The Democrats' Political Football

We have an election coming up, just around the bend, and it appears to be a pretty bleak one for the folks currently holding superior elected numbers in Washington.  All indicators point to the Democrats being hauled out to the woodshed in November, by voters dissatisfied with a different type of change having been delivered than what they had expected.

Long story short:  The Republican voters are charged up, the Democratic ones anxious, and in the era of rocketing deficits, the independents have been sharply veering to the right.

Obama, Pelosi and the surprisingly endangered Harry Reid, would love to energize the people of color who played a large part in the Democratic success two years ago.  There's a problem, however.  A lot of them were Latinos and a good number are peeved that the president hasn't delivered on his "comprehensive immigration reform" promise.

Of course, the reality of the situation is that Obama can't deliver that promise before this election.  Not in a country boasting double-digit unemployment.  So, what can he do to appease these folks?  Well, you've been watching it.  He instructed Eric Holder to sue Arizona and he's made sure that a very public series of dismissals of immigration-related prosecutions in Houston have been available for public consumption by the media.

Will the White House make good on its promise to legalize millions of the undocumented any time soon?  Not likely.  Will the Democrats continue to use immigration as an issue to attempt to keep Hispanics on a short leash, and to ensure that they don't wander too far into more conservative pastures?  Absolutely.  Just ask Harry Reid.  He can't imagine how any Latino could be a member of the GOP.

The bottom line is that illegal immigration is too valuable an issue for people on the Left to resolve.  The value it holds as a demonization of the opposition tool, has enormous utility and they're trying to max it out to avoid the anticipated upcoming election upheaval.

Make good on promises instead?  That's a good one! 

Start Paying ... Now!

Not all hard-core amnesty advocates are entirely unrealistic.  Most realize that the legalization for millions, that they'd love to obtain, will not be coming this year.  After all, there's an election around the bend and the nation is mired in a lengthy recession.

In response, a good number of folks on the left have adopted a more piecemeal approach.  Specifically, they want a "down payment" on comprehensive immigration reform from the American public.  And in their minds, the appropriate immediate compensation should be in the form of the DREAM Act.

For those not familiar with the DREAM Act, it is proposed legislation that would grant an amnesty (with a few bells and whistles on it) to tens of thousands of illegal aliens who were brought to the U.S. as minors.  It's been rejected by Congress on each of the prior occasions it has been offered up in bills.

Nonetheless, its proponents remain undeterred.  Go ahead, "google" the words Dream Act Down Payment.  You'll receive dozens of hits.

Now, I'm neither a financial nor real estate expert, but I do understand two basic things about the term down payment.  It means a debt is owed and that more than one payment will be required to pay it off.

Therefore, my question to anyone who has read this far:  What do you believe American citizens owe to people who have been living in our country illegally?

How can we make this right with the illegals?  What's fair compensation from citizen taxpayers to the undocumented?  How much is owed to our neighbors who unlawfully reside in our nation and what is the best way to make fair payment?

I'd like to know and hope you'll share your opinion in a comment below.

Jamiel Shaw's Detractors

Most Californians who bother to stay informed about our state's illegal immigration crisis recognize the name Jamiel Shaw, Jr.  Jamiel was a star football player at Los Angeles High, looking forward to his senior season, when he was shot dead a few doors down from his house.  The person believed to have committed the murder turned out to be an illegal alien with gang ties and a considerable criminal record.  As a result of sanctuary city policies that permeate Southern California law enforcement, however, the alleged killer was never turned over to federal immigration authorities on the occasions he had been taken into custody.  He was released back into L.A. County, repeatedly.

Shortly after Jamiel's tragic death, Walter Moore, a local attorney, proposed a modification to longstanding LAPD policy that prevents Los Angeles officers from inquiring about a suspect's immigration status under most circumstances. The alteration would have been limited to known gang members.

It makes sense, right?  After all, which L.A. residents, documented or undocumented, want illegal alien gang members traipsing around our neighborhoods?

Well, in the Southern California scheme of things, it apparently did not make sense.  No members of the L.A. City Council made even the slightest effort to enact Jamiel's Law.  The family's pleas fell on their deaf ears, along with the mayor's.

In fact, some local illegal alien advocates have gone as far as to suggest that Jamiel Shaw was gunned down because of alleged gang ties, and thus, the law denying sanctuary city protections to violent undocumented gang members is inappropriate.

To these assertions, I have the following responses:

- I don't believe Jamiel Shaw was involved in gang activity.  Why?  Simple, gang members have criminal records including lots of arrests.  Not Jamiel Shaw, Jr., however.  No evidence, written, witness or otherwise, has ever been produced to illustrate that he had any run-ins with the law or local officers.

No one ever came up with a story of this kid being hassled by cops or getting questioned or cufffed.  What kind of a gang member or affiliate gets through 17 years near South Central Los Angeles without arrests, detentions and police contact reports?  The non-gang member type.  Ask any local criminal lawyer.

