I don't believe the dog catcher has the right to ask for papers. None. I don't believe the dog catcher has the ability to make an arrest, or even a detention.
I DO believe, if the dog catcher is told be me at the door "yes, I brought that dog over the border yesterday when I came here illegally", the dog catcher now has a duty to tell someone. Do I like that personally? No. It is too KGB/everyone reporting on everyone to me. But I do understand it, in response to the complete inaction of the Federal government, and the intentional attempts by local jurisdictions to prevent such a report. Do I think it has the potential to be abused? Sure. If it is abused, do I think it will go unnoticed? not a chance. If it is abused, do I think it will stand? not a chance. Do I think there are going to be cranky old busybodies who call in constant reports that everyone on the street corner is an illegal? Yep. Because right now they are already making those calls. The difference I see now is that it is no longer acceptable for public employees to purposefully turn a blind eye, nor for municipalities to purposefully obstruct, and that there will be a pretty quick resolution as people are turned over to ICE. If ICE, on the other hand, continues to turn them loose, then there will be a pickle, since the person, the next time they are picked up in AZ, will have committed a FELONY as a repeat offender, and is looking at serious jail time, all of which must then be served. At which point the Fed and AZ will be in a big pissing match. Regardless of abuse, do I think the Fed is going to get hot on the issue, and take the initiative away from AZ? count on it. I admit that my dislike of ILLEGAL immigrants, who to me broke the most basic covenant of living in this society - fairness and doing the right thing - overbalances my distrust of government on this issue. They STARTED OFF by cheating, which to me makes them ineligible to keep playing. I have a real, deep, abiding problem with illegal immigration. This is one of my hottest-button issues. Unreasonably so. I know that. Which is why I am talking about this so much. Hoping I can think my way through some of the visceral feelings by talking to a group of people who disagree as strongly, but who's opinions I respect. LEGAL immigrants I actually love more than natural born citizens. They _sacrificed_ to be here. They know what it all means. They don't take any of it for granted. Seeing my country through THEIR eyes is a daily pleasure. On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 12:21 AM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]>wrote: > > Dog catcher chases a stray into your yard, knocks on your door to tell > you about the stray dog running around. Is that a legal contact? Yes, > of course it is. > > Now, we move on to "reasonable suspicion". What is reasonable > suspicion of illegal immigration status? I really don't know and that > is one of the things that really disturbs me. > > Arizona specifically included *every single* government employee in > the state in this law. Not just cops. And they relied upon the lowest > level of "proof" considered in the legal system. They could have > specified deputized officers of the peace, but they didn't. They could > have chosen a higher burden of certainty to try and make sure that > cops had a genuine reason to think that a person is an illegal > immigrant. But they didn't. Arizona specifically cast the widest > possible net, using the least trained people, using the lowest burden > of proof possible. > > How can you possibly think that this isn't going to be horribly > abused? And what, for God's sake, happened to your distrust of > government power? I'm personally far more pissed off about, and > frightened of, government abuse of power embodied in this bill than I > am of illegal immigrants. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:316726 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
