Imagine how old, one-bullet Barney Fife would handle the immigration problem in Mayberry, particularly if Sheriff Andy was out of town. Probably no one would be safe from Barney's digging to find whether they actually were citizens, even the mayor, and certainly swarthy visitors. Let me see your driver's license and your birth certificate.
Silly, isn't it? But it could just be more real than we would like considering the Department of Homeland Security's program 287(g) permitting immigration enforcement to be handled by local sheriffs, most of whom are elected politicians without prior law enforcement experience and are utterly untrained in the complexities of one of the nation's most difficult problems. In many venues they are basically summons servers and jailers.
In Cobb County Georgia, where the population is 11 percent Hispanic, the sheriff has touched off a firestorm of protest by filing a felony charge against a 21-year-old undocumented college student who has been in this country since she was 11. What was her crime? She gave the police a false address. However, according to her lawyer, she did give them the address where she used to live and where her car insurance is registered. He said she also provided police with her current address.
The student, Jessica Colotl, is a Mexican immigrant brought here as a child with her parents. She surrendered to the sheriff and was released on $2,500 bond, telling reporters she was treated like a criminal who was a threat to the nation. Earlier her supporters, including the president of the university she attends and where she has an exemplary academic record, convinced U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities to free her from a detention center. They granted her a one-year reprieve from deportation so she could graduate.
Colotl was initially apprehended for the heinous crime of "impeding traffic" whatever that means. The arresting officer was a highly trained immigration specialist and traffic monitor - i.e. a campus cop.
This particular case has broad national repercussions with all the elements of the national immigration problems. It includes local politics, the increasingly virile Hispanic voting bloc; the cost of educating illegals at all three levels -- elementary, secondary, and college -- and the question of basic fairness. Jessica has been paying instate tuition at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta. She now must pay the higher out of state fees as an illegal.
Most importantly it highlights the growing rift, as has the much-publicized Arizona law giving police jurisdiction over immigration, between the federal authorities and state and local politicians over how illegal immigrants are detected and prosecuted. According to press reports, civil rights leaders have charged that Cobb County historically uses federal laws aimed at detecting dangerous criminals to arrest illegal immigrants for minor offenses. It is an allegation backed up by an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation that showed from 2007-09 the main crime for which immigrants were detained was traffic related.
Of course not all sheriffs' departments are incompetent or mean spirited as is charged. But it is safe to say a significant number are more interested in which way the political winds are blowing than in dealing out justice soundly and fairly, especially in areas of the country where they wield considerable power. Traditionally, they are an office that is rewarded by lucrative jail contracts and other fees. It seems unbelievable that Homeland Security officials would turn them loose on such a complex situation.
All of this is the result of chaos caused by congressional inaction. That vacuum is being filled by a patchwork of state and local policies that have failed not only to quell the worst elements in the illegal immigration flow but also to provide for the best immigrants to become citizens or documented workers. Without some coherent overall plan it can only get worse.
Jessica Colotl told reporters that she is hoping for the adoption of the Development, Relief and Education for Illegal Minors Act that would provide students with a path to become legal. She probably should not hold her breath until that occurs. Or for that matter until Andy returns to get her out of the jam she is in with Barney.
E-mail Dan K. Thomasson, former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service, at thomassondan@aol.com.
Masterrogue666 posted at 7:02 am on Tue, May 25, 2010.
"What was her crime?" -- You mean other than living in the USA ILLEGAL for 10 years? How about theft of services that are meant for US citizens?
"Jessica Colotl, is a Mexican immigrant" -- How about Jessica Colotl, ILLEGAL ALIEN? That's a much more accurate term.
"telling reporters she was treated like a criminal" -- News flash, she IS A CRIMINAL, and SHOULD BE treated as one. Granted her parents brought her here. SHE decided to go to college knowing her background.
"She now must pay the higher out of state fees as an illegal" -- Well boo hoo hoo! She should be forced to pay BACK FEES AND FINES BEFORE she's permitted to continue her education.
Just another ILLEGAL ALIEN that cries "You owe me!" When in truth, they OWE US, the U. S. citizen!
Masterrogue666 posted at 7:03 am on Tue, May 25, 2010.
By the way, Dan K. Thomasson, you remind me of "Les Nesman" from WKRP....
AZMomma posted at 7:27 am on Tue, May 25, 2010.
To the article author: You do not have any clue about AZ SB1070 and to equate the enforcement of it to Barney Fife is akin to lumping all Hispanics into Jose Jimenez.
There are some very serious, dangerous issues involved with the Border incursions, including the refusal of our own Government (past and present) to enforce policies and protect American citizens.
This is NOT going to go away, and it may become the worst nightmare of Obama, Holder, Napolitano and anyone advocating for the ILLEGALs.
Just one more incident like the shooting of an innocent rancher or the Pinal Co AZ Sheriff Deputy and the powder keg may blow.
Suggest you NOT roil the waters.
AZMomma posted at 7:34 am on Tue, May 25, 2010.
[sad] In any other country, to dispense Justice, equitably and fairly, Ms Jessica would find her whiny, sorry ar*se on the next bus back home..regardless of where that might be.
She is a victim of her own parents desire to BREAK THE LAWS of the USA. Too bad. Life is strewn with these stories, and she can leave, apply for Student Visa like so many others.
She also has developed a real 'whiny' attitude toward it all, and personally I would deny her ALL re-entry rights. Let her use her education (at US expense) to help her own country of origin.
