The Police and Illegal Aliens

In recent years, we have seen the city administrations in a number of municipalities, especially those with large latino populations, pressure police departments to refrain from inquiring into the legal status of non-english speaking individuals who have come to their attention during some sort of investigation. The question is, should the police refrain from enforcing our immigration laws? Should they give illegal aliens - oops, I should have said "undocumented workers" - a free pass?

I agree that the local police should not go after illegal aliens. That is the job of federal law enforcement agencies. However, when the police come across an individual during the course of an investigation, and they suspect that this individual may be in this country illegally, they not only have the right to question him or her about their legal status, but because they took an oath to uphold and enforce our laws, they have a duty to make such an inquiry. Furthermore, it should not make any difference whether the indvidual is a crime victim or the suspect in a crime. If a crime has been committed and the perpetrator is found to be in this country illegally, criminal charges should be filed and the immigration authorities notified accordingly. If no charges are called for, the illegal alien should be held for the immigration authorities.

You hear all kinds of excuses why the police should not enforce our laws against illegal immigration. Anyone who advocates this is a RACIST. If the police try to enforce these laws they will not get any cooperation from the immigrant community. The illegals do the kind of work that American cititzens refuse to do and if they are deported, we will be deprived of cheap labor services. Hogwash! The real reason the police are pressured to overlook illegals is political. In cities with large latino populations. the politicians are looking for the latino vote, pure and simple.

Personally, I'm all for immigration - the legal type. I happen to be an immigrant who came to the U.S. when I was 10 years old. Legal immigrants have made numerous outstanding contributions in the fields of science, business, and higher education. I believe that the constitution should be amended to allow a citizen who was not born in this country to become our president.

Conversely, illegal aliens put a tremendous drain on our financial resources. The children of illegal aliens overburden our public schools, thereby contributing to ever increasing school taxes. They overload our public hospitals, and since they usually do not have insurance, they cause our hospital district taxes and health insurance rates to increase. If they are involved in automobile accidents, they usually do not have insurance, which results in raising the automobile insurance rates of our citizens and legal immigrants.

Accordingly, we need to change our immigration laws and include a limited and controlled guest worker program. In the meantime, shame on the politicians who try to prevent our police from performing their sworn duties to uphold and enforce the laws of the United States of America.