NWV News -- Law Enforcement Hampered by Sanctuary City Advocates

LAW ENFORCEMENT HAMPERED BY SANCTUARY CITY ADVOCATES

By Jim Kouri
Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
December 12, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

A citizen of Ecuador was captured by the New York City Police Department and charged with rape, criminal sex act & endangering the welfare of a child. He was convicted of rape and sentenced to 10 years probation. The victim was a twelve year old girl.

"ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is committed to insuring the public safety of our communities and we will not tolerate the actions of sexual predators and those who threaten the welfare of our children," said New York ICE Acting Special Agent in Charge Salvatore Dalessandro.

"If you are preying on our children, we are going to find you; and if you are not a US citizen, we will deport you. We will continue to partner with New York City Probation Department and other law enforcement agencies to this end," he warned.

However, as SAIC Dalessandro noted, it was probation officers, and not police officers, who notified ICE about the child predator. Members of the New York City Police Department are prohibited from informing federal agencies about illegal aliens who are arrested for felony or misdemeanor crimes.

More and more American police commanders and officers are witnessing the growing and disturbing trend of cities and localities instructing law officers to ignore an individual's immigration status during the course of their duties.

"This practice negates our immigration laws when our local leaders refuse to assist in managing the growing lawbreaking population in our great nation," said former New York City police detective Sid Francis.

"When cities proclaim that they will not check immigration status, they essentially become a safe haven for not only out-of-status immigrants, but also criminal aliens who have often committed violent atrocities in our country," said the decorated detective and former US Marine.

Advocates for increasing US border security and controlling immigration point to the thwarted terrorist plots at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, in Germany and in South Carolina are some of the latest examples of the continued desire of anti-American forces to inflict harm on the United States and its allies.

"While we are engaged in a global fight for freedom, why would any American city enact policies that give unknown illegal immigrants sanctuary from detection, arrest or prosecution?" asks Police Officer Edna Aguayo, who comes from a family of cops.

"Instead of working side-by-side with federal authorities, state officials are putting their citizens at risk by erecting barriers to cooperation and enforcement," she said.

Many Americans believe that federal funds should be denied to cities and towns that declare themselves a "Sanctuary City."

However, in November, when asked by Fox News if he believed his Department had the authority to deny Homeland Security funds to cities or municipalities that took steps to provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff replied, "I don't know that I have the authority to cut off all Homeland Security funds if I disagree with the city's policy on immigration."

"As the number of sanctuary cities in the US grows, it is time Congress gives [Chertoff] that authority and lets these cities know that they can not selectively choose to enforce our laws," said political strategist Mike Baker.

"Just about every cop I've spoken with told me that they feel hampered by politicians who care more about political power than they do about protecting the lives and property of the American people," Baker said.

For example, research in the area of child predators is disturbing and, at times, out and out shocking. Det. Francis studied arrest reports involving criminal aliens who committed child sex crimes including Julio Cesar Rabago-Magana, a Mexican man who sexually assaulted a four-year-old child in a basement in Minneapolis, Minn. Rabago-Magana pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct. After serving his criminal sentence, he was arrested by Immigration agents at his St. Paul home and deported six days later.

"The illegal immigration problem is allowing hundreds of thousands of criminal aliens to invade our nation and kill, maim, rob and abuse our citizens, " one Border Patrol agent told Newswithviews.com. Research revealed that in one 9-month period the federal government arrested over 100,000 criminal aliens. These arrests do not include arrests made by state and local law enforcement.

Det. Francis adds that our political leaders and the mainstream news media practically ignore this issue and pro-illegal immigration advocates resort to name-calling to silence anyone who attempts to sound the alarm.

"If anything, the President and the two houses of Congress are actually helping these fiends enter the US to assault citizens and their children. They appear more intent on locking up border patrol agents that stopping illegal alien thugs," said Baker.

