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/
No comments:
Post a Comment