Police divided over Arizona law.

[GarMan]

Immigration would much rather deport than prosecute.  Our correctional facilities are already overcrowded and over their budget. 

The state of Arizona can't possibly take on the task.  They aren't equipped.  They don't have the man-power.  They don't have the state funds to house or prosecute illegals.  They are simply making a lot of noise, hoping to pressure ICE into changing their policies.  If the tax payer knew how much money was wasted every day by ICE, there would be an outcry to shut it down.  Immediately.   If we were to seriously get a handle on illegal immigration through deportation, we should have acted 20 years ago. Deporting every illegal we come across isn't the answer. 

Try the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986...  We tried amnesty, and it didn't work.  You might be interested to see how other countries handle illegal immigration.  At this point, we're tired of the half-hearted attempts by both sides of the political spectrum.  We're tired of turning our heads.  Now, we want real action.  Arizona may be the test of what is yet to come.  Doing nothing with illegal immigration has brought the border states to the brink of bankruptcy...  California, Arizona, New Mexico.  We tried being nice, and that only seems to encourage more of it.  It's time to man-up on the issue. 

[JR4AU]

Try the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986...  We tried amnesty, and it didn't work.  You might be interested to see how other countries handle illegal immigration.  At this point, we're tired of the half-hearted attempts by both sides of the political spectrum.  We're tired of turning our heads.  Now, we want real action.  Arizona may be the test of what is yet to come.  Doing nothing with illegal immigration has brought the border states to the brink of bankruptcy...  California, Arizona, New Mexico.  We tried being nice, and that only seems to encourage more of it.  It's time to man-up on the issue. 

It would be better that we go bankrupt prosecuting every single one of them?

[Token]

Try the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986...  We tried amnesty, and it didn't work.  You might be interested to see how other countries handle illegal immigration.  At this point, we're tired of the half-hearted attempts by both sides of the political spectrum.  We're tired of turning our heads.  Now, we want real action.  Arizona may be the test of what is yet to come.  Doing nothing with illegal immigration has brought the border states to the brink of bankruptcy...  California, Arizona, New Mexico.  We tried being nice, and that only seems to encourage more of it.  It's time to man-up on the issue.  

If Arizona is really this serious with immigration, why not sign a order to hire more officers to stand post on the border?  Or actually come up with an effective plan to stop the illegals from crossing over?  Riding around arresting every illegal they see is not an effective solution to their problem.  They are simply adding more tasks to the officers and adding more cost to the tax payers who are paying for the housing and feeding of the illegal immigrants.  

If your area is flooded because there is a hole in the dam, how long are you going to pay people to carry the water out in 5 gallon buckets before you finally stop the leak?  Deportation/Prosecution isn't solving a damn thing.  It's only costing billions in tax dollars.  Billions that could be put towards a viable solution.

[JR4AU]

If Arizona is really this serious with immigration, why not sign a order to hire more officers to stand post on the border?  Or actually come up with an effective plan to stop the illegals from crossing over?  Riding around arresting every illegal they see is not effectively fixing the problem.  They are simply adding more tasks to the officers and adding more cost to the tax payers who are paying for the housing and feeding of the illegal immigrants.  

If your area is flooded because there is a hole in the dam, how long are you going to pay people to carry the water out in 5 gallon buckets before you finally stop the leak?  Deportation/Prosecution isn't solving a damn thing.  It's only costing billions in tax dollars.  Billions that could be put towards a viable solution.

America seem facinated with fighting ongoing wars of attrition like Vietnam, The Gulf War, The War on Drugs, and now immigration.

[GarMan]

This is all good feedback, but I haven't seen or heard one idea that I believe would work.  What's the viable solution?  You seem to have a problem with everything other than open borders and amnesty, and I'm dead-set against those options and so are a lot of other people.  Build a fence...  Build a wall...  How 'bout a mine field too???  I'm all for it!  You guys come up with an excuse against everything...  Plug the hole.  By all means!

[CCTAU]

This is all good feedback, but I haven't seen or heard one idea that I believe would work.  What's the viable solution?  You seem to have a problem with everything other than open borders and amnesty, and I'm dead-set against those options and so are a lot of other people.  Build a fence...  Build a wall...  How 'bout a mine field too???  I'm all for it!  You guys come up with an excuse against everything...  Plug the hole.  By all means!

And none of them liked my solution. Bullets are cheap............


But we could arrest all of the illegals and put then to work widening the Rio Grande. Once it is widened to at least 100 yds wide, we then add alligators, crocs, and piranha. That would even save on the number of bullets wasted. Then we could not be accused of being inhumane. It would be a natural process.

