Missouri Crackdown On Illegal Immigration

Here's an example of a state taking correct and decisive action on illegal immigration. Gov. Matt Blunt recently signed an order that highway patrolmen would be allowed to enforce immigration law, and in the first six weeks of the program, 52 arrests have been made, mostly from routine traffic stops.

This article is great, so I'm going to step through a lot of it for you.

While many have hailed Gov. Matt Blunt's get-tough policy, critics say the Missouri Highway Patrol's even more aggressive strategy of checking residency during traffic stops could result in racial profiling.

Good, that would help a lot.

"If you're being told from on high that we're going to stop illegal immigration, law enforcement is going to look twice at someone who looks Hispanic," said Jorge Riopedre, secretary of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis.

No, that would be illegal. They're looking at anyone -- who has been stopped by the Highway Patrol, for whatever reason -- who can't provide legal documentation of their identity.

In launching the stepped-up enforcement on Aug. 27, Blunt pointed to an illegal immigrant from Peru who has been accused of committing a triple murder in New Jersey while free on bail on a rape charge. Blunt said an earlier immigration check could have prevented those murders.

Exactly. There are tragically a multitude of examples just like that.

Tony Rothert, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, said the Highway Patrol doesn't seem to have a "coherent policy" for deciding whom to arrest.

"I've never heard of anyone who is not Hispanic being taken in for failing to use the turn signal," he said.

No one is 'taken in' for not using a turn signal. They're pulled over for that (just like non-Hispanics would be), and then taken in when they can't prove their legal identity.

The Post-Dispatch filed a public records request to obtain information about those detained since Aug. 27. The results showed that relatively few were charged with crimes other than immigration violations.

So what? Just being here illegally is a crime! Are only certain crimes supposed to be enforced?

Blunt's anti-illegal immigration stance has angered Hispanic leaders across the state, but he continues to defend the move. He even took another step on Wednesday, sending a letter to county prosecutors saying he supports efforts to enforce a state law against illegal immigration.

The law says employers found employing illegal immigrants can be ruled ineligible for state tax credits, tax abatements or loans.

Excellent! Dry up the jobs, and a big magnet goes away.

Tracking the arrests of illegal immigrants the last several weeks is complicated by the secrecy that surrounds immigration enforcement. The patrol usually leaves detainees at a county jail that doubles as a federal holding center.

The detainees at times are not held long. Those who are from Mexico and have no criminal records often are given the option of a quick "voluntary return" with no charges, said Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Gee, how nice of us. Do we actually escort them to the border, or do we just trust them to leave?

Immigration has become a hot political topic in many states, with Republicans and Democrats aligning behind initiatives such as penalties for hiring undocumented workers.

Some have pushed for agreements that allow state officers to make immigration arrests and handle deportation paperwork, under federal supervision. Blunt has applied to be the seventh state with such authority, joining Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Massachusetts.

If Blunt's request is granted, the state will send 25 officers to five weeks of training, probably in Georgia.

Even without such authority, supporters say, Missouri is on solid legal ground in policing residency.

I would hope so - it's still enforcing American law!

A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision gave law enforcement broad authority to check immigration status, said Kris W. Kobach, who teaches law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

"This is basic information, like asking a person his name," said Kobach, who served as chief adviser on immigration to former Attorney General John Ashcroft. "As long as it's uniform policy that applies in all situations — like a person being arrested or all people being stopped for a traffic violation — then the possibility of any kind of profiling is very low."

I applaud Blunt's action, and the Missouri Highway Patrol's response. If more states follow suit on these policies, we could make a serious dent in the illegal immigration.

There's my two cents.