Whatever other issues may be raised by this story about the arrest of an illegal immigrant (and there are a bunch of them -- including misuse of government resources and outright fraud), this quote shows how some folks are so clueless that they don't even merit consideration in the immigration debate.

"To go after productive citizens who have been our neighbors and friends for years? It's insane," said Marilyn Tyler, a retired librarian from Burlington who knew the arrested woman. "We can't just stand by and let this happen."

Clearly Ms. Tyler's mind is going in her later years. After all, the precise problem is that Marxavi Angel Martinez IS NOT a citizen. She is a foreigner who has been making fraudulent use of an SSN to illegally obtain employment in this country. And while you can weep about the fact that her parents brought her to this country as a toddler and she grew up in the county. The reality is that that she appears to be guilty of four federal felonies and lied about her citizenship on her employment application to get a job for which she was not eligible.

Of course, Martinez is not responsible for having come to this country illegally. She is, however, responsible for staying and for engaging in illegal, fraudulent practices to do so and to obtain work. And for that, she should be treated like any other felon -- and then deported, like every other immigration criminal.

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Given that conviction for any number of crimes can be grounds for deportation, I don't see why anyone should object to this new law at all -- unless, of course, they carry a brief for border-jumpers and other lawbreakers.

A year after Prince William County launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants, Virginia has implemented a law that requires something similar for every jurisdiction in the state. Jail officials are now required to notify federal authorities of all foreign-born inmates regardless of their immigration status.

The little-noticed law went into effect July 1 and aims to make every corner of the state as unwelcoming as Prince William for illegal immigrants charged with crimes.

Why, exactly, shouldn't we be unwelcoming of criminal immigrants. We've seen what welcoming them does in places like San Francisco, where sanctuary policies reign.

If someone is in this country legally, all this measure does is put ICE on notice that they may be in violation of their immigration status. And if they are here illegally, it tells them to round 'em up and ship 'em back where they belong.

Will someone explain to me what is wrong with that?

Especially when one considers these numbers.

Through various enforcement programs, ICE says it identified 164,296 illegal immigrants who served time in local jails in fiscal 2007, including 2,738 in the District, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

ICE doesn't supply information on the disposition of these cases -- but I dare say that the deportation of even half of these miscreants would make this country a better place.

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If you are going to adopt "sanctuary city" policies that allow violent criminals to run free when they should be deported, are you not an accomplice to their criminal activity?

The man charged with killing a father and two sons on a San Francisco street last month was one of the youths who benefited from the city's long-standing practice of shielding illegal immigrant juveniles who committed felonies from possible deportation, The Chronicle has learned.

Edwin Ramos, now 21, is being held on three counts of murder in the June 22 deaths of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. They were shot near their home in the Excelsior district when Tony Bologna, driving home from a family picnic, briefly blocked the gunman's car from completing a left turn down a narrow street, police say.

Ramos, a native of El Salvador whom prosecutors say is a member of a violent street gang, was found guilty of two felonies as a juvenile - a gang-related assault on a Muni passenger and the attempted robbery of a pregnant woman - according to authorities familiar with his background.

In neither instance did officials with the city's Juvenile Probation Department alert federal immigration authorities, because it was the city agency's policy not to consider immigration status when deciding how to deal with an offender. Had city officials investigated, they would have found that Ramos lacked legal status to remain in the United States.

Edwin Ramos murdered three American citizens, aided and abetted by the City of San Francisco. This wasn't an oversight or a case of human error. This was a policy decision by the elected officials of the city to allow rabid beasts like Ramos to roam the streets when there was a legitimate way to promote public safety by turning him over to federal officials for deportation. That is a violation of federal law -- and makes those officials complicit in the murder of Tony, Michael, and Matthew Bologna. Will some courageous prosecutor -- state or federal -- hold Gavin Newsom and the members of the City Council accountable for their actions by indicting them and taking them to trial?

More At Michelle Malkin, Patterico

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Now I'll be honest -- I have some problems with the treatment this woman received. Some of what was done probably should not have been.

However, this quote shows a certain arrogance on her part that infects a great many border-jumping immigration criminals.

“I felt like they were treating me like a criminal person,” Mrs. Villegas said, speaking in Spanish in a telephone interview. The phone in her room was turned off, and she was not permitted to speak with her husband when he came to retrieve their newborn son from the hospital on July 7 as she returned to jail, she said.

Let's see -- she was driving in a manner just one step below what would get her charged for reckless driving. She had no driver's license (and presumably no insurance). She was in the country illegally, and had reentered the US after having been deported once before for illegally living and working in this country.

Imagine that -- she was treated like she was a lawbreaker!

Round 'em up. Ship 'em back! Build a wall!

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But then again, are we surprised? They've been supporting illegal immigrants all along.

Anyone who has doubts that this country is abusing and terrorizing undocumented immigrant workers should read an essay by Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor and Spanish-language court interpreter who witnessed the aftermath of a huge immigration workplace raid at a meatpacking plant in Iowa.

What is the horrible abuse? It seems that the federal government is not merely deporting these alien invaders -- it is also prosecuting them for the crimes they have committed by stealing the social security numbers and other identifying information of American citizens in order to illegally take jobs from Americans.

No one is denying that the workers were on the wrong side of the law. But there is a profound difference between stealing peopleÂ’s identities to rob them of money and property, and using false papers to merely get a job. It is a distinction that the Bush administration, goaded by immigration extremists, has willfully ignored. Deporting unauthorized workers is one thing; sending desperate breadwinners to prison, and their families deeper into poverty, is another.

Yeah, right.

When these same identity thieves use those same papers to get credit cards and loans that impact the credit ratings of the American citizens from whom they were stolen, that profound difference is no difference at all.

And when these same American citizens get letters from the IRS demanding back taxes, complete with interest and penalties, because of the income reported on the stolen SSNs, the difference between the two is equally inconsequential.

The American citizens in question will be required to spend countless hours resolving the issues created by the "desperate breadwinners", and may need to spend countless dollars on legal fees to solve the problems -- not to mention the difficulty these folks may have buying a house, purchasing a car, or even getting a credit card due to the impact on their credit ratings. I don't see how it is reasonable to argue that such folks are no less harmed by the theft of their identifying information than those whose identities are stolen by rip-off artists.

But somehow the New York Times does -- because those who violate our nation's sovereignty and steal the jobs and identities of American citizens are somehow more worthy of respect and protection than actual Americans.

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