Burning Atlanta

Of course, the pro-illegals have a screaming fit everytime they see any enforcement especially of it might lead to illegals being deported. I wish they would come up with some new excuses. I'm sooo sick of their standard playbook" They're splitting-up families... Immigrants will be afraid to report crimes...It's damaging police and immigrant relations...It will lead to racial profiling.." They're so full of crap.

Actually I thought this was an ok article right up to the end where the writer gave some VERY misleading stats. More on that in a second.

Book 'em and boot 'em.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are already spending more time at the downtown jail and the county jail complex in Del Valle, with striking results: From Jan. 1 through March 31, agents placed 763 immigration holds on county inmates, an almost 400 percent increase over the same period last year.

Depending on whom you ask, those statistics are either commendable or troubling. Hamilton and his supporters say that giving ICE full-time use of the jail office will increase the agency's efficiency and help keep the community safe from what the sheriff terms "individuals who could possibly be a menace to our society."

But others see a slippery slope of dangerous consequences: immigrants discouraged from reporting crimes or cooperating with police because they fear deportation; crowded jails imposing financial burdens on taxpayers; families separated; and the possibility of racial profiling taking hold, to name just a few.

By driving undocumented immigrants further underground, "this change in policy has undermined public safety for all residents in Travis County. That's really the basic issue here," said Rebecca Bernhardt, with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas. MY ASS. Since when is deporting criminals bad for public safety?

But critics question the fairness of an enforcement strategy that can lead to the deportation of family members arrested on misdemeanor charges such as traffic offenses — hardly the kinds of crimes that are threats to society, they say. Nearly 62 percent of the immigration detainers issued at the county jail through March 31 were for people whose worst offense was a misdemeanor.

That leaves more than 260 people accused of felony crimes who were detained on immigration violations. (In addition, 26 people issued detainers had no other charge against them. The sheriff's office says they were either picked up on ICE warrants or were held temporarily at the jail en route to a federal detention facility.)

"That's not my call" who gets deported, Hamilton said. Exactly. This department isn't even getting on the 287 (g) program. All they've done is open their jails to ICE and let ICE do the screening. Eww, how mean-spirited. And I don't give a damn what additional crime an illegal committed to put themselves in jail and on the radar. If they're in this country illegally then they should be tossed. PERIOD.

Nationally, agents issued holds on more than 164,000 unauthorized immigrants jailed on criminal charges in 2007, more than twice the 2006 total. The San Antonio ICE field office has already issued 4,138 holds or detainers this year. In all of 2007, they issued 5,349. "Holds" don't  mean the illegals were automatically deported, but I can always hope.

The Criminal Alien Program screens all inmates at all federal and state prisons. Officials say they screen all inmates at 10 percent of the approximately 3,100 local jails throughout the United States. Their goal is to attain full screening at the Travis County Jail.

5,000

Estimated number of visas for low-skilled workers in 2005. MISLEADING BULLSHIT. I've looked up that number before. And as I recall, and I'm about 99% sure I'm right, that represents permanent visas for low-skilled immigrants. I can think of no reason for such a visa to exist. Also, as I know, there are many visa programs including the H-2A for Ag workers and it doesn't have a cap. So, when the writer gives that stat of ONLY 5,000 low-skilled visas and then says "500,000 low-skilled Mexican workers who entered the U.S. illegally in 2005" I think he's full of crap. ALSO, I think that 500,000 number is the TOTAL number of illegals that entered, not just "Mexican workers." And I'm about 99% sure I'm right on that one, too. I wrote the author and am interested in seeing what he has to say.

500,000

Estimated number of low-skilled Mexican workers who entered the U,S. illegally in 2005.

278,000

Approximate number of illegal immigrants removed in 2007.

95,000

Approximate number removed with criminal histories. Well, I have no problem with those stats. About a third of removed illegals had criminal records.