Riehl World View

San Fran Wants More Illegal Immigrant Felons

This is what you get when progressives are in control. Illegal immigrant Edwin Ramos had been charged with felonies while a minor. City policy prevented him from being deported. As an adult, he shot and killed a man and his two sons. But it didn't end there.

A measure was enacted to officially prevent authorities from turning over an illegal immigrant minor to immigration until he was convicted. That's right, prevent, not encourage. Not so fast, said Newsome, so he vetoed it. That meant they could be turned over. However, that didn't sit well with city supervisors, they overturned the veto.

Evidently they want to hold on to illegal immigrant criminals as long as they can, even if it means they kill someone one day. How utterly irresponsible and bizarre. 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- San Francisco supervisors have overturned the mayor's veto of a controversial ordinance involving how the city deals with illegal immigrant minors facing felony charges.

After Mayor Gavin Newsom last month vetoed a measure that would prohibit local authorities from turning over minors to immigration officials until the minors have been convicted, city supervisors on Tuesday voted 8-3 to override the veto.

Newsom and city supervisors have been at odds over the issue since the mayor ordered a change in the city's policy in 2008 after Edwin Ramos, an illegal immigrant, was charged with the fatal shootings of a man and his two sons.

Ramos had been charged with felonies as a minor, but the city's policy prevented him from being deported.

Joe Arpaio Pushes Back On Illegal Immigration Enforcement

When I first noted that the Feds were looking to limit Arpaio's authority to enforce immigration laws, I said there were State's Rights issues involved. Looks like Arpaio noticed that, too.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) -- An Arizona sheriff known for cracking down on people who are in the country illegally launched a crime and immigration sweep in northwestern metro Phoenix on Friday, a half day after officials in Washington limited his powers to make federal immigration arrests.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose sweeps have led to allegations of racial profiling, said the rebuff from Washington won't stop him. He said he can still arrest immigrants under a state smuggling law and a federal law that gives all local police agencies more limited power to detain suspected illegal immigrants.

"It doesn't bother me, because we are going to do the same thing," said Arpaio, whose deputies had arrested 16 people by Friday evening on unspecified charges. "I am the elected sheriff. I don't take orders from the federal government."

Cross-posted at RWN.

Obama Halts Local Illegal Immigration Enforcement

It seems the Obama administration has changed the rules. Local police who were trained and encouraged to police illegal immigration since 2002 will no longer be permitted to enforce illegal immigration laws. The effort was said to speed up deportations and help in combating the broader issue.

Smart time for Obama to become the open borders president he always fancied himself to be - just when the cost of illegal immigrants is weighing on the health care debate. Ideological, but dumb. Why doesn't he just hand the GOP a sledge hammer and get it over with?

PHOENIX (AP) -- An Arizona sheriff known for aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration has been stripped of some of his special power to enforce federal immigration law, and he claims the Obama administration is taking away his authority for political reasons.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose office faces racial profiling allegations over crime and immigration sweeps in some heavily Latino areas of metro Phoenix, said officials from Washington won't let him renew a deal that let his deputies make federal immigration arrests.

"Let them all go brag that they took away the sheriff's authority. Let them all do that. That doesn't bother me. I don't have an ego. I will continue doing the same thing," the Republican sheriff said, noting he can still enforce state immigration laws. "What has changed, other than the politics and the perception emanating from Washington?"

The U.S. government, which does most of the nation's immigration enforcement, is changing its rules for allowing local police to enforce more expansive federal immigration laws. Nationally, more than 1,000 local police and jail officers have been granted the power since 2002 to make immigration requests and speed up deportations.

French To Tear Down "Jungle" Mosque

And we're the racist ones. Take a gander at how bad the illegal immigration problem is in Europe. They're just camped out in the "jungle" as they try to sneak on into the UK from France.

Many residents of what is known as the "jungle" have travelled thousands of miles and insist they have nowhere else to go.