[Token]

This is all good feedback, but I haven't seen or heard one idea that I believe would work.  What's the viable solution?  You seem to have a problem with everything other than open borders and amnesty, and I'm dead-set against those options and so are a lot of other people.  Build a fence...  Build a wall...  How 'bout a mine field too???  I'm all for it!  You guys come up with an excuse against everything...  Plug the hole.  By all means!

I've already given a viable solution.  Instead of throwing money away on prosecution and deportation, utilize those billions and hire a private sector to correct the problem.  The United States Government can't do it.  The state of Arizona can't do it.  We are literally throwing money away every day.  

Get a decent strategy in motion, then let the government handle the deportation process.  Until then, Arizona will keep barking with no bite, and we'll keep wasting millions a day on ICE operations.

[GarMan]

I've already given a viable solution.  Instead of throwing money away on prosecution and deportation, utilize those billions and hire a private sector to correct the problem.  The United States Government can't do it.  The state of Arizona can't do it.  We are literally throwing money away every day.  

Get a decent strategy in motion, then let the government handle the deportation process.  Until then, Arizona will keep barking with no bite, and we'll keep wasting millions a day on ICE operations. 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/17/immigration-costs-rising-rapidlty-new-study-says/?test=latestnews

Updated May 17, 2010
Cost of Illegal Immigration Rising Rapidly in Arizona, Study Finds
By Ed Barnes
 - FOXNews.com

Arizona’s illegal immigrant population is costing the state’s taxpayers even more than once thought -- a whopping $2.7 billion, according to researchers at the public interest group that helped write the state's new immigration law.

Arizona’s illegal immigrant population is costing the state’s taxpayers even more than once thought -- a whopping $2.7 billion in 2009, according to researchers at the public interest group that helped write the state's new immigration law.

Researchers at FAIR – The Federation for American Immigration Reform -- released data exclusively to FoxNews.com that show a steady cost climb in multiple areas, including incarceration, education and health, in the last five years.

FAIR’s cost estimates – compiled for a comprehensive national immigration report it plans to release next month – include several new cost areas, including welfare and the justice system, that weren’t in previous reports.

FAIR admits that the cost to implement the new law in some of those categories, such as incarceration, will add to the economic strain on the state. But overall, it says, the loss of immigrants either from the deterrent effect of the law, voluntary exodus or from mass deportations, will help the state financially.

Also, the savings to the state will far overwhelm any fallout from boycotts (estimated at between $7 million and $52 million) being threatened in the wake of the law's passage, according to FAIR spokesman Bob Dane.

FAIR's new breakdown shows that illegal immigrants take $1.6 billion from Arizona's education system, $694.8 million from health care services, $339.7 million in law enforcement and court costs, $85.5 million in welfare costs and $155.4 million in other general costs.

The organization concedes that enforcing Arizona SB1070, the new law that allows local police to ask for immigration documents and arrest those who don’t have them, will increase the state’s incarceration costs, police training budgets and prosecution expenses -- but it says those numbers can’t yet be estimated with certainty. Also, it says, some of those costs will be offset by revenues from fines levied against businesses charged with knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, as well as from immigrants themselves who might be charged with minor crimes and fined before being deported.

But the Immigration Policy Center, a major opponent of the new law, says FAIR's data do not accurately portray SB1070's potential outcome. “They count the costs and don’t look at the benefits. We tend to look at the benefits more closely,” said Council spokeswoman Wendy Sefsaf.

“It is like having a roommate and counting how much they cost in toilet paper and incidentals without looking at the benefits of having help with the rent,” she said.

“Overall, every comprehensive study has shown that immigrants are a net benefit to states. If you add their children, they are a very great benefit.”

The Center’s cost crunching found that "if all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Arizona, the state would lose $26.4 billion in economic activity, $11.7 billion in gross state product and approximately 140,324 jobs,” -- a disaster for the Grand Canyon State.

But FAIR’s numbers tell a far different story.

(Because of the polarizing nature of the debate and the lack of solid figures on everything from the number of illegal immigrants in the state to how to accurately figure their share of the costs, there are no numbers either side agrees on or has not challenged.)

Jack Martin, the chief researcher on the report, says his data, in fact, do include benefits like the estimated $142.8 million in taxes paid by an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants, and he says the Council’s numbers are unrealistic.

“They assume every illegal alien will leave right away," Martin said. "That is not going to happen.”

He said FAIR'S new estimates far exceed the report he wrote in 2004, which helped gain support for the passage of the Arizona law. In 2004, he said, he estimated that illegal immigrants cost the state $1.3 billion -- less than half the new estimate.

He said the new numbers put a reliable cost estimate on the economic impact of illegal immigration -- not just in Arizona, because the debate there largely ended with the passage of the immigration law, but nationally, as the debate spreads across the country.

”The numbers just keep growing,” Dane said.

