After all, we can't have Americans calling the authorities to report folks breaking the law, can we?

Latino leaders and faith-based organizations are calling for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to disconnect the hotline he created for people to report information about undocumented immigrants.

The hotline, they say, perpetuates a climate of fear within the immigrant community, raises the chance of racial profiling and opens the possibility for people to take revenge on former friends and family.

"What right does he have to investigate people based on the color of their skin, or their accent or the way they look," said Phoenix attorney Antonio Bustamante. "I want him to stop this nonsense and enforce criminal law instead of going after landscapers and nannies. He needs to stop this hotline."

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"There's nothing unconstitutional about putting up a hotline," Arpaio said, pointing out that U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have similar hotlines.

In fact, Arpaio told The Republic, he is stepping up efforts to crack down on illegal immigration by forbidding undocumented immigrants to visit friends and family in county jails. "Once they come in, we're going to have to arrest them and turn them over to ICE."

Actually, I'm all for a climate of fear in the border-jumper community. After all, since they are law-breakers they ought to be afraid -- very afraid.

What next -- will these folks protest CrimeStoppers as a violation of the rights of the Felon-American community?

Posted by: Greg at 03:17 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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And, of course, "religious leaders and civil rights advocates" are outraged by this attempt to enforce American law.

The spiritual leader of a mosque in Sharon was arrested yesterday on federal immigration fraud charges, sparking a protest outside the courthouse in Boston by a group of religious leaders and civil rights advocates who called the case a witch hunt.

Muhammad Masood, 49, imam of the 1,500 member Islamic Center of New England, is accused of lying repeatedly to federal immigration officials between 2002 and 2006 in a bid to obtain a green card and ultimately become a US citizen.

The criminal charges follow administrative charges brought by immigration officials last year. That case also drew wide protest from local Muslim leaders, who have accused authorities of ignoring efforts to smooth relations with members of various cultures.

A detailed affidavit filed in federal court alleges that Masood told authorities that after attending a master's degree program in economics at Boston University in the early 1990s, he returned to his native Pakistan for two years, as required by law, before returning to the United States in 1993 and later applying for residency.

But, the affidavit says, Masood never left Boston, and records show that he continued to live in Boston University housing with his wife and children, even though he was no longer a student. He was cited for a couple of traffic violations and was present when his fifth child was born in Boston in 1992, the affidavit indicates.

Authorities also allege that Masood did not disclose that he had collected state health benefits from 1997 to 2005 and initially denied ever being charged with any crimes, although he later acknowledged that he had been arrested for shoplifting in Norwood in 2000. The charge was later dismissed.

The protesters want to call this a witch hunt. The only problem is that the evidence clearly shows that Masood is guilty of the crimes with which he was charged. Let's hope we can get him shipped back to Pakistan as quickly as possible -- minus his fraudulently-obtained citizenship.

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I was shocked when I saw this quote in a column yesterday.

In fact, Tom Rodriguez, the executive manager of the Clark County School District's Diversity and Affirmative Action Programs, is quoted in today's newspaper saying no school system in the country tracks whether its students are in the country legally or not.

"You might find some people on the far right who would want to do that," he said, "but I can't think of any educators that would want to do that. Why would an educator not want to provide educational services?"

I find the comment by Tom Rodriguez to be laughable. I'm sure that if he were to ask the teachers of his district, he would find a large number of them certainly do want to track how many students are in this country illegally and turn them over for deportation. He'd find out that many of them are tired of seeing scarce educational resources diverted to special programs for the immigration criminals while the needs of American citizen children go unmet. He'd also find that many of them are believers in the concept of law and order, and therefore wish to see government agencies facilitating the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws rather than obstructing such enforcement.

Indeed, given that some 3/4 of Americans opposed the recent immigration bill with its amnesty provisions, I'd argue that Rodriguez is either a fool or a liar if he believes that those numbers do not generally reflect the attitude of educators. In other words, a great many educators in all parts of this country want real border enforcement and the removal of illegal immigrants from the United States.

But then again, what do I know -- I'm just a teacher.

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This sounds like an overwhelmingly positive development to me.

The number of legal immigrants seeking to become United States citizens is surging, officials say, prompted by imminent increases in fees to process naturalization applications, citizenship drives across the country and new feelings of insecurity among immigrants.

That fourth word makes all the difference in my book -- and I salute them as they receive the most exalted rank that any human being can ever hold: AMERICAN CITIZEN.

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Just a little factoid to pull out next time that you hear open border advocates lament the "inhumane" policies of the United States in deporting border-jumping immigration criminals.

Those who enter Mexico illegally have committed a criminal offense, and under 1974 law are subject to two to five years in prison. This law is being revisited by federal legislators who don't want to be hypocritical in their objection to criminalizing immigration in this country.

The number of illegal immigrants detained in Mexico nearly doubled from 2002 to more than 240,000 last year. They came from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

For over 30 years, the Mexican government has been complaining about "harsh" US immigration policies while enforcing laws much more draconian than anything envisioned by th American government or the American people. The belated concern about hypocrisy rings quite hollow.

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I'm absolutely stunned by the gall of this woman and her supporters.

Hours after the Senate voted against advancing the immigration reform project, the Mexican activist Elvira Arellano announced a campaign of resistance against the U.S. government.

In a written statement, the leader of the movement Familia Unida (United Family) said that “if the Democrats and the Republicans cannot summon the courage to fix the broken law we will not sit quietly and see our families and our children cut to pieces on the broken pieces of that broken law."

She demanded an immediate moratorium on all raids and deportations.

Arellano, who has remained in a Northwest Side church since August 15 to avoid an order of deportation, said this would be the deadline the government will have to "revive and pass a comprehensive immigration reform.”

Otherwise, pro-immigrant organizers will begin a campaign “aimed at bringing this government and this economy to a halt.”

Representatives from the Centro Sin Fronteras and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights also announced this morning they were prepared to take “economic actions” against corporations that support anti immigrant legislators and programming.

Also, a massive concentration of families and children is scheduled for July 17 in Washington D.C. to “confront the leaders of both parties and the President.”

So let me get this straight -- immigration criminals and their accomplices are going to "confront" the ineffective leaders of this country and demand that they stop even the half-hearted pathetic attempts to enforce our nation's immigration laws.

I've got a better idea -- not only does our government need to step up the raids and aggressively act to deport the immigration criminals rounded up, but they also need to kick down the doors of Adalberto United Methodist Church and haul out Arellano and (anyone who attempts to interfere with the enforcement of US law), and then ship her back to Mexico.

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