Monday, July 30, 2007

Gotta Love Cobb County

Why I love living in Cobb County GA
Maria Rivera sits in the Cobb County Jail, facing deportation after a traffic stop.
If the Mableton mother of three, who is here illegally from Mexico, had been pulled over in any other county in Georgia, she likely would have bailed out and gone on with her life.

But Cobb County's jail is at the forefront of local enforcement of immigration laws, going a step further than many states and further than a new Georgia law requires.
Cobb has trained some sheriff's deputies to determine the legal status of all foreign born inmates at the jail, no matter how minor the charge. Cobb jailers now can start deportation proceedings under what's known as a "287-G" agreement with federal immigration authorities.
"The computers are up and running," Cobb County Chief Deputy Sheriff Lynda Coker said. "They can run inquiries on a federal database."
A new state law effective July 1 requires jailers statewide to determine the legal status of inmates charged with felonies or DUI and report illegal immigrants to federal immigration officials, but they can leave it at that.

So take that 3rd Circuit, which recently struck down the laws passed in Hazelton, PA. Now this woman has been charged with: Expired tag; no license; no proof of insurance
So another unlicensed, uninsured motorists is taken off the streets. By the way GA requires proof of insurance to get a license and a tag, so how was she able to have a vehicle to start with?

And what do the “Let ‘em all in crowd” have to say. It is predictable
In the four weeks since the program began, Cobb jailers and ICE have interviewed 86 inmates, placed immigration holds on 68 and started deportation proceedings against 42, Coker said. Deportation paperwork done by sheriff's deputies must be reviewed by an immigration officer before it goes to a judge.
Although it's sheriff's deputies, and not Cobb County Police Department officers, who are now processing deportation paperwork, the program is sending a shiver through the immigrant community.
Fear destroys any rapport the community had with police, said Jerry Gonzalez, head of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials.
"This is having a very negative effect on overall public safety," Gonzalez said.{ed.- If by negative effect you mean another unlicensed, uninsured motorist is taken off the streets, then yeah}
Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute's office at New York University Law School, agrees. The institute is a nonprofit Washington think tank that studies global migration patterns.
"People are reluctant to report crimes to the police, or be witnesses in criminal proceedings," Chishti said.

That is why we must actively pursue legal proceedings against illegals. Chew on this Mr Chishti.
Some Cobb inmates who have been flagged for immigration holds are charged with child molestation or drugs, weapons and alcohol-related offenses, Rocha said.

Now of course Maria has 3 children but guess what? It ain’t her first trip.
Rivera was flagged because she had been deported before, in March 2006, after crossing the Mexican border illegally, Rocha said.
Rivera crossed again last year and went to Chicago with her husband and three children, said Enrique Farias, her roommate. About six months ago she came to Mableton with her children, Farias said.
His sister cared for the three children a few weeks while their mother was in jail, he said, until an uncle from Chicago came last week took the children home with him.
Rivera was stopped by a Cobb County police officer July 11 on her way to work as a house cleaner, Farias said. She is charged with driving without a license, having no proof of insurance and an expired tag, according to jail records.
Cobb County police Chief George Hatfield said his officer had no choice but to enforce the law with Rivera.
"It's sad if she's got the three children and everything, but she should have thought about that before she got behind the wheel of a car," he said.
Full story is here.

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