I'd have no problem with Governor Jan Brewer's whining like a stuck javelina about the Obama administration's jerking 287(g) agreements with Arizona, and promising to not pick up, or answer questions about every brown person 'Zona cops pull over. That is, if either her kvetching or the administration's move were credible.
Sadly, as I recently blogged and columnized, Brewer's claim that President Obama is declaring "war" on Arizona and "abandoning" the state is ankle-deep hogwash.
Are there any fewer Border Patrol agents in this state? Has the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Phoenix shuttered its windows?
Have 287(g) jail agreements been cut in Sand Land? Are 15 Arizona counties no longer participating in ICE's Secure Communities program, which identifies illegal aliens after they are arrested and booked?
The answer to all the questions above is, "No."
So, like that great philosopher Flavor Flav once spat, "Don't believe the hype."
Brewer is lying through her bottle-blonde locks. Why? Because she's pimpin' for her political action committee, natch.
Believe me, I wish the administration's action was as severe as Brewer's making it out to be. But it's not. As I've stated previously, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (ICE's momma) has been phasing out 287(g) in favor of S-Comm. And S-Comm is in all Arizona's 15 county jails.
The 287(g) jail agreements remain in effect, as well. Local officers cross-trained to enforce immigration law in those jails, remain. Only the 287(g) street agreements between DHS and Arizona law enforcement agencies have been pulled.
Almost nothing has changed, which is why a group of activists and politicians is demanding that Obama make an honest woman out of Jan by axing ALL 287(g) agreements and suspending S-Comm in Sand Land.
They're circulating a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, which reads, in part,
"We ask that you end the Department of Homeland Security's collaboration with Arizona state and local law enforcement officers on matters of immigration enforcement for as long as [Senate Bill] 1070 is in effect. At a minimum, we ask that DHS fully suspend the operation of Secure Communities and terminate all 287(g) agreements in Arizona. Arizona has ignited the flames of a civil rights crisis. Please, do not allow our federal agencies to fuel the fire."
Seems reasonable, at least till the ACLU can (hopefully) score another injunction against section 2(b) of 1070, locking it up for another two years.
You can read and sign the letter, here. More than 100 organizations are on board. Notable local signatories include Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, Dr. Warren Stewart of the First Institutional Baptist Church, Puente organizer Carlos Garcia, and Alessandra Soler executive director of the ACLU of Arizona.
"By maintaining 287(g) and Secure Communities in jails across the state," Soler stated in a press release announcing the effort, "the federal government is complicit in the very same profiling that has been codified by Section 2(B)."
Indeed, the feds have long been complicit in the racial profiling that occurs during immigration enforcement.
Now, the situation in Sand Land will get worse, assuming 2(b), the "papers please" section of 1070, goes into effect, as the Supremes have guaranteed barring further legal action.
Obama should do what his administration claims it's doing. Then Brewer can rail till the buzzards come home and eat her puppies for lunch.
