Man, we need comprehensive immigration reform we can all live with.
The city’s plans to step up cooperation with federal authorities in efforts to deport illegal immigrants is garnering new debate in the 2009 mayoral contest.
Latino advocates have pressed candidates to distance themselves from Mayor Bill White’s request that Houston be allowed to participate in two federal programs that, at least within the confines of the city’s jails, would put police officers in the immigration enforcement business.
While each of the four major candidates generally opposes diverting too many resources to immigration enforcement, they all support the thrust of the city’s new effort to screen jail inmates and turn over suspected illegal immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Those positions could upset Latino activists in light of a recent Houston Chronicle story showing that only a small percentage of illegal immigrants processed for deportation in a similar Harris County program had committed serious felony crimes. The divide could be on display at a mayoral forum today.
“This has an impact on cooperation with law enforcement, reporting of crime, and folks participating in the census,” said Marc Campos, a political consultant who, with City Councilman James Rodriguez, helped organize the Houston Area Latino Summit Mayoral Debate. “I don’t think anybody has demonstrated that doing this is going to have a significant reduction in … crime. If you let them implement this, what’s next? What other kind of policy will creep in?”
Stace, who provided a detailed liveblog of the summit and who has been a persistent critic of the 287(g) program, summed up the discontent as follows:
I am not enamored by the current 287(g) talk of the candidates. I do not support any 287(g) type of program unless it is clear-cut. As it stands, as long as court entities want to spend the money to convict jay walkers and speeders, then the Feds will deport the very ones that these candidates were saying they do not want to target. No Mayoral policy or order will stop local police from targeting the undocumented by pursuing flimsy and/or petty charges. So, it is time for these candidates to realize this fact and come up with a new line on 287(g).
On its surface, the 287(g) program sounds reasonable. Why not deport undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a crime? Unfortunately, the program has not been effective, and the cost – societal as well as financial – of targeting those who were convicted of nonviolent misdemeanors is high. I agree with Stace: This program needs improvement, and it needs clearer guidelines on how and when it is to be used. David Ortez and John Coby have more from the debate, in which Locke was declared the winner by a panel of undecided Latino voters.
UPDATE: Muse has a writeup as well.
Could it have been the promise of a Hispanic Museum that put the undisclosed, undecided Latino voters over the top?
Could it have been the promise of a Hispanic Museum that put the undisclosed, undecided Latino voters over the top?
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Probably not. Hispanics are too smart for that one. Particularly the Mexican-American Hispanics. Now, a Mexican-American Museum might. Which actually would be nice to have given the fact that Mexican-Americans have played a very big part in the history of Texas.
As for illegal immigration, Hispanics, including and particularly Mexican-Americans, aka Latinos and Latinas which seems to be the preferred “ethnic” designation as I understand it, are caught in a Catch-22 over the matter which few will talk about – the public perception is they all support illegal immigration which is not true. Many of them have been negatively impacted by it. But feel the need to be “politically correct” when discussing it. Instead of being honest.
The real concern, and it is a legitimate concern, is that any enforcement of existing law will result in abuse of the enforcement against all Hispanics including Hispanic citizens and all we need to do to realize that it can happen is to realize that it already has happened. Years ago in Katy. And thank god for LULAC for stepping in. But by the same token, it made law enforcement fearful of asking the legal status of Hispanics. And so in a way while addressing one problem LULAC created another.
Immigration reform has been a disaster. The ink was barely dry when Ronald Reagan signed the last real immigration reform into law when everyone began to find loopholes or create loopholes.
The migrant worker has been a mainstay of the farmers and the ranchers in this country. They used to go back and forth. Why they were called migrant workers. Suddenly they couldn’t go back and forth. And suddenly the farmers and ranchers were “suspect” in terms of hiring illegal immigrants. The migrant workers came and found the jobs weren’t there. And so they took other jobs. And that is, in a curious way, how much of this began. The reality is most probably would prefer to go back and forth. And yet they can’t. And many found themselves stuck here and becoming what the Republicans like to call “guest workers” who in fact are nothing more than “slave labor” in that labor law simply does not protect them. And never will. Even with all the proposed “immigration reform” of the past several years.