- If he was, who cares?  Under what circumstances is it OK for known gang members, who are illegally in the country, to be  released by police back onto our streets?  Is it acceptable when some of the Americans they cripple or kill have gang affiliations?

An affirmative answer to the last question is patently absurd.

If you're fed up with endless excuses being made as to why our state has to be filled with people who reside in our country unlawfully, and having to endure the consequences of their local presence, then I urge you to lend a hand to the Shaw Family.  In the near future, they will be making a large effort to place Jamiel's Law on the ballot in a local election.  They'd like voting Angelenos to decide whether or not sanctuary city policies should be extended to illegal alien gang members.

The Shaws are upstanding people who deserve far better from the elected officials who supposedly represent them, than what they got.  Let's see if we can help them out in some small way, so that L.A. is safer and they won't believe that their son's murder is no big deal to the people with whom they share this city.

For more information about Jamiel's Law, please visit http://www.isupportjamielslaw.com/

Pablo's Obstacle

Pablo Alvarado is a man with a mission.  He wants to assist illegal aliens across the United States.  The more he can do to help them acclimate to, and navigate through, life in America, the happier he is.

Tom Tancredo?  Ira Mehlman?  Jan Brewer?  In terms of motivation, Mr. Alvarado is there with them every step of the way.  He just happens to be on the other end of the political spectrum, regarding the illegal immigration debate.

After helping launch The Institute for Popular Education of Southern California, an organization that runs half a dozen day labor sites for the City of Los Angeles, and provides innumerable types of assistance to legal and illegal immigrants, he went on to start the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

Yes, there is such a thing.

In fact, the NDLON which is based in Los Angeles, has been around for a few years now.  The organization has more than sufficient funding, employees, a staff attorney, dozens of organizations with which it partners across the country, and an almost religious devotion to the idea of obtaining legalization for undocumented workers and their families.

Pablo Alvarado's National Day Laborer Organizing Network headquarters is located just outside the western the edge of MaCarthur Park, east of L.A.'s Koreatown.

Interested in purchasing bootleg DVD's of recently released movies or knock-off designer handbags?  At least some of the street vendors near MaCarthur Park should be able to hook you up.  Do you require forged identification documents? Take a stroll through MaCarthur Park.  That's what a crew from 60 Minutes did several years ago when seeking to illustrate the availability of fake drivers licenses and Social Security cards.

Are these NDLON affiliated or sponsored enterprises?  No.  Are these "businesses" relatively common features in America's largest sanctuary city, particularly in illegal alien neighborhoods?  Absolutely.

As you can imagine, Pablo Alvarado is no fan of the recent legislation enacted in Arizona.  His organization has sponsored a website urging resistance and opposition to the efforts to enhance enforcement directed at that state's undocumented population ( AltoArizona.com ).  Employees and other persons associated with the NDLON have participated in and orchestrated civil disobedience protests in response to SB 1070.

When interviewed about the new immigration enforcement policies in Arizona, Mr. Alvarado described them as "absolutely unacceptable to our community." And insofar as that assessment is concerned, I could not agree more.  He's absolutely right.  In fact, to families and neighborhoods saturated with illegal aliens, enforcement of employment, residency and local code regulations, makes the lives of the undocumented nearly impossible.

In a sanctuary city like Los Angeles, where law enforcement routinely looks the other way, people can continue to pour into the community and engage in all manner of law violations necessary to sustain the existence of most illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Citing fruit vendors at freeway onramps for failing to properly refrigerate and store produce, however, is not part of that equation.  Confiscating and arresting hot dog vendors preparing food at non-code compliant and unlicensed stands is also contrary to the running of a sanctuary city.  Further, checking the residency status of unlicensed drivers pulled over for moving violations is a near disaster for illegal aliens.  And of course, day laborer restrictions cripple the cash-driven economy of illegal alien saturated locations like Los Angeles, Houston and San Bernardino.

In fact, sizeable illegal alien communities rely on non-enforcement of all sorts of local and federal laws.  They simply can't get by without it.  Stripped of the ability to steal Social Security numbers, deal in forged ID's and engage in about a dozen other prohibited types of conduct, the whole system falls apart.

Therefore, we can expect Pablo Alvarado to fight like hell.  What has taken place in Arizona he cannot permit to continue, much less spread to other states. It's real simple.  The minute laws apply to illegal aliens in the same fashion as they do to everyday American citizens, his "community" ceases to exist.  Pablo Alvarado has spent much of his life assisting illegal aliens in the U.S.  And he has recently watched tens of thousands of the undocumented, along with their American-born children, flee the Copper State.  He knows that law enforcement works, and that, Pablo Alvarado simply cannot permit - not if his "community" is to survive in the U.S.

For more information about the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, log on to http://www.ndlon.org/ .