Both Dane and Martin said that among FAIR’s most important findings was an estimate that tax revenues to the state will actually increase if illegal immigrants leave.

“We discovered after looking at places where big raids were made that salaries went up after the raids because employers now had to pay competitive wages to Americans.” Martin said. “And that will mean more money for the state.” 

[Token]

I'm not arguing that Arizona's economy isn't strained by illegals.  I'm saying they can't financially take on the burden of handling illegals themselves.  As I've already stated, they are only making a lot of noise hoping to create enough of an outcry from the citizens to pressure the federal government into wholesale changing their policies.  IMO, it's working.

http://www.wsbtv.com/video/23438021/index.html

http://www.wsbtv.com/video/23438712/index.html

Now, we've got media other than Arizona claiming that terrorist are also crossing the unsupervised border.  

[GarMan]

Our very own immigration issue...

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/23538647/detail.html

Warrant Issued For Illegal KSU Student's Arrest
Posted: 6:06 am EDT May 13, 2010
Updated: 12:52 pm EDT May 13, 2010

KENNESAW, Ga. -- There were new developments Thursday in the controversy surrounding a Kennesaw State University student who is not a legal citizen.

Channel 2 Action News received an e-mail from the Cobb County sheriff who filed a warrant for her arrest.

Jessica Colotl is a senior at KSU. Police said they caught her driving without a license and sent her to an immigration detention center.

The sheriff said she gave them a false address while in custody, which is a felony charge.

Some want KSU president Dan Papp fired because he wrote a letter to federal officials on Colotl’s behalf.

“She’s here illegally and she’s taking slots from people who have played by the rules and have become legal residents or who are citizens. The rule of the law has to be upheld,” said Phil Kent of the Americans for Immigration Control.

Colotl’s friends told Channel 2 Action News reporter Lori Geary that her parents brought her to the United States when she was 10 years old.

“It is sad that Ms. Colotl’s parents chose to enter the United States illegally and ultimately put her in this position,” said Sheriff Neil Warren of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office. “However, Ms. Colotl knew that she was in the United States without authority to be here and voluntarily chose to operate a vehicle without a driver’s license; which is a violation of Georgia law. She has further complicated her situation with her blatant disregard for Georgia Law by giving false information.”

KSU officials said they granted Colotl in-state tuition because she graduated from a Georgia high school. School officials said they will now charge her out-of-state tuition.

Cobb County Sheriff’s Office officials continue to look for Colotl.

Copyright 2010 by WSBTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  

If any of us had been pulled over and lied to the police about our address, we'd probably still be in jail.  Prosecute her and send her and her family back to Mexico.  

[Token]

Our very own immigration issue...

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/23538647/detail.html
Prosecute her and send her and her family back to Mexico.  

Guess which immigration detention center she was being housed at.  

Jessica Colotl is a senior at KSU. Police said they caught her driving without a license and sent her to an immigration detention center.

And that little bit of information is very misleading.  Cobb County released her to ICE after she cleared her crime of operating a vehicle without a license.  ICE sent her to an immigration detention center.  The Cobb County sheriff doesn't have the authority to send ANYONE to an immigration detention center.

And here, is where I separate myself from the "deport them all" crowd.  This girl has been in the United States since she was 7 years old.  America is all she knows.  She speaks English very well and is an intelligent girl.  She made a huge mistake by not applying for citizenship as soon as she turned 18, but she was put in a situation where she would have put her entire family at risk by applying.  

I would rather have 100 people like her, working to be a productive member of society, than I had some of the shitbag Americans whose only contribution is keeping community corrections up and running.  

Fine her for operating a vehicle without a license (which Cobb County already did), give her a chance to become a legal citizen and let her finish college.  She'll likely become a valuable member of our society.  

[GarMan]

Guess which immigration detention center she was being housed at. 

And that little bit of information is very misleading.  Cobb County released her to ICE after she cleared her crime of operating a vehicle without a license.  ICE sent her to an immigration detention center.  The Cobb County sheriff doesn't have the authority to send ANYONE to an immigration detention center. 

Big Deal!  I'm all for it.  When we find an illegal alien, call ICE and let them deal with it.  Simple enough...

And here, is where I separate myself from the "deport them all" crowd.  This girl has been in the United States since she was 7 years old.  America is all she knows.  She speaks English very well and is an intelligent girl.  She made a huge mistake by not applying for citizenship as soon as she turned 18, but she was put in a situation where she would have put her entire family at risk by applying. 

I would rather have 100 people like her, working to be a productive member of society, than I had some of the poopbag Americans whose only contribution is keeping community corrections up and running. 

Fine her for operating a vehicle without a license (which Cobb County already did), give her a chance to become a legal citizen and let her finish college.  She'll likely become a valuable member of our society. 

