Home Subscribe Las Vegas Review-Journal
  Jobs Cars Homes Shopping Travel Weddings Golf Best of Las Vegas Photo   Search:

RECENT EDITIONS
Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu

Opinion


EDITORIAL: Letting cops enforce immigration laws

Metro heeds citizen outrage, applies to partner with ICE

Citizen frustration with illegal immigration is driven by the refusal of governments to enforce existing law -- the federal government won't adequately secure the Mexican border, and local and state police officers pay little attention to the immigration status of suspects, even when they're arrested for violent crimes.

That could soon change in Clark County, because the Metropolitan Police Department is taking steps to partner with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in deporting jailed illegals.

Newsvine Digg Fark Technorati reddit StumbleUpon del.icio.us Slashdot Propeller Mixx Furl Twitter MySpace Facebook Google Bookmarks Yahoo! Bookmarks Windows Live Favorites Ask MyStuff myAOL Favorites

Most Popular Stories
  • EDITORIAL: Public employee pay
  • FROM OUR READERS: Do those who voted for Halverson have a clue?
  • LETTERS: No more cuts to public schools
  • EDITORIAL: Another drug raid gone bad
  • LETTERS: Classic case of burying the news
  • LETTERS: Public school cuts political, impractical
  • EDITORIAL: 'Buyers in these areas are responding ... '
  • EDITORIAL: Rich man, poor man
  • FROM OUR READERS: No tax hikes? It might be time to sue
  • EDITORIAL: School choice



  • The department has applied to join the ICE 287(g) program, which would give eight county jail deputies access to a federal database of known immigration offenders and allow them to document and report foreign-born inmates.

    Southern Nevada police currently have no way to learn upon booking whether a suspect is in the country legally. As a result, the department has no idea how many illegals are being incarcerated at the jail at taxpayer expense. Worse, authorities have no idea how many illegals have been set free to commit more crimes.

    If the department's 287(g) application is accepted, the jail deputies will be a four-week training course away from gaining the authority to identify jailed illegals and initiating deportation proceedings. Metro would become the 35th local or state police agency to have a place in the ICE chain of command.

    That local police must jump through such bureaucratic hoops to get permission to enforce the law says a lot about the federal government's commitment to stopping illegal immigration. But it's far preferable to the status quo. Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie deserves credit for recognizing the concerns of local citizens and seeking the partnership with ICE.

    This is a reasonable and logical start toward improving enforcement of the nation's immigration laws. Local police will not conduct immigration "sweeps" of day laborers, businesses suspected of employing illegal immigrants or predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods under the pact. The agreement would merely let them take steps to keep drunken drivers, thieves and violent offenders who are in the country illegally from violating our laws yet again.



    Leave Your Comment 19 Reader Comments
    Terms & Conditions
    The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The reviewjournal.com does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please notify the web editor.

    Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 48 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
    Current Word Count:

    Steve wrote on December 01, 2007 05:39 PM: Douglas,

    That sounds great. However, you can bet that Congress will vote to prevent themselves from joining any healthcare plan just like they voted themselves an extremely exhorbitant retirement package instead of participating in Social Security. If they were required to participate in Social Security like everyone else, you would then see the program getting "fixed" ASAP.


    douglas wrote on December 01, 2007 05:31 PM: there could be a silver lining if the "progressives" gain the white house.

    promised is instant amnesty of the 10-20 million infiltrators already in hiding here, and the 50, 100 or more million who will instantly charge across the promised "open" borders. in those millions, there gotta be some energetic $10 an hour auto assembly line workers, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, masons, equipment operators, painters, laborers, and such. say good bye to those $50-$100 plumber's ["portal to portal"], service calls. lotta those wrenches are likely mechanics rather than the usual suspect, parts replacers. mebbe with new car assembly line workers getting paid the same as the japanese and koreans, we could get back some of those sales lost to imports. and without the union dues, coffee "breaks", vacations, and pension funds to pay for, almost everyone will save. ['cept the union bosses, stewards who'll have to get some calluses on their hands instead of their cans].

    though the american taxprayer would be mostly bankrupted by the free national health, leastwise all those politicians and fat cat union members would have to get in the same lines for healthcare as the rest of us. surely frau clinton's "universal" ["mandatory"] plan wouldn't discriminate against other citizens by excusing *any* citizens from enjoying that "new" level of care.

