In Chief Deane’s immigration resolution status report, after six months of madness in the county, the infamous and costly “crackdown on illegal immigration” has netted 626 arrests and summons of undocumented immigrants, 1.6% of all summons and arrests in the county. This 1.6% comes with the price of 11.3 million dollars. And out of 626, only 341 arrests were made and a handful proved to be legal residents mistakenly detained. See Washington Post Article.
The rabid supporters of the “crackdown” will no doubt say that that price tag is worth it to arrest 341 “illegals.” We can argue about the value of that ad nauseum, but there is a very serious logistical problem that is the real story in the report. It’s not reported in Kristen’s article and I’m sure Corey would like to gloss over this, but Marty pounced on it during session.
Corporal Pete Meletis reports that he has no idea what happens to those detainees who are released to ICE. There is no tracking done. Even ICE doesn’t know. The detainees are sent to various detentions centers and no one knows what happens to them. In fact, Pete Meletis said that they have discovered that in examining the results of the 287(g) Program between July 2007 – August 2008, out of 907 detainers released to ICE, 48 were not only back in the county but rearrested. 48 out of 907 were rearrested in the county! Is ICE just turning around and releasing everyone? It sure looks that way to me.
Here is the reality. There is a terrible cycle to detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants and we only have control over one half of that cycle. No matter how much money we spend, how well crafted it is, if we are blind to what is happening to the other half of the cycle, it’s a pointless exercise. We are baking one half of a pie totally blind to how the other half of the pie is being baked. Unless there is divine intervention, we’re going to end up with a really bad pie.
Until the other half of the cycle is fixed and transparent, we are just wasting money, time and resources. We are pouring our money into a bottomless pit. We must face reality, ICE and federal immigration laws have to get fixed, otherwise it is wasteful and counter productive to do anything at the local level.
“Cracking down” at the local level achieved NOTHING to resolve the immigration crisis. It only achieved one thing: create a social climate in which residents are divided and Hispanics and other minorities feel unwelcome. All for the bargain price of 11.3 million dollars that tax payers have to pay in exchange for a weakened economy, an overburdened police force, and a reputation for intolerance.
We have prioritized this useless crackdown over our seniors and children. This is just bad government and it must stop. We just can’t continue down this road.
Unfortunately, the county’s strategic planning task force will be full of politically motivated appointments by John Stirrup and Corey Stewart that includes Robert “foreign invasion” Duecaster and other faces from the county anti-immigrant lobby. There is no end in sight to this policy misguidance. Citizens must step up and regain control of our government, now infiltrated by the nativist hate group.
There is so much more in the report that we must analyze. We’ll continue to analyze and post another thread shortly.
Oh, almost forgot, is it good public policy to appoint a Doberman walking, pistol packing, potentially unstable denizen of the fringe to the Strategic Plan Committee? What’s next Monsieur Molleur’s appointment to the LUAC or Editorial Board of the MJM?
SecondAlamo,
You know there are still gangs out there, that problem didn’t go to zero no matter how much you try to spin it that we are now crime free because you think all the ‘illegals’ have left. Frankly, that suggestion is laughable.
–Buy guns and ammo during the hiatus Mando. They scare the $hit out of liberal politicians, fat broads, and illegal invaders__
Robert Duecaster to Mando on BVBL
Hmmmm….I take this as a direct threat. Doesn’t sound appropriate to me.
Keep your guns and your violence out of our streets, Duecaster et al.
Go hunting or something. Donate the deer meat to charity. Or go shoot yourselves if that’s what you want to do. But leave me and others the hell alone. Just because we have opinions doesn’t mean it’s open season on your political opponents.
And Mando, in spite of himself, is probably way too smart to take this ill-intended advice from a wacko.
Mom, you own the day. In the past 2 posts you have summed up pretty much everything I think about this matter. Thank you for your insight and humor.
Michael . . .
Calm yourself. You’re going to type yourself into a stroke.
You stated:
Jail time? Undermining of law in America? Certainly you are joking.
Michael, law hasn’t been undermined. The exact opposite, in fact, happened in spite of what folks on this blog have done to state their opposition to the sentiments of Stewart, Letiecq, etc.
A law was passed in PWC to crackdown on “illegal immigrants” and enforcement of that law was carried out (just the way you like it). The first six-month report was given by Chief Deane a few nights ago and it revealed that only 2% of all individuals charged after arrest during the past six months were “illegal immigrants”. Only 2%.