OneVoice posted at 9:01 am on Tue, May 25, 2010.
"Colotl was initially apprehended for the heinous crime of "impeding traffic" whatever that means"
It means she was doing something she was not supposed to do, which was a detriment to others. But, why should she care? She has been a detriment to others by doing what she was not supposed to do for a very large portion of her life. Thankfully she has mental midgets like you to defend her.
And that, Mr. Dan K. Thomasson is the biggest part of the problem. By being here illegally, she has no respect for our laws in the first place, and thus, like impeding traffic, she will continue to break our laws as long as she stays here. Does she have a Social Security number? How? Did she steal someone's identity to get it? Did she commit fraud? Did she pay less than what she was supposed to for her college tuition? As she is not legally a resident, she should pay the higher amount. Another case of fraud.
Let's see, at the bare minimum, she is an illegal alien, commits misdemeaner traffic crimes, and has committed multiple acts of fraud. One of which, has the legal citizens paying for a portion of her tuition, and is a crime against the state.
Multiple crimes, she sounds like a lifetime criminal, and certainly a repeat offender. Just the sort of person we want here in America right Mr. Dan K. Thomasson?
angryivan posted at 9:30 am on Tue, May 25, 2010.
Dan K. Thomasson, your finely written article would have been a lot more fair and middle-of-the-road if you would have enumerated dollar-for-dollar all the Government benefits that Jessica Colotl received over the course of her 10-year stay here in the good ol' USA. You know, all the TAX PAYER funded benefits! Oh yeah, and don't to forget to include the costs for Jessica, her parents, and all her brothers & sisters paid for by us greedy, selfish, bigoted Americans.
Jessica and her whole family broke immigration law when they sneaked across the border 10 years ago yet so many people equate that with something akin to jaywalking. But she's a good student, so bad cop, bad, bad! Yeah, this all started because cops are a-holes and Jessica along with her family are victims of American Barney Fifes.
forkedlift1 posted at 11:16 am on Tue, May 25, 2010.
This article was amazing enough, that there's another place and person wearing a badge in this country -- here a campus cop traffic monitor -- who self righteously jumps from a traffic citation, to an absurd accusation of lying about her address, to U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
That's right, Barney. It's your job to prevent our country from reaping the benefits of the contributions that a college graduate with an exemplary academic record will potentially provide to our society. Deport her!! "We don't need none of those college graduates in MY country, the good old U.S.A. Them educated people get under my skin anyway."
Then we've got three more Barney's (posters to this article) -- from the Dry Hate state of Arizona -- doing their darndest with added accusatory speculations to try and justify self-righteous Barney #1's unreasonable actions. They'd be ones to insist upon the deportation of Albert Einstein back to Nazi Germany after the Nazis revoked his German citizenship there. "Deport him!!" Duhhh.
OneVoice posted at 12:22 pm on Tue, May 25, 2010.
Forked, you never cease to amuse.
Why would we want Einstein deported back to Germany? He was in the U.S. legally.
Nazi Germany revoked Einstein's citizenship because he was a Jew. Did Mexico kick little Jessica out of their country because she was Mexican? Did they revoke her citizenship somewhere along the way?
Ah, I see, apples and oranges, even though they are two completely different things, you want to compare them because they are both fruit.
Masterrogue666 posted at 12:51 pm on Tue, May 25, 2010.
Isn't it interesting how ILLEGAL ALIENS can do no wrong, according to forkedlift. Yet those that DO HAVE RIGHTS are in the wrong simply because we want our laws to be APPLIED EQUALLY TO ALL. forkedlift doesn't know the first thing about equality.
By the way forkedlift, there was FOUR other posters. I know that you lack the ability to think logically. I didn't know you had a problem with math like mrfrost.....
RollerCam posted at 2:01 pm on Tue, May 25, 2010.
Dan K. Thomasson is obviously a person who likes our wide open borders.
He's just doing his part to keep 'em that way.
allamer posted at 2:44 pm on Tue, May 25, 2010.
Dan, your sophomoric little piece asks Americans to feel sorry for lawbreakers who get caught IF they have the proper P.C. classification. Why, Dan? Are you opposed to our nation's immigration laws? With 20 million illegals taking jobs and welfare benefits and adding social costs, both financial and criminal, and disruption of communities, there certainly hasn't been TOO MUCH law enforcement. In fact, local politicians have been telling police to ignore enforcement. That is why Arizona passed its new law REQUIRING all law enforcement agencies to enforce the laws. Dan, when laws can be ignored, we are governed by special interests. Is that what you want?
samkat posted at 6:52 pm on Tue, May 25, 2010.
Perhaps Scripts ought to pay Dan's salary in pesos. It is amazing as to how folks like him and forked ignore the bigger issue to concentrate on one or two individuals. In case you folks have not been paying attention, we as a nation are broke. We can no longer afford to take in millions of uneducated illegals, feed clothe and educate their children with unlimited tax dollars. Our educational systems are in tatters. Our employment situation is in the dumps. Our welfare roles are burgeoning with legal citizens, many of whom are capable of working as well as illegal aliens. We have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. By the way, can forked justify the illegal immigration rallies conducted primarily in Spanish with lots of Mexican flags displayed when this is supposed to be the United States of American and supposedly, these people are immigrants looking for a better life? Obviously, they have no desire to even make a token effort to assimilate. I observed a couple of their demonstrations and they even have their little children throwing the bird at anyone not of their persuasion. Go figure. If one of us did the same, it would be a racist gesture.