    "what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander".


    Rogelio P. Viado wrote on December 01, 2007 03:05 PM: Immigration enforcement at the local level helps us get rid of illegals who
    are law breakers. We are supporting children of these illegals in public
    schools where they throw the free food
    in the trash cans, we teach them to read, write, and speak English, they demand interpreters on parent conferences, etc.


    douglas wrote on December 01, 2007 02:16 PM: not so fast...

    mebbe the poster *is* an "x cop"... from some country other than the u.s.

    mebbe he's trying to get a job as a "cop" in the u.s. and needs the "progressive" promise of another instant amnesty to get the it.


    Steve wrote on December 01, 2007 02:08 PM: Thomas L,

    You need to change your comment to "idiots and morons are for open borders". Additionally, no one is talking about "immigrants"..the discussion is about ILLEGAL ALIENS. They also are NOT "undocumented workers". They are CRIMINAL, BORDER JUMPING, RIO GRANDE SWIMMING, ILLEGAL ALIENS! They are some of the most nasty, disgusting, useless filth ever put on the planet and their corpses should be flushed down the sewer where they belong.


    Joe C wrote on December 01, 2007 11:32 AM: To X cop,

    Although I think it’s highly un-likely your actually a x cop, because if you were, you would know that sixty percent of illegals no matter what nation they came use fake ID’s and work with one and collect social services with another.
    Add the fact anyone who picks and chooses what laws they should obey and then demand rewards are not very good citizens; and in fact many cases are a true representation of the corrupted countries they left behind.
    To bad you really aren’t an x cop or you would be aware of that.


    tim wrote on December 01, 2007 11:30 AM: if your tired of our gov.not enforcing our laws check out NUMBERSUSA.COM over half million strong. you will suprised how effective it is. check it out and sign up you wont be disappointed.


    X Cop wrote on December 01, 2007 10:56 AM: I think we should give all the ILLEGALS a job.The reason I say that you have all the lazy fat white trailer trash that is on welfare that don't want a job or will not take a job unless it is a union job.I say to the ILLEGALS you have my support.I support you just like Canada supports.Welcome to the UNITED STATES.


    carlos wrote on December 01, 2007 10:26 AM: Why don't we let the park & rec police enforce the laws. They are gung ho about fishing w/o license in a pond, I'm sure they could handle it! I know just have the cops get 5$ for every illegal they deport. Do your job police! If someone has fake identification, arrest & deport them. Oh were not allowed to do that, GIVE ME A BREAK!!!


    douglas wrote on December 01, 2007 08:55 AM: for starters, instead of "sweeps", at the very least, *any and all*, gubmit funded agencies which during the course of their normal business, discover illegal infiltrators, must contact whatever authorities. that'd include hospitals, schools, "welfare" agencies, charitable enterprises, etc.

    the "progressives" of course will whine that their "pre-citizens" [hapless harry reid] are being "racially profiled" or that their "rights" [what rights can an infiltrator have ?], are being violated.

    best spin i've noticed was an ad/interview by a reptile "immigration" lawyer. his excuses were twofold. that the immigration law was "too complicated" for simple law enforcement to "enforce". huh ? why doesn't that apply to *all* laws ? either the dude in the traffic stop has or hasn't identification. i needed i.d. to get a library card. was i being "profiled" or discriminated against ?

    the second excuse was that the "immigrant community" wouldn't trust police if they would enforce or at least identify illegal infiltrators. who cares if criminals don't trust police ? if those "immigrant communities" didn't conceal, aid and abet, illegal infiltrators, they'd have nothing to fear.


    Read All Comments