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) has introduced H.R. 3531, the Accountability in Enforcing Immigration Laws Act of 2007. This bill clarifies that state and local law enforcement officials have the authority to investigate, apprehend, and arrest any illegal immigrant apprehended in the course of routine duties.

"Those law enforcement agencies that help the federal government enforce immigration laws would receive additional federal funding to help with the costs of detention," said Rep. Brown-Waite in a press release.

"Sanctuary cities, on the other hand, would have 25 percent of non-emergency federal Homeland Security funding revoked if they refuse to change their policies within 6 months. H.R. 3531 also gives the Secretary the authority to withhold up to 50 percent of federal funds," she said.

"When cities proclaim that they will not check immigration status, they essentially become a safe haven for not only out-of-status immigrants, but criminal aliens who have often committed violent atrocities in our country," said Lt. Steve Rogers, a police commander from northern New Jersey.

"Imagine that Mohammed Atta or one of the other 9/11 hijackers, who were in the country illegally, had a city they could reside in to plot terrorist attacks with no fear of ever being checked or deported. We run the risk of inviting terror into these cities," he added.

Illegal immigration opponent Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) sponsored a measure, which he says would apply to cities such as Denver and Boulder in his home state. He was elated by its passage, which stunned critics and supporters alike.

However, critics point out that the Littleton Republican's amendment to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill appears to have no language specifically defining what a "sanctuary city" is. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has long disputed giving his city that label.

"The issue has come to fruition," Tancredo said in a press release. "The people of the country really have spoken. It's a really good indicator of just how much closer to the people the House is than the Senate is."

Tancredo has introduced similar amendments at least seven other times since 2004, but each has failed -- often by wide margins. But already the House passed the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which now goes to the Senate. It would have to be signed by the president to become law.

A year ago, Tancredo and other immigration foes unveiled billboards in Denver, including one with a mock declaration: "Welcome to SANCTUARY CITY . . . Relax, you made it! Brought to you by Executive Order 116." The billboard referred to a 1998 order issued by then-Denver Mayor Wellington Webb that outlines the city's anti-discrimination stance regarding immigrants.

"There are no ordinances, executive orders or regulations that establish a 'sanctuary policy' in Denver," the mayor's spokesperson, Lindy Eichenbaum-Lent, said at the time. "Denver's policies comply with federal law, and Denver law enforcement officers cooperate with federal officials on immigration matters. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said Denver is not a sanctuary city, so merely erecting a misleading billboard doesn't make it true."

The proposed amendment comes as the Senate is poised to take up debate again on an immigration reform plan that some opponents criticize as giving amnesty to illegal immigrants. President Bush, who supports the Senate's reform plan, sweetened the deal this week by agreeing to include $4.4 billion for border security. The Senate had put the reform bill on ice because it lacked enough support to bring to a vote.

Tancredo said his amendment is an indicator that the House would crush the reform plan if it passes in the Senate.

"If I were [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi, I'd be asking if she could pass a vote on amnesty on the House side," Tancredo said. "If she lost 50 Democrats on this one, and she says she needs 70 Republicans to pass the immigration plan, this is an interesting indicator of things coming down the pike, and that the times, they are a-changing."

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Recently three Newark college students -- were forced to kneel against a wall behind an elementary school and were then shot to death at close range. A fourth victim was found alive about 30 feet away, with gunshot and knife wounds to her head.

These weren't "throw-away kids" or gang members or "dopers," said Lt. Rogers. "These were decent, wholesome youngsters from good families looking forward to the upcoming school year. That is until they were gunned down execution-style -- by an illegal alien who should not have been in the country in the first place!"

Suggested Reading:

1, Tancredo for President - Official Campaign Site
2, 'Sanctuary Cities Embrace Illegal Immigrants - HUMAN EVENTS
3, FOXNews.com - U.S. Cities Provide Sanctuary to Illegals - Blog ...
4, Lawmakers seek 'sanctuary cities' crackdown - USATODAY.com