NWV News - Open borders groups pushing sanctuary status

OPEN BORDERS GROUPS PUSHING SANCTUARY STATUS

By NWV News writer Jim Kouri
Posted 1:00 AM Eastern
September 12, 2011
© 2011 NewsWithViews.com

Police Chief Moore announced the new collaboration between the San Jose Police Department and Immigration enforcement by partnering with two immigration ICE agents as part of “Operation Community Shield,” a program under ICE and Homeland Security Investigations. His decision came as a surprise to the community and advocate as he has repeatedly claimed that the SJPD had no interest in collaborating with ICE nor are they in the business of enforcing federal immigration law. Although Chief Moore has emphasized that these two ICE officers will solely assist in the investigation of gang related crimes, the community is fearful that many innocent people will get swept into the program. - SIREN Statement

Under enormous political pressure from increasingly well-funded and powerful open borders group, a once cooperative U.S. city's police force this week abruptly ended its partnership with the federal law enforcement agency that helped to dramatically reduce its runaway crime rate.

Known as Operation Community Shield, the program targets violent street gangs by sending special Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to assist local police in areas infested with gang activity.

In this case, the northern California city of San Jose enrolled in the program a few months ago because a steep rise in gang violence pushed the homicide rate to the highest level in decades, according to a non-partisan watchdog group.

The federal-local law enforcement partnership has been extremely successful in California’s third-largest city and there has been a dramatic drop in gang killings, according to a local news report that cites police data.

The local-federal alliance has helped crack down on gang violence and led to the arrest of hundreds of dangerous gang members in a matter of weeks. In fact, in the first 5 ½ months of the year San Jose had 14 gang homicides but zero in the two months of Operation Community Shield. The city is the safest it has been in years.

What bothers illegal alien advocates, progressive politicians and leftist activist is the fact that many of the gang members are illegal aliens.

Many observers are asking: Why in the world would the San Jose Police Department end such a triumphant program?

Because the open borders movement, which opposed it from the start, fears that law-abiding illegal aliens (?) could end up getting deported. From the start police faced sharp criticism from pro immigrant “community groups” that claimed residents feared calling them to report crimes because ICE might deport them.

A local group that advocates for immigrant rights was the key force behind ending the city’s alliance with ICE, according to Judicial Watch.

The leftist group, Services Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN), quickly assembled a campaign to kill Operation Community Shield, reminding the police chief that he vowed never to enforce immigration laws, according to Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton.

Board members for SIREN include representatives from President Barack Obama's former employer SEIU (Service Employees International Union), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others.

The group publicly demanded that ICE gang unit officers “pack their bags and leave San Jose.” Unfortunately, San Jose's political leaders "folded like cheap cameras" and ordered its police chief to terminate the successful program.

"It's astounding that the safety and security of U.S. citizens always takes a "backseat" to the political-correctness orthodoxy. Study after study shows a disproportionate amount of crime and violence is perpetrated by illegal and legal immigrants. Yet, we are told we must close our eyes to the truth," said Stephen Roas, a former police lieutenant who commanded in his department's street gang unit.

Through a spokesman, San Jose’s police chief, Chris Moore, denied he’s “crumbling to the community pressure” and insisted the federal partnership ended because crime is under control in his city, according to Judicial Watch.

President Barack Obama's recent executive order for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to curtail deportations for thousands of illegal aliens pleases Latino voters, but only if his minions follow through with his wishes, according to a police commander, whose mayor opposes immigration enforcement, and who requested anonymity.

Illegal alien groups and their leaders claim that for more than two years Obama disappointed them by not spending as much time on "immigration reform" as he did on bailouts and pushing through a health care bill that few Americans even wanted, the law enforcement veteran said.

"If the president had fought harder for illegal aliens, he'd have lost his battle with the Tea Party and conservatives to pass Obamacare. And Obama knew it," said political strategist Mike Baker.

"The president this week gave the illegal aliens renewed hope by announcing new rules allowing non-violent illegal immigrants to remain in the country indefinitely. Unfortunately, he never explained how the government will know if an illegal alien -- with no identity to speak of -- possesses a propensity for violence and crime," Baker added.

"There has been a lot of skepticism in the Latino community about the President's willingness to fight on the immigration issue," Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) said Friday. "So my sense is people will wait to see how the new Homeland Security procedures are implemented and how hard the President fights back against the inevitable backlash from Fox [News] and the Republicans."

Gutierrez is well-known by the law enforcement community for his characterization of immigration enforcement agents as being "the Gestapo."

One of his main cohorts in fighting for amnesty for Latinos is Clarissa Martinez of La Raza. La Raza is viewed by many as a radical group of Mexicans whose ultimate goal is the retaking of the U.S. Southwest.

"We are not immigrants that came from another country to another country. We are migrants, free to travel the length and breadth of the Americas because we belong here. We are millions. We just have to survive. We have an aging white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. It's a matter of time. The explosion is in our population," said Jose Angel Gutierrez, founder and spokesman of La Raza.

Rep. Peter King, who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee accused Obama of cherry picking which laws to enforce and which ones to ignore.

“This new non-enforcement policy announced by the Obama Administration Thursday is a blatant attempt to grant amnesty to potentially millions of illegal aliens in this country, and is totally unacceptable. In reality, this decision to vastly expand the exercise of ‘prosecutorial discretion’ in enforcing our federal immigration laws means that the Administration will now be, in a huge number of cases, simply ignoring those laws," said King.

While Obama's move caused anger among many GOP lawmakers and citizens groups, it was praise by the Democrats.

"This is the Barack Obama I have been waiting for and that Latino and immigrant voters helped put in office," Rep. Luis Gutiérrez told New York Daily News reporter Jack Straw.

Sen. Dick Durbin, a close Obama ally and one of the loudest immigration reform proponents on Capitol Hill, sounded a similar note this week. The Illinois Democrat said the new policy represents "a fair and just way to deal with an important group of immigrant students." But Durbin was quick to add that he'll "closely monitor DHS [the Department of Homeland Security] to ensure it is fully implemented."

Rep. Peter King, who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee accused Obama of cherry picking which laws to enforce and which ones to ignore.

“This new non-enforcement policy announced by the Obama Administration Thursday is a blatant attempt to grant amnesty to potentially millions of illegal aliens in this country, and is totally unacceptable. In reality, this decision to vastly expand the exercise of ‘prosecutorial discretion’ in enforcing our federal immigration laws means that the Administration will now be, in a huge number of cases, simply ignoring those laws," said King.

While progressives in the Democrat Party have praised the change as being fair and a matter of common-sense, Republicans are describing it as an end-around Congress, which defeated a similar proposal in December 2010, before the GOP took control of the House of Representatives.

Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-NY) and Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Border Security, stated that the change is "a blatant attempt to grant amnesty to potentially millions of illegal aliens in this country."

King cited Obama's remarks from July: “On July 25, in a speech to the National Council of La Raza, the President himself said, ‘I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own…but that’s not how our system works…That’s not how our democracy functions. That’s not how our Constitution is written.’ Apparently the President’s understanding of how our system of government works has changed since last month.”

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“The President and members of his Administration must enforce this nation’s laws, just as they have sworn in their oaths of office to do," said the visibly angry Congressman King.

Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which supports tougher immigration enforcement, said that, from a policy standpoint, the new policy ignores existing law and "demoralizes" the enforcement officers charged with rounding up undocumented people.