So it would seem the “impact” you are fantasizing about is indeed that: fantasy.
In light of the data provided by Chief Deane, what is therefore happening on this blog, Michael, is entirely legitimate discourse regarding the fact that 2% reveals that the “problem” of “illegal immigrant criminals” in PWC was massively overhyped. In fact, the 2% figure goes to show that the likes of Stewart and Letiecq inflated the issue to suit their own fear-based political positions.
It also shows that taxpayer dollars allocated/expended for a program that reels in only 2% of all individuals arrested and charged are incredibly excessive. And taxpayers have every right to complain about how the government misuses their money.
And then we see your paranoid rant about how people should go to jail because you don’t agree with their politics and their right to freely express themselves thereto. Next thing you know Corey Stewart will be listening to you and will attempt to pass a PWC version of the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798; read about it here; right up your alley).
LOL LOL! Robb…..
Yeah. Happy 9/11, folks. We’re all traitors. See you in jail for blogging and having friends.
Speaking of which, remember to put a flag in front of your house or on your vehicle to day to remember and pray for the victims of the REAL terrorists who are violent and insane with hatred.
Oh Michael, I feel bad about missing your comments yesterday. You went all over the world to serve this country and you missed your chance of learning about other people. You are like Lou Dobbs, married to a foreigner but failing to understand immigration issues. I don’t know if we will see jail time but I am pretty sure that the 3 million anchor babies who are experiencing all these problems with people like you won’t forget it.
Ricardo Bentley, What should I think about you when you call Mexicans to the Latinos speaking Spanish? I guess you don’t care because in your biased world, your opinion is the only one that matters.
Shhhhh, Robb, don’t give them any ideas. lol
Dobermans and guns… Spells “wussy”, “dope dealer”, or “rapper wannabe”. How’s that for stereotyping?! Wonder which Duecaster casts himself as?
Tom Kopko (posing as Second Alamo), don’t you think that if your lazy analysis were true, we’d see the percentage of crime being committed by undocumented individuals go down over the six months that the Immigration crack down has been in effect? It’s remained consistent. 1. 6 percent. That’s a good indication of what it was before the Resolution. 1.6 percent.
Why can’t you just admit that you facilitated a take-over of the county government by a Washington DC Anti-Immigrant Lobbying firm because you thought it would help extremist Republicans win the election last year (and bully the BOCS with less and less effectiveness)? And why don’t you just admit that you helped them lie to us about there being a crime problem in the county commensurate to the presence of “brown faces” at the bus stop?
The only supporters you have left in this county are all about reducing the number of brown faces, and they don’t even try to hide it. If anyone still believes the bogus claims about a correlation to crime statistics, they are pathetic and deceived pawns in an ugly political agenda.
Mom,
Here here to your excellent comments!
OK, maybe I’m a little tired here, but doesn’t the fact that only 2% of those arrested for crimes in the last six months were illegal immigrants reflect the fact that many illegal immigrants up and left PWC within the last year? It seems that cirminal illegal immigrants would have been the most likely to flee first, rather than risk possible deportation.
Hmph, almost 12 hours and nothing but crickets from SA.
Let’s see, 48 out of 907 = 5 percent?
Five percent is hardly “everyone,” no matter how you spin it.
I apologise to everyone for my angry outburst yesterday. I am simply fed up with the abstraction and blurring of issues and the manipulation of legal and illegal concepts into “anything goes” attitudes including lawlessness. I do not wish for people to go to jail for simply speaking out, that is not my concern nor my desire unless you are actually breaking the law. I just needed some time to cool down, so I can think before I speak.
I don’t think people understand well the boundary between free speech and criminal anarchy, legitimate political activity and conspiracy to commit riot and terrorism.
I don’t think people understand the boundary of freedom to assemble and the legitimacy of protecting the nation from political terrorists, anarchists, socialists and political criminals (like the type that eventually became Joseph Stalin or Saddam Huseein, or the Head of the Department of State for Sudan.)
I don’t think people understand the real reason we need to uphold and execute all laws to maintain stability, peace and fairness to the majority of the Democracy who elected officials who created those laws, and the need to prevent lawlessness, criminals from operating and people who destroy Democracy from operating as politcal activists, political criminals and political sabateurs of Democracy and Justice in our nation.
