the Kansas teen who went to Mexico with his teacher and it took a special visa waiver for him to return. Of course, he wasn’t deported – his case was about whether he would be allowed to return – but he was allowed to return.
DRJ (a6fcd2) — 12/5/2007 @ 7:33 pmActually, isn’t this process in Phoenix part of the Federalism that we all advocate? Fifty (or more) experiments in how to manage a pluralistic, democratic Republic.
Another Drew (8018ee) — 12/5/2007 @ 10:31 pmIsn’t the idea that we try something to deal with a problem, and if it doesn’t work, we identify that failure, and move on to something else.
It is obvious that the sanctuary program has not worked.
DRJ — I don’t think it’s likely that illegal alien victims will be deported; only a tiny fraction of illegal aliens are deported every year, and the government, from my POV, seems to concentrate on two kinds of illegals: those convicted of other crimes, and other low-hanging fruit (those scooped up in raids).
I’m not sure, though, that that will be persuasive to illegal alien victims of crimes who, so I hear, the authorities have a great deal of difficulty getting to talk/cooperate with prosecutions as it is. It’s not the reality of a likelihood of deportation that appears to motivate the lack of cooperation, but the fear.
Joel Rosenberg (677e59) — 12/6/2007 @ 4:49 amAnother Drew, perhaps you should actually figure out the difference between federalism and a hole in the ground first.
The principle that guides federalism is that there are clear roles. And the borders/immigration issue is clearly federal. Almost everyone but liberal mayors and city councils seem to be on-board with that one.
Mr.Obvious (d3fe32) — 12/6/2007 @ 9:08 amJoel, if you got rid of the illegals, crime would drop so darn much you wouldn’t give a damn if the few remaining were afraid to report it.
Imagine freeing up 30% of prison space, relieving school crowding, lowering your homeowners and full-coverage and non-insured drivers insurance by 10-50% depending on where you live. Imagine hospitals not closing, but opening up. Imagine taxes falling, and your wages going up. Yes, it may cost $1 for a head of lettuce instead of $0.50, but hey, maybe some high school kids will be busy in the fields picking lettuce in the summer instead of being delinquent from boredom or trying to figure out how to “go out in style”
Mr.Obvious (d3fe32) — 12/6/2007 @ 9:12 amGood idea no city in this nation should be a sancuary for illegal aleins
krazy kagu (0a3548) — 12/7/2007 @ 9:17 am