Solution? Probably the only solution would be to make Mexico the 51st state. And that of course will never happen. The oligarchy in Mexico and the oligarchy in the United States like things just the way they are. Cheap labor unprotected by labor law is guaranteed profit which some believe is the most sacred of constitutional rights.
The question has been raised as to whether Locke was merely pandering to Hispanics. Possibly but then possibly he is just more willing to take a look at the whole picture instead of having a knee-jerk reaction to one frame of the whole picture. Deportation is not a solution. No matter what anyone says. As we have seen, some of the most violent offenders have managed to come right back to Texas.
Other countries lock you up and then send you home. Most don’t want to go back which says something about our prison system. Some like it. It’s a better life for some. They get an education, obtain job skills, are fed reasonably well and except for the lack of air conditioning in most of our state prisons have a reasonably comfortable roof over their head.
One solution might be to have an agreement with Mexico, and other countries, for violent offenders. They serve the time in prison in their own countries. That might make some of them unwilling to come back here. Knowing they might get sent back to prison in their own country.
As for minor offenses, well, the call for someone to be deported over not having a valid drivers license or inspection/registration stickers or liability insurance is just a knee-jerk reaction by “immigration reformers” who are motivated not by any real respect for rule of law but merely racism. Unfortunately, particularly in Texas, their voices are loud and one of the reasons why is that some of them have a lot of money behind their voices although of course it should be pointed out that many of them made that money off the “guest workers” they hate so much. Hypocrisy, it seems, is an obvious part of the debate.
The question has been raised as to whether Locke was merely pandering to Hispanics. Possibly but then possibly he is just more willing to take a look at the whole picture instead of having a knee-jerk reaction to one frame of the whole picture. Deportation is not a solution. No matter what anyone says. As we have seen, some of the most violent offenders have managed to come right back to Texas.
I think your comment along with the rest of the post is missing the point. You said that “As for minor offenses, well, the call for someone to be deported over not having a valid drivers license or inspection/registration stickers or liability insurance is just a knee-jerk reaction by “immigration reformers” who are motivated not by any real respect for rule of law but merely racism”….Racism?
If a person is in our country ILLEGAL, they have broken the law-there is no other way to look at it. Whether or not their inspection is out, their tags are overude, or whatever the case may be, they are violating our immigration laws and should be deported.
What in the heck does race have to do with anything? If a Hispanic person said the illegal alien who was pulled over for expired tags should be deported because he is violating immigration laws, would you label him as a racist too?
The throwing out of the race card so conveniently and labeling those who do not agree with you or your idealogies is ignorant at best and worthy of defamation of character and/or libelous lawsuits-remember that because the day is comming where people are not going to just idly sit by and let these labels fly, labels mind you that have cost people their jobs, frivolous lawsuits, if in the wrong place at the wrong time encounters of physical violence, strain on their families and psychological issues.
If a mayoral candidate states that he/she is for Immigration Reform and his/her iddea of reform is to send the illegal aliens back to their country and ask that they return legally, that makes him/her racist? No, it means they are following the laws of our country-period.
I for one have a major issue knowing that illegal aliens are taking out from our systems some 5-6 times more than they are putting in-how fair is that to legal citizens and those who pay taxes?
Let’s look at California alone: the state loses, after factoring in what illegal aliens pump into the economy, $10 billion annually to welfare, food stamps, medicaid, housing assistance, eduation and the criminal element. This is the states bill for illegal aliens who are NOT suppose to be getting government assistance to begin with, yet obviously they are.
Now, not only are they getting the assistance, but how many legal American citizens are either being denied assistance or are getting less because assistance is spread around to those to which it should not be?
I suppose this is racist too? This is simple math and economics-the more people you have miliking the system, the more the state will have to fork over which in turn means the more tax payers lose out.
Instead of spending $7.7+ billion annually educating illegal aliens children, that money could go to educate legal citizens children, rebuild schools, new computers, better food and newer playgrounds or gyms.
It is a crying shame that those in this country here LEGALLY have to either do without or get less because 12+ million illegals knowingly come into our country, well illegally and expect to have access to everything legal citizens do-that is not right, it is not fair and it certainly is NOT LEGAL.
I have zero issues with immigrants but I have huge issues with those who cannot come into our country legally. This is not about race, it is about following our laws and doing what is right.