We change the law by voting, not by undermining its execution once its been voted on.
That is what makes me so angry about some people on this blog (not all). They simply advocate that we not support the law (it costs to much, it creates opportunities for people to claim racism and racial profiling, it provides an opportunity for people who want to create racism and racial/ethnic hatred to only advocate for laws that help their racial, ethnic, gender or religious political group and that hurt and undermine the “rule” of majority law in a Democracy.
Like I said I have only two issues. They are moral and just. Every comment I make is to be guided by those two moral concepts whether you like them or not.
I have only two issues:
1. Stop “illegal” immigration and enforce the LAW. Deport those who have broken the law.
2. Stop racist behaviors, racial hatred, racial, ethnic, gender and religious group political hate-mongering against everyone not like yourself, including the “majority” in a Democracy.
I see this blog (specially anarchic persons on it and anarchic themes occassionally on it) as undermining both of these moral issues.
I will speak out against any person who undermines those concepts whenever I see people lump
“racists” and “illegals” together with “legals” and concerned “social activists” and CALL ALL of THEM WONDERFUL and JUST. There is clearly a dividing line between moral and immoral and that is called “public” law. No one is immune from this and jail time usually accompanies those breaking of it, including the provisions of the patriot act by conspiratory “activists” and so called “journalists” who break the law and get themselves into legal trouble assuming they are immume from “illegal” and descructive behavior by claiming over-arching freedom of assembly rights. Bad things take precedence over good things when the law is concerned.
The fact of the matter is that the 5% are the ones that we can PROVE were not DEPORTED since they were rearrested. How many of the others were also released back onto the streets? Obviously, it’s not a great use of our resources, to have this revolving door where we hand them over to ICE, they bring them to Fairfax and then release them. How do you think this is going to get resolved? Comprehensive Immigration Reform is required.
I don’t care if we find only 2% “illegals” at all arrests made. I still find that number hard to belive and wonder ho that figure was politically manipulated, when I know we have 5000-8000 “illegals in our country alone and 12-15 Million in the country. Whatever the “eviction rate”, that is 2% less “illegals” we have to deal with the next 6 months and 4% less we have to deal with per year. If we find 2% every six months, we should get them all in 25 years, just in time to reduce the impact on the country of severe overpopulation and running out of oil.
I’m willing to wait that long and spend whatever it takes of my tax dollars to eliminate the “illegal” entry problem once and for all. It will save us “billions of dollars in future costs and problems eliminated in the country in 25 years.
I see it as a fantastic use of our resources to enforce law. I can think of no better cause to the betterment of our society than eliminating the harm it does to the “majority” population who voted in this Democracy to create these laws some people want to politically undermine.
To not enforce law is to invite criminalization of the political infrastructure in our society and the eventualy spiral into an unethical and immoral community.
As some people say…That security is “priceless”.
So I disagree with you it is a problem to enforce law and deport “illegals” and to stop racial hatred caused by ethnic group political alignment and political activity. I see it as an imperative to the health and welfare of our entire society, our Democracy and our legal system.
Michael,
“We change the law by voting, not by undermining its execution once its been voted on.”
I think this is THE problem! The gray area of ‘uh oh, now what?’ and the reasons of voicing opinions and frustrations.
Knowledge is learned and shared everyday. It is a cop-out to say that we can’t do anything until the next term. I call bullsh$t.- as in that would be to easy. ALWAYS question and be OPEN to what other people have to say.
I see the return of 48 “Illegals” multiple times as a good reason to increase the penalties of the “breaking” of immigration law, and increasing law enforcement at the borders to prevent re-entry.
Red Dawn, I prefer to refer to changing law through political advocacy as “structured and rational debate”, like is done on the congressional floor and writing your congressman, not voiceing frustrations as I did yesterday. Opinions matter, but finely tuned (not wildly abstract, emotional, sympathetic, and all over the place) intellectual debate matters more, especially in the area of the wisdom of the law and the obligation of a non-criminal society to enforce it once made.
