Patterico's Pontifications

1/28/2012

San Francisco Based State Legislator Fights “Deport the Criminals First” Policy

Filed under: Deport the Criminals First,General,Immigration,Morons — Patterico @ 3:02 pm



Ah, San Francisco:

A bill being drafted by a state legislator would limit local law enforcement from holding arrestees on behalf of immigration authorities seeking to deport them.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) said he is finalizing amendments to a bill that would be the first statewide measure to counter the Secure Communities enforcement program, which requires law enforcement agencies to forward to immigration authorities the fingerprints of all arrestees booked into local jails.

If those authorities identify a candidate for deportation, they can issue a detainer, which asks the agency to hold them beyond the time when they would normally be released so immigration agents can take custody. The program has come under fire because many of those ensnared have never been convicted of crimes or are low-level offenders.

When states like California or Arizona have tried to pass legislation that helps the federal government enforce federal immigration law, the immigrants’ rights advocates always tell us those law are illegal — because federal law is supreme in the area of immigration. So, local laws can’t touch on immigration (so the argument goes) because that steps on federal toes.

(I have never understood this argument, because helping the feds enforce the law can’t be seen as stepping on their toes . . . can it??)

Where is the “federal preemption” crowd here? This law explicitly seeks to interfere with federal programs designed to catch people in custody who have violated our immigration laws. Wouldn’t that . . . step on federal toes?

What needs to be remembered is that people who are subject to deportation have already violated the law. What’s more, if they have been arrested, they are on average more likely to be among the least desirable among those who have violated our immigration laws. A “Deport the Criminals First” policy uses our limited resources in the manner that best protects public safety, by concentrating on people who have (by and large) committed crimes other than violating immigration laws. Because criminals are more dangerous than non-criminals, this policy saves lives. And even if it turns out that they didn’t commit other crimes, they still violated immigration laws anyway, and we have them in custody.

Ammiano’s plan is an open borders plan: EVERYONE is welcome, including the diseased, the immoral, and the criminal. Our country is a country of immigrants, but we have the right to control which immigrants are allowed to enter, to keep the country healthy and safe. Orderly immigration laws seek to import immigrants who are not criminals or afflicted with communicable diseases. A policy of simply throwing open the borders removes these checks, which has the effect of welcoming people with TB and serious criminal histories. I don’t see why our country needs to be burdened with a crop of undesirables (criminals) when we have insufficient resources to take care of the people we already have.

The U.S. is fishing for illegals. We can’t catch every fish in the sea, but we can catch some. Ammiano wants to take the fish that are already in the net and throw them back out to sea. That only makes sense if you think fishing is morally wrong.

Me, I don’t think it is. And I don’t think deporting criminal illegals is wrong either.

But then, I don’t live in San Francisco.

39 Responses to “San Francisco Based State Legislator Fights “Deport the Criminals First” Policy”

  1. I guess this Democrat legislator is telling us who his favorite constituents are.

    SPQR (9ec863)

  2. I think you should see it like this:

    Stepping on a law enforcement person’s toes is assaultive behavior.

    Hierarchy matters here. Federal toes are worth more than state toes.

    SteveG (e27d71)

  3. You are just xenophobic anti immigrant racists.

    JD (48f69a)

  4. We’re all a bunch of xenophobes who made this mess Obama had to clean up.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  5. Notice how Obama says he had to clean up Bush’s mess but not Clinton’s.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  6. ____________________________________________

    But then, I don’t live in San Francisco.

    The good ol’ capitalist system protects all the limousine liberals in SF from their own idiocy and phoniness. IOW, the price structure of real estate — determined by supply and demand — is so high in such protected rarefied enclaves, that it forces out most of the type of low-income folk who are the mainstay of the majority of illegal immigrants to the US, that being wanderers from Mexico and similar countries to the south. So the left in SF can be very idealistic and beautiful — and patient and loving, and heartfelt and wonderful — about the “undocumented” since the symbolic drawbridge to the symbolic moat that encircles Liberal Land is automatically pulled up.

    Mark (31bbb6)

  7. Michael Moore sure benefits from capitalism.

    He also weighs 765,321,584 Lbs.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  8. Two constituencies, Hispanics and gays. Not exactly strong allies with common goals, aspirations, and cultural commonalities.

    Huey (f9312d)

  9. How long before San Fransicko mandates that Catholics need to take Birth Control?

    At least the Duggars are not looking to the government for help.

    How long before San Fransicko and the USA bans home schooling.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  10. Deport Ammiano first!

    Didn’t this guy stand up for the illegal who ended up killing some people up in “The City” –
    an illegal that had been in and out of custody several times previous to his taking of life?