Poor little illegal immigrant girl...  Boo hoo hoo...  Nevermind the fact that her position in that school likely kept someone else from going there who is likely in this country legally.  She is smart enough to know right from wrong.  She's apparently a good student, and I wish her well.  By all means, I agree with you.  However, we can't cherry-pick one over the other when enforcing our laws.  She is in this country illegally.  She needs to be deported along with her family. 

[Token]

When we find an illegal alien, call ICE and let them deal with it.  Simple enough...

That's exactly what happened. 

http://www.mdjonline.com/view/full_story/7362958/article-ICE-releases-illegal-KSU-student

"According to the deferral letter from ICE, Ms. Colotl remains an 'alien illegally or unlawfully within the U.S.' and would be subject to removal proceedings if the conditions of her deferral are not met,"

ICE released her with conditions that would allow her to finish school AND gain legal citizenship.  Simple enough, right? 

Apparently not for the Sheriff of Cobb County.  Although she paid her fines with that county.  Although Cobb County released her to Immigration.  Not enough for Cobb County.  Because they were pissed about ICE giving her a legal chance to remain in the country, they dug enough to find more charges.   

[GarMan]

ICE released her with conditions that would allow her to finish school AND gain legal citizenship.  Simple enough, right? 

Apparently not for the Sheriff of Cobb County.  Although she paid her fines with that county.  Although Cobb County released her to Immigration.  Not enough for Cobb County.  Because they were pissed about ICE giving her a legal chance to remain in the country, they dug enough to find more charges.    

Oh, come on!  If we had provided a false address, we would have been thrown in jail.  Who are you kidding? 

[Token]

Oh, come on!  If we had provided a false address, we would have been thrown in jail.  Who are you kidding? 

She was already in jail.  You really believe The Cobb County Sheriff's Office checks to verify address information on every person after they've been released from custody?  Why not just verify it while the person is in jail?

I'm guessing one of her ICE conditions was that she couldn't be arrested again.     

[CCTAU]

She was already in jail.  You really believe The Cobb County Sheriff's Office checks to verify address information on every person after they've been released from custody?  Why not just verify it while the person is in jail?

I'm guessing one of her ICE conditions was that she couldn't be arrested again.     

Lies upon lies upon lies. Eventually your luck runs out. Hers did. Now she should be allowed to stay on a student visa and her family, who broke the law, should be deported. It's the chance they took. If she gets a degree along with the FREE education she got from tax-paying citizens, then she got more than could have been hoped for when her parents came here illegally. She WILL be an asset to this country once she is legal. Give her the same chance that all students here on a student visa have.

Cobb county should have let it go, but she raised a big stink and wanted public support against the system. Sometimes you just don't mess with the system.

[JR4AU]

This is all good feedback, but I haven't seen or heard one idea that I believe would work.  What's the viable solution?  You seem to have a problem with everything other than open borders and amnesty, and I'm dead-set against those options and so are a lot of other people.  Build a fence...  Build a wall...  How 'bout a mine field too???  I'm all for it!  You guys come up with an excuse against everything...  Plug the hole.  By all means!

I'm all for plugging the hole.  Using government resourses to round them up after they're here is a waste of money, and just a never-ending job.  I actually don't even have a problem with putting up a fence, and manning it with armed personnel. 

[CCTAU]

I'm all for plugging the hole.  Using government resourses to round them up after they're here is a waste of money, and just a never-ending job.  I actually don't even have a problem with putting up a fence, and manning it with armed personnel. 

That's bullshit. Every time a person breaks the law in this country, it should be a priority to determine whether or not that person is here illegally. If so, the individual should be DEPORTED. There may not be a practical way to round up and deport all of them, but the ones that break the law should be addressed.

As is stands now, there are an overwhelming amount of PDs that do not allow their officers to even inquire about legal status, even in violent cases.

This is the issue that the Arizona law was most concerned with addressing. This makes it legally acceptable for a law enforcement officer to inquire into legal status without reprisal from the department or the ACLU.

[JR4AU]

That's bullshit. Every time a person breaks the law in this country, it should be a priority to determine whether or not that person is here illegally. If so, the individual should be DEPORTED. There may not be a practical way to round up and deport all of them, but the ones that break the law should be addressed.

As is stands now, there are an overwhelming amount of PDs that do not allow their officers to even inquire about legal status, even in violent cases.

This is the issue that the Arizona law was most concerned with addressing. This makes it legally acceptable for a law enforcement officer to inquire into legal status without reprisal from the department or the ACLU.

You're reading comprehension skills are seriously lacking. 

[GH2001]

I actually don't even have a problem with putting up a fence, and manning it with armed personnel. 

I think you're one Lawyer on here were able to meet in the middle.