Immigration’s Tipping Point …

2008 election season, Blogroll, Constitution Issues, Immigration, Law Enforcement

There’s an old story about frogs. I hear it’s true although I’ve never tested it. If you toss a frog into boiling water, he’ll do his best to jump out. But it’s said if you put a frog in room temperature water and turn the heat on, the frog will stay there even after it boils because the change in temperature happens gradually.

Just so, incremental changes are often accepted as having always been the case. That concept is clearly at work in the issue of illegal immigration. It’s been going on for over 50 years. But for many Americans, the sight of landscaping and brick laying crews that are Hispanic or a fast food restaurant staff chatting in Spanish in between taking drive through orders in English has become the norm.

Americans are good and fair people. We know there are illegal aliens among us. We also know you can’t tell if a man is here legally or not just by looking at him. We accept people at face value until we find out otherwise. But it’s the “finding out otherwise” which contributes to the emotion swirling around illegal immigration. Alarmingly, there is good reason to be emotional.

The idea of Sanctuary Cities is nothing new. It dates to Bible times. As applied to illegal immigration, the biblical concept has been so bastardized as to be meaningless but the term makes a great soundbite and the biblical connection is so valuable that supporters cannot do without it. Sanctuary Cities refuse to enforce the federal laws concerning immigration and refuse to determine a person’s immigration status when they have a run in with law enforcement. Contrasted to that are the 287-G cities springing up around the country. Law enforcement in a 287-G city has undergone training to properly identify the immigration status of individuals who enter the criminal justice system and they are held accountable for their violation of immigration laws as well as local ordinances.

Even this can be argued to be merely a localized phenomenon. Each community has the right to determine how they deal with the issue. Some will opt for strict enforcement while others will be more lax. However, a disturbing statistic is increasingly being reported across the country. It’s the type of story that might eventually grow legs long enough to walk out of local discussions and into the national conversation.

It’s the issue of crime committed by illegal aliens. We all know there are criminals and the possibility exists for us to be a victim. As prudent people we take reasonable precautions and understand the odds are in our favor. The odds are improved since we put the ones we catch in jail. So we rest easy believing we’re safe. Illegal immigration threatens that easy rest.

By definition, crime committed by illegal aliens should never have happened as the criminal should never have been here in the first place. This is the heart of the matter. It’s the foundation beneath 287-G cities and it’s a weakness yet to be exploited against Sanctuary Cities. We’ve lived with jobs taken and taxes avoided. We’ve lived with money shipped out of our economy and with our good name dragged through the mud. But there is a place where we say “Enough is enough!”

The most recent push in that direction comes from Minnesota. An illegal alien hit a school bus and killed 4 children, including two brothers. As is often the case, this was not her first brush with the law. She had been picked up two years earlier on a minor traffic charge. But both of the Twin Cities are Sanctuary Cities so her illegal status was never an issue. The argument is had law enforcement enforced the law, 4 children would still be alive.

It’s a compelling argument. It’s being repeated across the country with disturbing frequency. Americans are tolerant people. However, our patience should not be understood as infinite. There is a tipping point out there and we’re headed straight for it. What happens when we reach it is anyone’s guess. I suppose it will depend on what pushes us over the edge. One thing seems inescapably true. It would be better to deal with the issue calmly and in advance as opposed to being caught up in the swell of emotion and flood of demands for action. Tipping points can be ugly things. And human beings are not frogs.

Are you listening Senator McCain? Are you listening Senator Obama? We are …

Blue Collar Muse

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Blue Collar Muse @ February 22, 2008