    AD-RtR/OS! (7a55d1)

  11. They already tried to ban circumcision, but that didn’t fly very well.

    AD-RtR/OS! (7a55d1)

  12. Yeh us jooooooooooooos paid them off.

    😉

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  13. Obama has a stupid smile.

    His smile looks like he sucked on a lemon.

    Someone should take Obama to Teleprompter rehab before he overdoses on teleprompter.

    I love how Obama inherited Bush’s recession but if
    it were a democrap who proceeded Obama no one would be talking about inheriting things.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  14. By the way useful idiots.

    Bush’s deficits paled in comparison to Clinton and Omarxist’s deficit.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  15. Good post, I agree with all of it. But I couldn’t help but smile at the last sentence. I do admire that you keep the faith in sunny L.A., Patterico.

    Beldar (2afc73)

  16. How long before San Fransicko mandates that Catholics need to take Birth Control?

    Around the same time they require Muslims to eat pork?

    Michael Ejercito (64388b)

  17. I read the comments here and love living in San Francisco just a little bit more. I’m very happy to be back here, after many years in NYC.

    I especially loved the notion that there can’t be any undocumented immigrants here, because real estate is expensive. Mark is someone who has obviously never been here, or if he has, never left Fisherman’s Wharf.

    Jamie (ee4a20)

  18. Muslims get top billing all over.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  19. I agree this is crazy, but I don’t think it’s illegal. States have the right to refuse federal requests for manpower; the feds cannot force the state to, say, police gun shows to enforce some federal reporting requirement. But they CAN withhold funds.

    I wonder what federal funds, if any, are conditioned on co-operation here. Not that this president will do anything if he could. I suppose the next president and the next congress will have something to say in the matter.

    And, once again, I lament Kamala Harris.

    Kevin M (563f77)

  20. Beldar,

    The climate here is really too good to abandon it to the Commies.

    Kevin M (563f77)

  21. what would be sweet if we could extend frisco’s high speed rail o fun all the way to tijuana

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  22. What wold be sweet is if happyfeet could speak English and not Engrish.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  23. what would be sweet if we could let sf secede from california. or the us for that matter. they can have their own language and look down on english-speaking americans when we drop in for a restaurant dinner.

    Kevin M (563f77)

  24. Is Ammiano always in competition to be the most foolish member of the City Council, with that guy
    that wanted to ban military recruitment from San Francisco.

    narciso (87e966)

  25. San Fransicko is a den of debauchery.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  26. _______________________________________________

    I especially loved the notion that there can’t be any undocumented immigrants here

    Notice I said “most” but not all. There are obviously types of the “undocumented” (ie, the semi- or non-literate, low-income ones) that test the tolerance of limousine liberals in SF, but not so many that it makes them reach the breaking point.

    I should have also added “keeps out” to the comment of “forces out,” since the high price of housing prevents a poorer populace from moving to major sections of SF in the first place. BTW, that’s one reason why Liberal Land is less diverse today — at least in terms of the number of people who are black and Latino — than in the past.

    It’s also why it’s less diverse ideologically than ever before, since it does test the patience of folks with more than a fraction of common sense, including even left-leaning parents of children who may privately get a bit queasy over raising a family in an excessively “do you own thang!,” “if it feels good, do it!” environment.

    Mark (411533)

  27. I am a Brit, a proud subject of her Majesty the Queen. I am also a Burkean Tory. That refers to Edmund Burke, who believed that you were justified it in revolting against George III, who was actually otherwise an enlightened monarch.
    But I thought you people were in favour of a government of laws rather than men! From which it follows that the state is even more bound by the law, than the average citizen. That is to say they cannot require that any law should be set aside to suit their agenda.

    [note: released from moderation. –Stashiu]

    Gordon Walker (880829)

  28. what would be sweet if we could extend frisco’s high speed rail o fun all the way to tijuana

    Only if it was a Non-stop Express!

    AD-RtR/OS! (e45633)

  29. Comment by Gordon Walker — 1/29/2012 @ 7:57 am

    Gordon, you must remember that there are a few over-riding foundational aspects to Life on the Left:
    1- Do as I say, not as I do;
    2- Laws are for Little People;
    3- The State is All!

    [note: released from moderation. –Stashiu]

    AD-RtR/OS! (e45633)

  30. I should have also added “keeps out” to the comment of “forces out,” since the high price of housing prevents a poorer populace from moving to major sections of SF in the first place. BTW, that’s one reason why Liberal Land is less diverse today — at least in terms of the number of people who are black and Latino — than in the past.