But it is undersood the Calais camp will be evacuated early on Tuesday and the crude dwellings - including a temporary mosque - pulled down.

Health Care For Illegals? What Illegals

Ah, what a genuis he is. Don't cover illegals, just make them legal. WOW!

Problem solved. Hmm.

President Obama said this week that his health care plan won't cover illegal immigrants, but argued that's all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage.

More Joe Wilson - R (SC) - Woo Hoo!

Not redundant. Besides, when someone says the would be messiah has no clothes, they deserve their due.

Rub him in the liberals face!! And don't buy any media BS about how it all plays. The fact is, he changed the debate and the Dems are already scurrying under the rocks by trying to close the illegal immigration loophole! heh! They aren't doing that for the exercise.

My interview with him from last night here.

Dems Closing Loophole After Wilson Outburst?

So, I guess maybe we can call this a win for Joe Wilson and the American taxpayer for now? Like I trust them through any potential reconcilliation.

In the Senate, Democrats in the so called "Gang of Six," began moving quickly to close the loophole Rep. Joe Wilson helped bring to light with his outburst during President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night.

Interview: Rep. Joe Wilson (R) SC

Just wrapped up an interview with pro-legal immigration, former immigration lawyer turned politician Representative Joe Wilson (R) SC. Having posted on Wilson's "You lie" comment to Obama during Obama's speech, I wanted to understand the full context of the remark. Wilson has since apologized to the White House.

Wilson referred extensively to both his packed recess Town Hall experiences and close tracking of pertinent legislation through work with several committees to place his remark in context. While there may be some Republican critics of the comment, Wilson also mentioned several Republicans who have since told him he said precisely what they were thinking but dared not say given the occasion.

Wilson claimed that in over 20 years in politics, having hosted numerous town halls throughout South Carolina over the years, he has never seen anything quite like he witnessed during the recent recess. Crowds suddenly grew from an average of fifty attendees to well over a thousand and approximately 95% of those were there specifically due to concerns over any potential health care legislation. He mentioned several SC cities and towns where that was the case.

Given a great many constituent concerns Wilson has personally heard expressed, he went into the speech hoping Obama would genuinely reach out both to the people and across the aisle to address their concerns. Obama had claimed that would be his intent. Unfortunately, after Republicans were all but shut out of any pertinent on going negotiations in the House, Wilson felt Obama wasn't genuinely reaching out at all and certainly not honestly to the extent that he did.

All Republican amendments for verification, or enforcement regarding efforts to keep American taxpayers from paying for health care, or insurance for illegal immigrants have been defeated by the Democrats. The Congressional Research Service has indicated that, as it stands, there is nothing to prevent coverage for illegal immigrants under currently considered legislation.

Consequently, Wilson pronounced Obama's specific statement in that regard as "appalling". Perhaps Obama simply hasn't kept up on the legislation, being on vacation so much in recent days, as he has.

Wilson also stressed his concern for the existing high unemployment in South Carolina and the potential impact on jobs of new health care legislation. It's been estimated by some organizations that potential legislation could result in the loss of an additional 1.6 million American jobs as small businesses attempt to deal with new guidelines. That at a time when what America needs most is more new jobs, not fewer.

While claiming no desire to see Washington adopt anything akin to the British Parliament's habit of yelling at one another during debate, Wilson felt that constituent interests and emotion just got the best of him in this case. He said he was not angry at all, which is why he didn't go on at the time. Other than the single, short impromptu blurt, Wilson said he was in complete control of himself at all times. He now wishes that he had waited and held a press conference instead.

Perhaps like me and some others, Wilson just reacted naturally when confronted with an obvious misrepresentation dealing with something one has invested a great deal of time in thinking about. He sounded sincere and convincing in both his regret for the impromptu remark, as well as his insistence that, at the end of it all is the fact that Obama simply wasn't telling the truth as any objective observer would understand it in last night's speech.

