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Reading with interest the new Nashville City Paper's Online offerings (I'm lucky I have Firefox, and plenty of tabs to spare...)

Jared Allen writes that in two months, 605 Illegal Immigrants have been processed by the Davidson County Sheriff's Department for ICE Deportation (the only entity in the Federal Government that can actually deport an illegal immigrant...why is that?

"...the rapid pace of the program — which in its first 60 days has identified as illegal 75 percent of the total number of foreigners booked into the Metro jail, and that has already marked for deportation 1.4 percent of Nashville’s total estimated illegal immigrant population — has led law enforcement officials in more than a dozen counties across the state to inquire about bringing the 287(g) program into their own back yards."

Sounds good to me, since these deportees were already in Metro Jail, for their (at least) second criminal offense...the first was to come here, illegally, but until last week that was largely overlooked.

If Davidson County becomes unpalatable to illegals, where will they go? How about to every other county surrounding Davidson...including my own Rutherford County.

Don't get me wrong, I pay business taxes in Davidson, and employ workers there, so I expect representation from Metro. Plenty of cash goes to Davidson County on my behalf, but I don't vote in the Mayor's election (NO BRILEY or CLEMENT, PLEASE!) I would like to see Rutherford County, and for that matter, all counties, proceed to get 287(g) certification from ICE, so they can do their jobs.

What is 287(g)? From the ICE.gov fact sheet:

Under 287(g), ICE provides state and local law enforcement with the training and subsequent authorization to identify, process, and when appropriate, detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity.

Well and good. But, TRAINING TAKES FIVE WEEKS! WHY?

ICE develops a specialized training course (typically five weeks) for that group focusing on immigration law, civil rights, intercultural relations, and the issues and illegalities surrounding racial profiling.

(emboldenings mine)

So, we have this excellent Law Enforcement tool, that's held up for Political Correctness Training. Don't get me wrong, it's good for the Police to know their limits; taking that sort of job puts an individual in a position of easily-abused authority. There's nothing worse than a cop with an attitude, a gun, and what he thinks is his authority to throw around like a box of donuts. But most of these folks are consummate professionals, and can be trusted to do the right thing.

Why does the Federal Government throw such a large monkey wrench into the enforcement of Illegal Immigration? From the CityPaper article:

"...while interest in the program may be high across the state, the realistic chances of the near-statewide implementation of 287(g) programs on a county-by-county basis are low, at least in the near term, local, as well as federal officials have explained.

Counties with small sheriff staffs will not only have a hard time adjusting their resources accordingly, but will also face an uphill battle convincing the federal government that those counties are worth investing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and training into, officials explained.

Similarly, counties with large populations but with smaller percentages of immigrants might not get the full attention of the federal government, whose will is dictated by political capitol as much as anything else, one federal official familiar with 287(g) explained. "

You know, after the defeat last week of the Kennedy-McCain-Bush Shamnesty bill, a logical next-step would be to enhance enforcement, perhaps by 'freeing-up' 287(g) authority, so that every Police Department who wants to participate could, with a minimum of additional training. That means less ICE regulations.

Tear ICE down, and replace it with something more streamlined and efficient. That would mean, on a State-by-State level, taking the Federal Government out of the loop...since they failed in their primary job to Protect the Borders, let the Feds do the manual labor of fence-building, and leave the cleanup to the State...and County....authorities.

It looks like Rutherford County can handle whatever issue comes up...

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