Originally posted by: loki8481
this whole thing boggles my mind... people get murdered in Newark all too frequently. and yet the GOP never really cared about doing something about the root causes (low education, high poverty, etc) until it suddenly fit their xenophobic rhetoric ....-snip-
How can crime in Newark be a federal issue? Your sherrif is likely elected by the people of Newark, the police chief is either elected by the people or hired by City Council, who the people elect. If they are not doing a good job, get replacements. It's a local matter and the leaders these people elect are responsible for it, not the federal government.
Crimes are almost always a matter of state law. If the (state) judges and/or prosecutors are doing a poor job, replace them. It's a local matter here again.
Whose "xenophobic rhetoric"? You make it seem that the GOP has been railing against illegal imigration. I haven't seen them do squat so far. The other side is even worse, they wanna give illegals rights and benefits.
Illegal immigration is a serious problem, even for us over here in the Eastern part of the US. For some reason, we seem to be attracting a criminal element. I can only guess the Mexican authorities deal far more harshly with crime than we do.
I'm on the board of an organization called Crime Stoppers (most of you probrably have a local affiliate where you live). We are in close communication with both the police and sherrif's departments. Usually about half the suspects we are looking for are illegals. Worse, many of the these criminals prey on the population of law abiding hard working illegals. They do so because they are unlikely to be reported. THis allows for a criminal element to operate unfettered by local law enforce until they screw up and victimize a *legal* person who will report them.
Illegal immigration ingeneral has put an enormous financial drain on the county where I live, particularly our schools and hospital. Violent crime by illegal immigrant criminals has become a serious problem. Our county recently created a panel too address it. But what to do? Illegal immigration is a federal issue, we don't even share a border with Mexico (or Canada). What can local communities do?
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Originally posted by: Jhhnn
Shades of Willie Horton...
Right, the recent murders in NY (IIRC) really do point out how the "let's parole" everybody thing is working out really really well for us.
What's one reason for early release or parole of criminals? Over crowding in jails and prisons. Do you think the illegals we have jailed contribute to that? Let's just keep them out of the country in the first place.
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Originally posted by: sandorski
How long before this letter shows up on Snopes and is exposed as a hoax?
I don't see what could be a hoax here. We know who the suspects are in the murders. The article you above by Newt was basically the same as teh speech he gave in Iowa, it was televised and I saw it.
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Originally posted by: Lemon law
Typical Newt Gingrich to all excited about some new idea.
You think the idea of deporting illegals, particularly criminals that are illegal alien is new? In case you missed it, we just had a healthy amount of discussion on this topic recently during the Immigration Reform attempt by Congress.
-snip-
But going back to the Newt argument, I could dredge up a huge number of tear jerking cases of white males doing all kinds of horrible things. And then demand that we deport the rotten lot. But until I can start to demonstrate that the target group in question is much more likely than the general population to do such horrible things, that argument is at best half baked. Then one has to go beyond that and think a lot of other things through because it changes quite a few other things.
Ridiculous, absolutley riduclous. There is no need whatsoever to proof that a certian group is more likley to engage in criminal behavior before we start to act. You're either here legally or you're not. If you're not and commit criminal acts, you need to be deported. Period. And so you can't just sneak eight back (which they obviously do) we need REAL border control.
Yes, we do need a lot of changes. In listening to Congress debate the immigration reform bill it is chrystal clear that we have little to no control over our Southern border (nor our Northern border). And to top it off, our hodge pogde of enforcement agencies have no means to communicate, no means to efficiently deport or even detain illegals, criminal or not. E.g., if you're an illegal my understanding is that upon arrest for even a serious felony you can demand deportation immediately (thus no trial). You can sneak back in with no criminal record. Jeebus, we can't even identify these people.
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Originally posted by: Lemon law
-snip-
Anyone care to quote the odds that Newt is spending any time to transform his idea from nothing but hot air into workable reality?
Since Newt holds no office, I don't see what he can other than make speeches and make suggestions how we ought to go about this. Both of which he's done. You might as well criticize Al Gore for not solving GW yet.
Fern
