ironporer

Typically for misdomeanor traffic offenses the police are not allowed to turn them over to Immigration, even though they have no proof of citizenship, driver's liscense, SS card etc. The are issued a ticket and released.

scrubbedexpat099

The Denver district attorney's office under gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter approved plea bargains that prevented the deportation of illegal and legal immigrants charged with drug, assault and other crimes.

The office allowed defendants to plead guilty to trespassing on agricultural land instead of the crimes they actually were accused of 152 times from 1998 through 2004. Other counties - Jefferson, Adams and Arapahoe - had only 75 convictions combined for the crime, according to court records.

Former Denver District Attorney Norm Early, who was Ritter's predecessor, laughed when he heard about the farm charges in urban Denver.

"I reviewed all my case dispositions, and I never remember that coming up," he said.
<snip -got the source?>

ironporer

As long as we build a barrier on our northern border to keep all those dodgy Canooks and their hocky sticks and curling stones OUT!!

Cops should be able to profile- if someone says "ehh" enough times, or 'aboot'...kick their butts back up north.

NC Penguin

... and here's the story of a Florida Brit who's up shit creek.

SMITHFIELD, NC --
Ruth Davis banked on looking like just another granny in the slow lane.

But the 65-year-old Floridian was on business. A high-dollar delivery -- 33 pounds of premium pot -- was locked up in the trunk of her rented Chevy Impala. She set her cruise on 74 as she headed north on Interstate 95 through Johnston County, bound for New York.

The article is two pages long and mentions Davis is married to an American and has lived as a Permanent Resident in the US for 40 years. She could be deported.
http://www.charlotte.com/news/story/627017.html

surly

There's a good reason to get US Citizenship right there. As a USC myself I hopefully will not find myself in the same position, but who knows.
I've had quite a few traffic citations myself, but despite my British accent, my immigration status has never been questioned.

Britinsac

And that really is the issue. You need more and more taxpayers to support those who do not pay taxes, and when the pendulum swings the other way (as it will if you turn a blind eye to illegal immigration) then there simply won't be enough money to provide medicare, policing, etc. This country cannot support it's legal citizens effectively now (healthcare, social security, sheltered housing,) without the added burden of illegals.

It's a sad fact that life deals some better cards than others. And some are deserving of compassion, others are not. What are the criteria that puts someone in one camp rather than the other?

Right laws or wrong laws - without them we have anarchy.

surly

Law and order can be painful if you are on receiving end of the power that determines that order.

Britinsac

I hear you. There but for the Grace of God go I.

snowbunny

I had a suspicion that something like this might be motivating her:

"Seven years ago, doctors discovered Davis had a blood disease. It was a long, painful ordeal, one she braved without health insurance. The bills mounted and still linger. She owes more than $20,000. Then, her daughter got into a bad car crash and needed plastic surgery to reconstruct her face. The cost: at least $3,000.

So when a friend asked Davis whether she wanted to make some quick cash, she nodded. The friend linked her with a drug trader who quickly hired her to drive some of his supply from Miami to Manhattan. This was her sixth run, the last she needed to finally have enough to settle her debt and buy her daughter plastic surgery.

"It sounded so easy," Davis said. "Let me tell you. It's not. It's nerve-racking knowing what you have in your car. Looking for cops everywhere."

HoosierDaddy

Is the reader supposed to feel sorry for her?
"She said she knew she was breaking the law but decided she wasn't hurting anyone."
WTF!!?? She has 2 kids, 1 grandchild on the way and has been in the Sunshite State for 40 years. Yeah - drugs? Never hear a bad word about 'em.

And as far as her debt is concerned, an option would have been to sell her house (which she owned) and maybe get rid of one of the slew of pets she had....

anotherlimey

Personally I hope she gets deported.

Irn-bru

I agree She also has a goodish job now, even if she didn't have it back then, surely paying of a bit a month or even selling your home and downsizing would be better.
I'd have felt sorry for her before she broke the law. I am sure there are plenty of people in her situation who don't break the law and not just break it but ruin others lives - no excuse!

What about all those people and getting kids hooked on drugs, overdoses etc - she turned into the worst type of person.

snowbunny

Erm.... she ran MARIJUANA, folks, not crack cocaine.

Let's make this clear: I do not partake of the stuff, but I would not be opposed to legalisation. Where I grew up, people grew it in their yards along with the aloe vera for burns. Do I feel sorry for her? No. Did I wonder why she would take such a risk? Yes, and my bet was on a real money squeeze.

However, if she gets deported, I guess she'll have her treatment on the NHS. Bittersweet, huh.

anotherlimey

A couple of my school friends are as good as turnips now thanks to drugs, and they both started on "safe" marijuana.

Anthony919

My problem with immigration is 2-fold.

Those issues with illegal immigrants that have been discussed already in this thread and the negative impact on the indigenous / legal parts of the population.

Secondly, I am totally against the dilution of the English Language, customs and culture of the USA, by way of, for example;

1. Press one for English on phone messages / call centers
2. Street signs / documents / advertising / TV channels in Spanish
3. People who have no intention, whatsoever, of ever uttering one word of English (but who wear baseball caps & T-shirts) but who come to the USA to sponge off the society, take advantage of every act of help / generoisty given to them by well-meaning but ultimately foolish and liberal-minded people who can't see what is really happening, right in front of them, on a daily basis, with the destruction of American borders, culture and language.

The same thing has happened to the UK and look at what a dustbin it is now, where even some of the illegal immigrants can't stand it.
Why is the English language translated in a dozen + other languages for immigrants?
Why can't immigrants learn English, as I had to?

If immigrants CHOOSE to come to a new country, it is for them to learn the customs and culture of that country and society, not the other way around and it is not for the country & its population to accommodate them.

What do you think would happen if white westeners, emigrated to another predominantly non-white country and demanded the same accommodations as the USA hands out left right and center?
In some places, we would be laughed at - in others, we would be shot.

Its one thing to enjoy aspects of another culture, like its cuisine. Its quite another for us to be subjected to Sharia Law or accept women dressed head to toe in a blanket.

If a society and culture doesn't value, support and defend its own society and culture, in all its myriad of ways, that sends a clear signal to other cultures who interpret such a poor defense as a weakness and a green light to come in and take over, as they have done, to some depth, in the UK and other European countries.

In the end, it's a clash of cultures and a country/culture that accommodates / harbors parasitic migrants from other countries and who make no net contribution to a society and who do not assimilate (unlike previous generations of migrants) or worse, are also a huge drain on a society, will see, at the very least, the ending of that country and culture as they know it.

My wife, a USC by birth, doesn't recognize many things about her country now.