{"id":2253,"date":"2007-09-18T11:17:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-18T17:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/congress-must-act-on-immigration-reform\/"},"modified":"2007-09-18T11:17:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-18T17:17:00","slug":"congress-must-act-on-immigration-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/congress-must-act-on-immigration-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress must act on immigration reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American Civil Liberties Union<\/a> wants us to believe that it is entirely inappropriate and irresponsible for sheriff\u2019s deputies in Do\u00f1a Ana and Otero counties to assist the federal government in policing immigrant neighborhoods. And the Otero County<\/a> sheriff wants us to believe his office is being unfairly criticized and there\u2019s nothing wrong with state deputies detaining violators of federal immigration law when they come across them.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Both oversimplify a complicated problem created by a Congress that is in dereliction of its duty by failing to invest the time and effort necessary to reach a compromise and approve comprehensive immigration reform.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

What has happened is this: A federal grant is being provided to some local law enforcement agencies along the border to help them deal with the increase in crime that comes from having high numbers of undocumented immigrants living in hiding. It\u2019s true that such immigrants are often victims of robbery, false imprisonment, domestic violence and, in some cases, even more serious crimes such as rape.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

They\u2019re more at risk because they\u2019re less likely to report crime.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So the two sheriff\u2019s departments use the funds to patrol neighborhoods identified as potential human and drug trafficking areas. They technically can\u2019t enforce federal immigration law, so they look for meth labs, pull over traffic violators, etc.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In practicality, they are, of course, aiding the federal government in enforcing immigration law. That\u2019s why they get federal money. In the process of investigating potential violations of state laws, they\u2019re bound to come across people who are in the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> illegally.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

What then? Do they let them go? Should a deputy not call the Secret Service when he comes across counterfeit money because it\u2019s not his job to enforce federal law?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Does he call the Border Patrol when he comes across an illegal immigrant? Does he risk letting an entire group of people know they can\u2019t report a rape or robbery because they might be deported for doing it?<\/p>\n

\n

No good local solution<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In Albuquerque<\/st1:city> and Santa Fe<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, officials have decided the answer is to ignore immigration violations, to not report them to federal officials. In Do\u00f1a Ana and Otero counties, officials have decided to report them if they\u2019re discovered in the course of investigation of possible state crimes.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Neither is a good solution. One encourages further violations of a federal law that exists for a good reason, and the other discourages victims from reporting violations of equally important state laws.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There is no good solution, on a local level, to this problem. That\u2019s because it\u2019s a problem that has been entirely created by the federal government. Local governments along the border must attempt to address the issues, because they have to deal with the day-to-day effects of Congress\u2019 inaction.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But the only solution will be action by Congress and the president, comprehensive immigration reform that eases the process of legal immigration, better secures the border, resolves the status of the millions living illegally in this country and addresses the poverty in Latin America<\/st1:place> that leads its residents to head north.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Not only does Congress\u2019 failure to act allow more people to die in the desert along the U.S.\/Mexico border each week, but it also creates communities on this side of the border, like Chaparral, where local law enforcement officers can\u2019t adequately do their jobs.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

If they report immigration violations, they almost ensure they will never learn about other crimes being committed. But they\u2019ve also taken an oath to fight crime, an oath they have to reject in order to ignore immigration violations.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Congress must act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American Civil Liberties Union wants us to believe that it is entirely inappropriate and irresponsible for sheriff\u2019s deputies in Do\u00f1a Ana and Otero counties to assist the federal government in policing immigrant neighborhoods. And the Otero County sheriff wants us to believe his office is being unfairly criticized and there\u2019s nothing wrong with state […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}