Important Lawsuit Mixes Health Care With Immigration Issues

Via an email from a reader - whoa! Talk about timely, with possible major implications likely to see appeals either way (link to story). A hospital deports an illegal immigrant with a brain injury needing extended, if not lifetime care at a major cost to the hospital. And no one else wanted him. This really only has two practical outcomes. They can do it without being liable, or we the taxpayers will be, one way or the other. This case is being and will continue to be watched, I'm sure.

STUART, Fla. (July 23) - The case against a South Florida hospital that quietly chartered a plane and sent a seriously brain injured illegal immigrant back to Guatemala over the objections of his family and legal guardian was in the hands of a jury Thursday.

Health care and immigration experts across the country are closely watching the court action. Lawyers say it may be the first of its kind and underscores the dilemma facing hospitals with patients who require long-term care, are unable to pay and don't qualify for federal or state aid because of their immigration status.

Why should Martin Memorial Medical Center have to pay for a lifetime of care "for injuries we didn't even cause?" hospital attorney Scott Machaud asked the six-member jury during closing arguments of the month long trial. He said the hospital saved the life of 37-year-old Luis Jimenez and provided the uninsured man with $1.5 million worth of care, only to be unfairly hit with a lawsuit by his cousin, who's his guardian.

"Paging Alice in Wonderland, where up is down and down is up and no good deed goes unpunished," Machaud exclaimed.

However, under federal law, Martin Memorial was required to care for Jimenez until someone else would take him. Because of his immigration status, no one else would. But hospitals that receive Medicare reimbursements are required to provide emergency care to all patients and must provide an acceptable discharge plan once the patient is stabilized.

The lawsuit seeks nearly $1 million to cover the estimated lifetime costs of his care in Guatemala, as well as damages for the hospital's alleged "false imprisonment" and punitive damages to discourage other medical centers from taking similar action.

So Much For A Fence Won't Work

This will likely be interpreted different ways. Some will suggest it displays the futility of fencing along the border. Others will say it proves their worth, expanding the battle against illegal immigration on a different front. The guy paddling the surfboard North with a batch of Pot on his back must have been high!

But Commander Pearce and other officials in the Department of Homeland Security say those sporadic efforts have accelerated to unprecedented levels recently — a doubling in the number of illegal immigrants — more than 300 in the last two years — caught on boats or beaches and a sevenfold increase in maritime drug seizures, principally several thousand pounds of marijuana.

The authorities have taken note that the increase coincides with the near completion of new, more fortified border fencing along a 14-mile stretch from the ocean inland.

New smuggling rings have also emerged, operating out of beach towns south of the border and islands off the Mexican coast, convincing migrants that the passage is safe and the ocean too wide open for maritime law enforcement to catch them.

A recent patrol with the Coast Guard showed they may have a point.

All night and into the morning, the Coast Guard cutter Petrel dashed across the seas looking for suspect boats. A tip that a suspect boat was due to pass miles off the coast around 1 a.m. sent the cutter, nearly all of its lights off to avoid detection, searching by the faint glow of a half moon. The boat was not found.

Later, just after 4 a.m., a radar sweep picked up two boats moving quickly south, prompting the crew to cut off the classical music wafting from overhead speakers on a bridge lighted only by navigation monitors.

As the roaring engines sent the cutter crashing over swells for more than 20 minutes after the boats were first noticed, the crew could see the boats speeding without their lights on.

A boarding team mobilized with body armor and rifles and raced in a small craft from the cutter to check out the boats. Just early-morning fishing, said the people on the boats, who insisted they did not realize their lights were off. With no evidence of contraband, they were let go.

But Chief Petty Officer Gary Auslam, in charge on this watch, had his doubts as he watched the boats quickly motor on. Gunrunners bringing weapons from the United States move swiftly.

“Boy, they got out of here pretty quick, didn’t they?” Chief Auslam said, gazing out the bridge.