It is time for the city of Houston to drop its sanctuary policies, just like Phoenix has.

Under pressure from advocates for stricter immigration laws, the mayor of Phoenix said on Monday that he no longer backed a Police Department order barring officers from routinely asking the immigration status of people it arrested and announced a panel to study a policy change.

A spokesman for Mayor Phil Gordon, Scott Phelps, said the policy was “written for another time” on the belief that the federal government “would fulfill all of its immigration responsibilities, and clearly that has changed.”

But Mr. Gordon, a Democrat, announced the change at a time when sentiment against illegal immigrants has intensified in Phoenix after the shooting death two months ago of a police officer, Nick Erfle, by an illegal immigrant. There have also been weekly protests at a furniture store whose owners have pressed the authorities to arrest day laborers who congregate there and who are believed to be in the country illegally.

These policies effectively aid and abet illegal immigration. And the preferred change is simply to determine the immigration status of those arrested on other charges, not to start broad sweeps through immigrant communities, looking for illegals. And in the end, the result will be the removal of the least desirable illegal immigrants -- the ones who are criminals -- and the creation of a safer community for everyone else, regardless of race, ethnicity, or immigration status.

Posted by: Greg at 12:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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