Island Politics

You ever read the poem by John Donne titled, "No man is an island?"  It goes like this:

"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

This concept of "islands" and "mankind" came to mind whilst I was reading an article about California's further attempt at being a sanctuary state.  Apparently, the California Senate is further cementing the concept of becoming an island unto itself by considering a bill that seeks to limit the ability of local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

See, a while back, the state of California adopted legislation which turned California into a "Sanctuary State."  Now, the California senate wants to add more rope to its noose by adopting AB 103 which "makes it illegal for a city, county, city and county, or local law enforcement agency to enter into new agreements or expand existing agreements with the federal government or any federal agency" to detain those in the country illegally. 

On its face, it's a funny piece of legislation written by funny people.  What it aims to do, though, is to limit the authority of the federal government to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.  Herein lies the problem.  See, those who wrote the bill know that due process requires a deportation hearing.  Their objective is to make it so hard to effectuate that hearing process and let criminal go free - regardless of the consequences.  What consequences?  How about the young lady that was raped and killed in San Francisco by a career illegal alien?  

Doggone it but over 2,400 illegal immigrants out of a total prison population of 130,000 are imprisoned in the state’s prison system for the crime of homicide.  For those not in the know, that "homicide" as it killing a (or at least one) person.  Really, when is this insanity going to stop?  When are the politicians in Sacramento going to stop pushing for laws that put legal citizens in jeopardy for their lives?!?  Sad but maybe it'll take violence against a politician for politicians to realize that their words and actions are a direct link to crime in California (and, no, I'm not advocating crime against politicians but dang - get a grip people).

Of course, you can all get smart on the issue of immigration and bone up on this stuff by going to your local county law library and taking a look at:

• Immigration Law and Procedure (Lexis)
• Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook (AIC)
• Guide to Homeland Security (TR)
• U.S. Immigration Made Simple (Nolo Press)

The funny thing about the Nolo Press resource is that immigration policy is NOT simple (kind of like legal research is not all that easy when you first start doing it).  I guess, over time, with lots and LOTS of practice, immigration policy does get simpler and easier to understand but how many of you out in blogland are going to spend that much time trying to figure out the ins and outs of immigration policy in an effort to make it simpler?!

Yeah, didn't think so.  In the meantime, just keep reading this Blog to learn the ins and outs of legal research so that you can get at least this one thing (i.e. legal research) under your belt and you all have a great rest of the day.