Posted by
Old Marine on Monday, May 17, 2010 1:06:47 PM
There are a lot of people, mainly on the liberal left, complaining about the recent law passed in Arizona concerning allowing the police to check a person’s immigration status when performing a routine traffic stop or other engagements within the course of their duties. These liberals are saying that the police will be profiling, well I would wish everyone to sit back and imagine this scenario.
It is a dark night, around midnight and a state trooper is sitting or maybe doing a patrol on a rural section of the interstate. All of a sudden a red 2001 Mitsubishi Gallant goes speeding by at 90 miles per hour, the speed limit is 65 mph. The state trooper, pulls out, turns on his lights and gives pursuit. The Gallant pulls off on to the shoulder and the state trooper pulls in behind the “suspect” vehicle. Climbs out of his cruiser and cautiously approaches the vehicle. When he gets to the driver’s side window asks for the driver’s license and registration. As the trooper looks at the driver, he observes that the driver has “brown shin” and spoke with an accent. As the state trooper asks the standard questions, he is faced with a dilemma. He wonders should he ask for proof of this person’s citizenship or should he just write a ticket. The trooper knows that under the current atmosphere of political correctness, if he asks for proof of citizenship and he is wrong and the person complains the liberals will be all over the airways calling him a Nazi, racist or even other worst names. He knows even the President might chime in and say, “He acted stupidly”. So, the state trooper writes a ticket that will cost the driver $270.00, wishes the driver a good morning and returns to patrol car. The Gallant drives off into the dark night.
In the wake of the Muslim terrorist’s attacks of 9-11-2001, the Department of Justice announced the conclusion of a new Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion: state and local police officers do have the legal authority to arrest any deportable illegal alien. This announcement did not create any new authority; the police had possessed it all along. Rather, it was to remind local law enforcement agencies of the crucial role that they could, and should, play in the war against terrorism by making immigration arrests. (Maybe the Attorney General should read some of the past opinions of his department, just as he should read the bill passed in Arizona before commenting on it)
The OLC opinion affirmed the conclusion of numerous U.S. Courts of Appeals, “that states have the inherent authority to assist the federal government by making immigration arrests.” Moreover, Congress has never acted to displace, or “preempt,” this inherent authority. As the Tenth Circuit concluded in United States v. Santana-Garcia (2001), federal law “evinces a clear invitation from Congress for state and local agencies to participate in the process of enforcing federal immigration laws.” [1] Arizona has boldly opted TO participate in the aforementioned process.
As of today, we have been flooded by the visions of demonstrations calling the governor of Arizona every name in the book because of the new state law. We have heard countless “talking heads” on both sides of the argument; I’m not going to rehash those arguments. However, I have yet to hear one of these so called experts, on either side, mention that this new law is Arizona’s way of reinforcing federal law or state law to not only stop the flood of illegal immigration, the flow of illegal BUT ALSO A MATTER OF NATIONAL SECURITY.
Oh, the scenario describe at the beginning of this post (though some artistic license was taken) happened on September 9, 2001. The driver of the red Gallant lived at 6601 Quicksilver Drive, Springfield, VA. His name was Ziad Jarrah.[2] Do you remember that name? He was the Lebanese Muslim terrorist that was at the controls of Flight 93 when in crashed in rural Pennsylvania. He had entered the U.S. in June, 2000 on a tourist visa. He violated federal immigration law by attending classes at the Florida Flight Training Center. It was a violation because he never applied to change his immigration status and therefore detainable and removal from the U.S. He committed his second offense when he overstayed his visa.
Had the Maryland trooper asked a few questions or made a call to the federal governments Law Enforcement Support Center, he could have arrested Jarrah. What if Jarrah had been arrested, would Flight 93 have been hi-jacked? We’ll never know.
We now know that five of the nineteen Muslim terrorists were in the U.S. illegally. These five Muslim terrorist had violated federal immigration laws and were subject to detainment and deportation. Besides Jarrah, three of the five illegal Muslim terrorists had actually been stopped by local police for speeding.[3] If the police had asked the right questions or asked for proof of citizenship these four could have been arrested. What would have happened if these four had been detained?
To all of those who want to accuse the people of Arizona of being racists. To all of the kids demonstrating in the streets of L.A. yelling and screaming about a law that you most likely haven’t read (after all the Attorney General hasn’t), I would like you to remember that when a police officer stops a vehicle and questions a “brown” skin person with an accent and asks for proof of citizenship, he is not “profiling” for he knows that federal law, as well as the new Arizona law [4] [5], expressly prohibits “profiling” and if accused of “profiling” and if proven, the officer can lose his career, maybe go to jail and / or be sued. So for all those that cry “RACIST” when an officer stops someone and asks for proof of citizenship, this officer may just be preventing your death, the death of some one you love or the death of thousands.
One final note for those who keeps talking about a law enforcement officer will “naturally” profile, or overstep his authority. Stop and think about the current administration. There some who want to control some free speech (control of the internet), gun rights (if you are on a no fly list) and the Miranda rights for citizen accused of terrorism (guilty until proven innocent), what is to stop them for “overstepping” their authority? Does any one really trust the white house?
Will it take another 9-11 for the people of America to take illegal immigration seriously?
[1] http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2006/05/Terrorist-Loophole-Senate-Bill-Disarms-Law-Enforcement
(Lasted Visited 5-17-2010)
[2] http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/08/inv.hijacker.video/index.html
(Lasted Visited 5-17-2010)
[3] http://24ahead.com/blog/archives/005283.html
(Lasted Visited 5-17-2010)
[4] Original Arizona Bill http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf
(Lasted Visited 5-17-2010)
[5] Modified Arizona Bill
http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/summary/h.sb1070_asamendedbyhb2162.doc.htm
(Lasted Visited 5-17-2010)
Semper Fi
Jerseygal, Topshot & of course, the Old Marine