I stumbled on this article when reading the Casper Star Tribune online this morning. I’d like to say that it was while enjoying a Saturday morning cup of coffee, but I quit the stuff on March 10th. Ugh! I miss it most on quiet Saturday mornings. Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I had a hard time believing the opening paragraphs of the article:

HOUSTON - Mayra Figueroa a naturalized U.S. citizen, community organizer and licensed driver had no reason to fear being arrested, no need to worry about deported.

Then she was pulled over by a Houston police officer, who told her he found it suspicious that a Latina was driving a late-model car. The first thing the officer requested? Figueroa’s Social Security card, as proof of citizenship.

Who else doesn’t think this is true? Ms. Figueroa gets pulled over and the officer tells her he found it suspicious that a Latina was driving a late-model car? I doubt that. Most traffic stops are recorded, and I’m thinking no police officer would be that ignorant. I could be wrong, but that would be an unusual occurrence too.

The AP author uses this article to justify why it is wrong to either deport or threaten to deport illegals. Here are some examples:

But as local governments feel mounting frustration over illegal immigration, that hands-off attitude is disappearing. More than 100 local law enforcement agencies including Los Angeles and Orange counties in California and Maricopa County in Arizona, which includes Phoenix have begun or are waiting for training to help the Department of Homeland Security root out illegal immigrants and hand them over for deportation.

Advocates say the training beefs up the power of the overworked Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency. Detractors say it will discourage millions of immigrants from reporting crime or cooperating with police investigations. They also cite evidence of poor training and overeager cops, like the one who questioned Figueroa.

Well, if they shouldn’t be here, send them packing. Period.

And what in the world is going on in New Jersey and when did Minnesota elect a Republican Governor?:

In New Jersey, the Attorney General ordered police to ask arrested suspects about their immigration status. In Minnesota, Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed an executive order requiring state agents to enforce immigration law.

“When my deputies come across illegals, they arrest them even on traffic violations,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “People ask me why I am taking this on? The last I heard, crossing the border is an illegal activity. I took an oath of office to enforce the law, so I am enforcing the law.”

Ready for the experts?

But some experts say it could spell the end of cooperating with police in immigrant neighborhoods.

I’m just guessing … but I think the author might mean illegal immigrant neighborhoods.

“People are very, very fearful of interaction with law enforcement, said Susan Shah, with the New York-based Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit. “Even people with legal status, whose families may have mixed immigration status, now have a fear of opening the door.”

That fear has been exacerbated by accounts some rumored, some real of people being turned over to immigration officials after being stopped for minor offenses such as traffic violations and loitering, or after going to police to report a crime.

In Newark, N.J., a freelance photographer who stumbled upon on a dead body in an alley and reported the discovery to police was detained and asked about his immigration status.

In Falls Church, Va., staffers at the Tarirhu Justice Center, which works with immigrant victims of domestic abuse, say they are fielding calls from women who have been assaulted, yet refuse to go to police.

“When there’s confusion about what policy applies to you and when it does, the safe course of action is to avoid authorities altogether,” said Jeanne Smoot, the center’s director of public policy.

In Durham, N.C., police recently investigated a string of robberies targeting Latino immigrants, who the thieves saw as “soft targets” because they’d be reluctant to call police.

Only after officials reassured local residents that they would not be reported to ICE did they get the information needed to solve the cases, said Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez.

I guess I’m thinking this is one reason we have immigration laws in the first place — to prevent these scenarios. Illegals being victimized by other illegals who realize the chances of their victims reporting the crimes are slim.

Crossing the border illegally is a crime. So, all these illegals are criminals and really have no respect for any other laws in our nation. Why should they? It is not their nation nor the blood of their families that has been shed for the freedoms we enjoy.

The people who claim that the United States cannot survive without illegal aliens to do the work that Americans won’t do are no different that the people who didn’t think our nation could survive without slavery. How did that work out?