Town of Hudson Supports Police Policy of Arresting Illegal Immigrants for Trespassing

Story dated 25 May 2005

"Last week, Hudson police charged Sergio Ruiz-Robles and Margarito Jaramillio Escobar with criminal trespassing after the men presented Mexican government identification documents during a traffic stop . . . The board of selectmen is standing firmly behind the chief and his enforcement of the law."

Now this is excellent -- police officers who actually use their brains. They have identified a legal problem (illegal immigration that is not stopped by the Federal government), and have acted in an innovative way to solve the problem (arrest illegals for trespassing on public property). I think every municipality and county in the United States should adopt such a policy. That would cut down on illegal immigration.

Opponents of this idea seem to think that local police should have no role in enforcing Federal immigration laws. Why not? They are law enforcement officers, and this is the law of the land. Let me explain something. The federal government cannot compel state and local law enforcement to enforce federal law. However, State and local governments can enforce whatever policies they wish so long as those policies do not directly conflict with federal law. Arresting illegal immigrants for trespassing does not conflict with federal law.

If the law is inadequate to get someone on the crime you want to get them for, go after them for another if you can. The murderer Al Capone was taken down for tax evasion, not murder (of course, I think it is immoral to jail people for tax evasion, but in that case justice was done).

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 12:34 PM

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