    Mark, I live very near the tenderloin. I have no idea what my neighhbor’s politics are, but as a white male white collar worker, I’m very much in the minority in my neighborhood. City-wide, whites are 49% of the population, down from 92% in 1940. Wikipedia can be your friend, too. And the population is still growing.

    You don’t have to like the politics here. I have problems with the politics here. But pretending SF is some enclave of rich white stereotypes is dumb, and anyone who lives here knows it.

    Jamie (ee4a20)

  31. ________________________________________________

    But pretending SF is some enclave of rich white stereotypes is dumb

    Jamie, I didn’t claim that SF is mostly white, but that it — unlike so many other American cities, where Latinos and blacks are predominant — doesn’t contain as many people in categories linked to statistics that reflect less education, lower incomes and greater social dysfunction, particularly in terms of criminality.

    quickfacts.census.gov, San Francisco County for 2010:

    48.5% White
    33.3% Asian
    15.1% Hispanic or Latino origin
    6.1% Black
    4.7% Persons reporting two or more races
    0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
    0.4% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander,
    41.9% White persons not Hispanic

    By the standards of urban America in the 21st century, the city of SF still has a fairly significant majority of its populace made up of Anglo/whites. Compare that with Los Angeles, where even the 49.8% “white” may be different (or much more modest) than presumed — or it actually being closer to 28% — since technically a person of, for example, 100% Mexican background can be labeled as “white.”

    49.8% White
    48.5% Hispanic or Latino origin
    11.3% Asian
    9.6% Black
    4.6% Persons reporting two or more races
    0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
    0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
    28.7% White persons not Hispanic

    But that’s just one piece of the puzzle. Argentina, unlike the US, is far more of a mono-racial “white” society — predominantly of European extraction — and yet its decades of mindless leftist Peronist politics have had not much less of a negative impact on its economy and international competitiveness than what’s evident in leftist, flaky and corrupt cities throughout America. I guess the same applies to multi-racial America compared with a less racially diverse society like (basket-case) Greece.

    So it’s a matter of the degree of just how bad things can get in a community or nation.

    Mark (31bbb6)

  32. Something most people don’t know about Ammiano: he made his mark as the co-founder of a gay teachers organization back in the days of the Briggs Amendment, the failed state proposition that would have barred homosexuals from teaching. He also was once one of the nation’s best-known gay stand-up comedians.

    L.N. Smithee (a073b6)

  33. Fear not, Gordon Walker, for we feel confident that the United States Attorney General is, right this minute, drafting a letter which tells the city of San Francisco in no uncertain terms that if it goes forward with this scheme it will face immediate and severe legal action by the Justice Department.

    Well, at the very least they’re going to give it some serious consideration.

    Um . . . do you chaps across the pond ever use the term “lip service”?

    [note: released from moderation. –Stashiu]

    Icy (8f68a7)

  34. He also was once one of the nation’s best-known gay stand-up comedians.

    — Sounds like he’s still telling jokes.

    Icy (8f68a7)

  35. He also was once one of the nation’s best-known gay stand up comedians.

    Who Bawney Fwankfurter?

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)

  36. SF always smells like pee

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  37. I’m wondering if all those asians are here legally?
    Everyone assumes illegals=Mexicans, but places like SF have a different dynamic.
    I think it is also worth noting that hispanics and asians tend to under report, so there is probably a much denser population of hispanics packed into certain neighborhoods, the same goes for asians.
    The impact of crowding on small area can’t be dismissed. One way to counter high real estate prices is to use the multiplier effect and pack 12 people into a 2 bedroom house.
    I live in Santa Barbara, and the illegals (mostly Mexican) are densely packed into the lower Eastside and lower Westside. Bedrooms are partitioned into cells big enough for a cot.
    A 5G bucket in the back yard next to the goat pen is the emergency toilet. There is usually campers and/or a trailer stuffed into the driveway.
    The only real gangs in town are the Eastsiders and the Westsiders and they kill each other over age old grudges.
    Deporting 50 or so of them would put an end to most of the violent crime in our city overnight. (of course others would soon take their place)

    I was down in Puerto Escondido MX a while ago… home to the Mexican Pipeline. Nice big wave.
    There were a ton (plague) of gangbangers from Oxnard there. Deportees and guys running from warrants.
    Point being that the Mexican police can’t handle
    these guys.

    SteveG (e27d71)

  38. I think he just got “delta smelt” confused with “illegal alien”, that’s all.

    MunDane (861704)

  39. San Fransicko is like New York’s abusive daughter.

    Dohbiden (ef98f0)


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