SINCE WHEN IS KEEPING BORDERS SAFE “IRRESPONSIBLE?”

Posted By on April 26th, 2010

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.6067/pub_detail.asp
 

Exclusive: Keeping Borders Secure and Citizens Safe Is ‘Irresponsible’ And ‘Misguided?’

Gadi Adelman

Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed SB1070 into law on Friday and even before the pen hit the paper, multiple rights groups, the ACLU and the open-borders lobbies were screaming.
SB1070 was signed at 1:30pm Arizona time (11:30am Washington D.C.), yet at approximately 10:30am President Obama called the Bill “irresponsible” and “misguided” during a Naturalization Ceremony in the Rose garden. During his speech, Obama stated,
“Indeed, our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. And that includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe. In fact, I’ve instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation. But if we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.” 
Is it not a contradiction in terms that Obama spoke of this bill being “irresponsible” and “misguided” while at a ceremony honoring those who have obtained U.S. citizenship legally and who also served honorably in our military?
On one thing Mr. Obama hit the bull’s eye: “our failure to act responsibly at the federal level.” Now there is an understatement if I ever heard one. Like everything else I have been championing since coming back to the U.S. in 1981 was the lack of any concern by our government to secure our borders.
Arizona has more than 460,000 undocumented immigrants, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Last time I checked, immigration offenses are violations of federal law, so this is something most local law-enforcement agencies cannot enforce.
According to the head of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the United States because of illegal immigration and human smuggling. In fact, Phoenix witnessed 370 kidnapping cases (reported cases, Police estimate twice that number goes unreported) last year, and stands second in the world after Mexico.
Just last month, Robert Krentz and his dog were shot and killed by an illegal alien while he was standing on his own Arizona ranch property. I wonder if the murderer had ever been picked up by law enforcement and then released, as far too many are.  Of course, we will never know because the Border Patrol and their canine tracking dogs could follow the trail only as far as the Mexican border.
Putting aside the obvious question of how many of the people who cross into our country each day might have ties to terrorist organizations, one has to wonder why this is causing such outrage among people in the Federal Government. It is being called “unfair” and it “will create racial profiling,” but of course that is from people who have no law enforcement background or experience. As always, I decided to check my facts and read the actual bill prior to writing on the subject.
Arizona SB1070 is only 16 pages and unlike other State legal documents, this is very cut and dry and easy to understand with very little “legal speak”. One thing I noticed in the bill was that everything I have been hearing from the “left” is totally false. The Police in Arizona will not be lining up each and every Latino-looking person and make them prove citizenship. Jan Brewer, the Governor, even stated during the signing of the bill “I will not tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling in the state of Arizona”. She also emphasized an amendment to the bill that prevents law enforcement personnel from using a person’s race as the only factor in implementing the law. “This protects all of us – every Arizona citizen and everyone here lawfully,” she said.
On the chance that you don’t want to read the bill which is linked above, allow me to provide a possible scenario. A police officer in Arizona pulls over a car for speeding. The officer is behind the car the entire time and has no idea from the back of the vehicle what occupants are in the car. After approaching the car, he requests from the driver his license, registration and proof of insurance. There are four young men in the vehicle, none of them speak English, and none of them has a driver’s license or any type of ID whatsoever. Today, if this were to occur, the driver would possibly receive a ticket for speeding as long as the name he gives the officer is not wanted and the car is not stolen. Then they would all be free to go. Under SB1070 the officer in this case now has “probable cause” to determine whether these four people are in the U.S. legally. Once detained, their identity must now be determined along with whether they are legal or illegal. According to SB1070:
“IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF THIS SECTION, THE FINAL DETERMINATION OF AN ALIEN’S IMMIGRATION STATUS SHALL BE DETERMINED BY EITHER:
A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER WHO IS AUTHORIZED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO VERIFY OR ASCERTAIN AN ALIEN’S IMMIGRATION STATUS.
A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER OR AGENCY COMMUNICATING WITH THE UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT OR THE UNITED STATES BORDER PROTECTION PURSUANT TO 8 UNITED STATES CODE SECTION 1373(c).”
In a case where the illegal alien has broken the law, the following applies:
“IF AN ALIEN WHO IS UNLAWFULLY PRESENT IN THE UNITED STATES IS CONVICTED OF A VIOLATION OF STATE OR LOCAL LAW, ON DISCHARGE FROM IMPRISONMENT OR ASSESSMENT OF ANY FINE THAT IS IMPOSED, THE ALIEN SHALL BE TRANSFERRED IMMEDIATELY TO THE CUSTODY OF THE UNITED STATES IMMIGRATION AND
CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT OR THE UNITED STATES CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION.”
Simply put; after they serve the time for the crime, they are handed over to the U.S. Immigration Service.  Local law enforcement is not going to be deporting people; they will be turning them over the proper Federal agency where they will be dealt with according to our Federal laws. So, I ask you, what is wrong with that?  
Gov. Jan Brewer summed it up nicely when she signed the bill into law. She said, “We worked to solve a crisis that we did not create and the Federal Government has refused to fix.” While flanked by law enforcement officers from all over the State, she also stated “We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act, but decades of inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation”. 
The law will not take effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends, which means by August, but before I even sat down to write this article, Court challenges were already being written. 
I have several friends who are Latino, specifically from Mexico, and I asked them today what they thought of SB1070 and they said, “We’re all for it,” and they “loved it.”
Of course, they all came here legally. 
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Gadi Adelman is a freelance writer and lecturer on the history of terrorism and counterterrorism. He grew up in Israel, studying terrorism and Islam for 35 years after surviving a terrorist bomb in Jerusalem in which 7 children were killed.  Since returning to the U. S., Gadi teaches and lectures to law enforcement agencies as well as high schools and colleges. He is currently writing his first book, “Terrorism; Understanding the Threat”. He can be reached through his website http://gadiadelman.com
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