Michael,
I get that and agree as in ‘cooler heads prevail’. I do NOT advocate anarchy or tyranny but I do PROMOTE questioning, SHARING and raising concerns LOUDLY -as not many people are OPEN-minded and are complacent which does us no good either. This is why I will even explore ‘crackpot conspiracy theories’ lol. ( being open minded and listening) EVERYONE has the right to make up their own mind. Knowledge is powerful but ACTION is key. 🙂
Hey Mom,
SA has to work for a living so I can pay my required share of taxes. Us citizens don’t get a tax break you know, and I probably wouldn’t get away with putting a billboard in my yard for a year without getting fined either! Rough life we legals have! ; )
The majority of people on this blog recognize that there is a problem in this county with illegal immigration. We simply do not like how this county has gone about solving the problem. We do not think the methods have been effective and we have concerns over the process because of tones coming from government and citizens that create fear and hate.
Additionally, we do not like HOW the change took place. There was never a public hearing. There was a marathon citizens’ time. People were ignored. The outcome was predetermined. An outside advocacy group (F.A.I.R.) provided a great deal of input to those who wanted the Immigration Resolution. Those of us who preferred a different approach to problem-solving simply got out-shouted, ridiculed, ignored, dismissed and/or called names.
I certainly hope Michael, that you are not advocating that we get sent to jail for our thoughts and for voicing our opinions. That would violate the very principles upon which our country was founded.
“I certainly hope Michael, that you are not advocating that we get sent to jail for our thoughts and for voicing our opinions. That would violate the very principles upon which our country was founded.”
I yield my time on the floor to Sen./Rep., Big Mack.
Still doing battle on Washington Post website. Those clones are dogged. Once they find out the truth is available, they become very unsettled about the veracity of their lies. Here’s my latest rebuttal:
Are the Anti-Immigrant Clones still trying to filibuster this comments page? Dunces, if someone is reading the comments, that means they’ve read the article.
That means they know that only 1.6 percent of the crimes committed in Prince William County are by undocumented individuals. You just can’t post some idiotic lie you got from F.A.I.R. or some other hate group and expect to cover over official police statistics.
This county has spent 11.3 million dollars to deal with a problem that wasn’t a problem.
A lot less could have been spent to enforce housing codes, instead of lying and pretending you believe that all brown skinned immigrants are criminals.
Now you’ve been proven wrong, or liars, or both. Why repeat the lies on this page of all pages?
Government links found on MAGIC. Here is the link:
http://www.pwcgov.org/library/magic/index.htm
Descriptor from the website:
For Michael:
Washington Post Article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903387.html
Streaming video:
http://pwcgov.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=110
You can call the county and ask them to email or fax you the handouts/power point presentations/slides used during the meeting. They will do it. Perhaps someone will post the contact person.
Having said that, Michael, you have argued with everything we have said about data we got from the county. You need to check out the above sources. I don’t accept that you don’t have time. I didn’t have time either but I grabbed the meeting on dvr and sat up way later than I wanted to just so I would be informed. I accept nothing less from anyone engaging in the debate. Know the facts and details as presented. There was a great deal of info presented and it will take time for us to absorb it all.
Frankly, I resent putting in the time I have put in to educate myself on the most current issues, only to have someone who obviously didn’t watch the meeting come in and discredit that which everyone is saying.
Still battling on the Washington Post website. This time some loon is questioning the classification of FAIR as a hate group:
FAIR hires minorities to work for them, and they create front groups that look as if they have minorities in them. But these front groups are only websites, and have no actual membership to speak of.
You know very well why FAIR is a hate group. It is well documented that they were founded by white supremacists and eugenicists, that a good portion of their funding comes from the Pioneer Fund, a white supremacist organization, and their board members are associated with or members of white supremacist organizations, and they make no bones about their opposition to immigration period … they care not whether it is legal or illegal immigration.
It’s an age old way of oppressing minorities, you “clean up” your act by only attacking those who are breaking the law … and using propaganda to dupe people into thinking the entire ethnic group are all criminals, so therefore the people can be turned against the entire group.
Your philosophical progenitors used the same tactic against Italian, Irish, and German immigrants. They used it against Blacks when they moved out of the rural south into the suburbs and cities. Now it’s Hispanics you are targeting, only with new technology and racists in the media (Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity) you are getting farther than you ought to.
Like the Know Nothings and the KKK, you will soon go the way of all hate groups in America, back to the margins, back to the discredited minority that you are and always have been.
Oh, and just because a few clones are willing to type the words “I am half Hispanic” doesn’t change a word of what I wrote above.
Check mate.