Arizona Sheriff charges DHS with delivering roadside amnesty

Within days of the Supreme Court's Arizona SB1070 ruling the Department of Homeland Security began to unravel the Grand Canyon State’s strong illegal immigration enforcement measures and unleashed a new brouhaha with Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. “Within hours of United States Supreme Court justices upholding the main portion of Arizona’s SB1070 law, President Obama and Janet Napolitano (DHS) with a wave of their hands have made what was illegal one day, legal the next. They can't pass their dream act, so they change enforcement policies, which undermines the rule of law,” the Sheriff said today. He specifically referred to Justice Antonin Scalia’s written decision. “Arizona bears the brunt of the country’s illegal immigration problem. Federal officials have been unable to remedy the problem, and indeed have recently shown that they are unwilling to do so.” The Sheriff charges that on June 27 the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office witnessed the first of many examples of lawlessness that leaves deputies without assistance from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “President Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano revoked the 287g agreements with Arizona law enforcement on the very day of the SB1070 decision. Additionally, President Obama decided to stop deporting illegals 30 years of age or younger if they can prove they have been continuously living in the U.S. for five years,” said Tim Gaffney, director of Communications for Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. “At 4:45 p.m. one of our deputies stopped a vehicle on a traffic stop after he observed it speeding 85 mph in a 35 mph zone near Merrill Ranch Parkway. The vehicle also unsafely passed another vehicle while using the two-way left turn lane. The driver of the vehicle was a 17-year-old Hispanic male who verbally identified himself and told the deputy he was driving in such a reckless manner because he was ‘late for work.’ The driver told the deputy he did not have a driver’s license and could not obtain any identification since he lacked proper documentation required to qualify. He also said that his parents are also in the United States illegally. He told the deputy he was born in Mexico. When asked where he lived he stated, ‘Little Mexico.’ The driver said that he could not remember his exact home address,” Gaffney reported. After hearing the story, the deputy notified his supervisor as well as ICE, he explained the situation to both and was told by an ICE representative new policy meant they were no longer interested in the 17-year old Mexican national or his illegal parents. The driver was cited by the Pinal Sheriff deputy and released to his mother at the scene. Officials said the vehicle was impounded for 30 days because the driver was unlicensed. “The President fails to understand the follow on impact created by his decision to not enforce immigration laws. Some people will argue that individual states must now issue driver’s licenses to illegals, since the President made it perfectly legal for them to remain and work here and therefore, it would be discriminatory to deny them a driver’s license,” Sheriff Babeu said. “(Equally) as troubling, President Obama established a toll free hot line to report law enforcement for suspected racial profiling. How have we arrived at this point in America, where our own President decides what laws don’t apply to illegals and then establishes a hot line for them to report our heroes in law enforcement for suspected racial profiling? Where is the hot line for me to call to demand that all the laws are enforced and for the President to stop portraying law enforcement as the bad guys? President Obama and Secretary Napolitano obviously feel it’s more important to try and get votes this election year rather than to follow the rule of law,” Babeu concluded. Nevertheless a defiant Arizona continues to argue their case with voters while the Department of Justice (DOJ) continues their onslaught of lawsuits against the Grand Canyon State. (Sheriff Babeu is also running for Congress in his home state of Arizona.) For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/county-political-buzz-in-san-diego/guns-fuel-drug-cartels-mexico © Copyright 2012 Kimberly Dvorak All Rights Reserved.