From SB1070:"A PERSON MAY BRING AN ACTION IN SUPERIOR COURT TO CHALLENGE ANY OFFICIAL OR AGENCY OF THIS STATE OR A COUNTY, CITY, TOWN OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THIS STATE THAT ADOPTS OR IMPLEMENTS A POLICY THAT LIMITS OR RESTRICTS THE ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS TO LESS THAN THE FULL EXTENT PERMITTED BY FEDERAL LAW."
Example: A person sees a group of Latinos at a Home Depot. They call the local police and say "There's a bunch of illeeegals out here if front of Home Depot. Cum n get'm!" The police do not respond to this report. The person takes pictures of the "illeegals" and records his call, then files a petition before court and says, "I spotted all of these illeegals and the dang cops never showed up." The police lose the case. The police pay court costs and the plea agreement indicates they will set up an "Illeegals Hot Line" so any citizen may call and report "illeegals" and the police say they will respond in 30 minutes to each call. The judge warns the police must not implement a policy restricting police responding to each call or risk being sued again.
Sounds reasonable? Do you think citizens will be satisfied with the establishment of a hotline and call only when they actually see an "illeegal"? No racial profiling? Do you think they just might call if they see legal citizens? Maybe someone should set up an "illeegals hotline" and see what kind of volume these hot lines will receive. Maybe we should determine the volume so we can ensure the volume will not detract the police from doing their real jobs, capturing violent, felonious criminals, drug cartels, etc and NOT landscapers. Do you think someone might set up such a hot line? Sound like a good idea? Just to test the volume of calls? Hmmm?
Oh wait! ICE set up a hotline policy last year. Let's see what happened to their volume.
SBSun reports:
Immigration violation tips flood ICE line
It's been a banner year for a toll-free tip line that citizens can call to report immigration violations. Fueled in part by citizens fed up with illegal immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials received nearly 100,000 calls to the tip line from Oct. 1 through the end of April. At this point in the previous fiscal year, the number was less than 64,000, said David Palmatier, chief of ICE's law enforcement support center in Williston, Vt.
"This current fiscal year is likely to be a record for us," he said.
Palmatier attributed the increase to an effective outreach campaign on the ICE website and extensive public service announcements in media outlets. The tip line was started in 2003 as part of Operation Predator, a campaign to crack down on international child pornography and child sex tourism. Palmatier said the effort was so successful ICE decided to expand it to cover all customs and immigration-related crimes.
But people calling to report low-level immigration violations, like a neighbor who might be an illegal immigrant, likely are not getting the responses they hope for. "We focus on criminal activity," Palmatier said. "We're not really set up to respond to administrative violations. We have to prioritize. ICE has taken the position of going after the worst of the worst. That means criminal aliens." Critics said part of ICE's job is to go after day laborers in hardware store parking lots. "That's sort of the place where ICE, even without a tip, should be looking for people," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (white nationalist John Tanton's group; Kris Kobach, author of sb1070 is a member of FAIR), a Washington-based group that seeks to reduce immigration. "These are the sorts of obvious places that there should be law enforcement." Mehlman recognizes ICE is hampered by limited resources.
"Obviously, there's a big job," Mehlman said. "You're going to need the manpower. That is one of the reasons we have strongly supported 287(g) and other programs designed to enlist the aid of local police." People calling the tip line can select from a menu of options, including reporting information about most-wanted fugitives, human trafficking and employment of illegal immigrants, drug smuggling, child pornography, terrorist activity and financial crimes.
An employee at the ICE call center in Vermont will collect as much information from the caller as possible. Tips are written up and instantly sent via computer to local ICE field offices. ICE's Los Angeles field office oversees the San Bernardino County area. About 60 people work in the call center. It's staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Wait times are about a minute, Palmatier said. Investigators in the field offices decide whether to follow up on leads based on local resources and priorities.
Palmatier said he couldn't say how many tips are received for specific activities. ICE also doesn't break down tips by regions of the country, he said. But he did say many of the calls are complaints about people working in the country illegally and the employers who hire them.
Other common tips involve allegations of people using fraudulent documents generated from fake Social Security numbers. Benefit fraud is another frequent complaint. An example is someone getting another person into the country through a false marriage.
Palmatier said ICE investigators do their best to respond to all tips, but they focus their resources on cases of criminal activity, public safety and national security.
Mehlman, the FAIR spokesman, said the public understandably is frustrated if someone calls the tip line several times and there is no action. (with sb1070, they can now sue the police if no action) He criticized the Obama administration for lacking "the political will" to enforce immigration laws except in cases involving serious or violent felons.
Latino activists said they don't mind if the tip line is used to help apprehend dangerous criminals or foil terrorist plots. "It's good as long as it's actually used for what it's intended," said Emilio Amaya, director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, an immigrant support organization. "If it's just to turn in your neighbor because you don't like them, that's a problem." (this is the intent of sb1070)
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