San Francisco Board Protects Criminal Exploits of Undocumented Immigrants
In the March 1, 2010 issue of The Examiner, a San Francisco area local periodical, there is an article titled “Deported over a 46-cent fracas” which takes an incredible leap into the vacuous realm of sensationalism with a blatant attempt to skirt the real and present dangers concerning the actual crime which was committed. A local 13-year-old, and member of an illegally immigrated family, was charged with a felony because he allegedly -- albeit undisputed -- punched another child in the face and stole his money during an after-school program. The entire family is being deported Friday, back to Australia, because of the incident, and subsequent charges filed. However, David Campos, of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, appears completely unfazed by the actions of the teen thug, and instead is attempting to argue against the extradition simply to use it as a platform for legitimizing a local “sanctuary ordinance” passed by the board in November -- sponsored by Campos -- that prohibits probation officers from reporting undocumented youths unless they are convicted of a felony. The article, by Erin Sherbet -- Examiner staff writer -- exposes the fact that Mayor Gavin Newsom, and City Attorney Dennis Herrera, in November, advised Juvenile Department Chief, William Sifferman that he would be violating federal and state law if his department shielded undocumented youths until they were convicted of a felony. Tony Winnicker, spokesman for Newsom said on Sunday, “We are implementing The City’s sanctuary city policy, which, according to the city attorney, is in compliance with state and federal law.” Reiterating “We don’t want to put at risk, law-abiding San Francisco residents, including the undocumented, by shielding criminal behavior.” While one must first be convicted of a crime in order to be punished for it, there is no reason to hide the criminal behaviors from federal authorities while the accusations are being investigated. Campos appears to have pushed for his local ordinance -- favoring the criminal exploits of unauthorized immigrants -- in response to Mayor Newsome’s 2008 policy which states that all illegal immigrant youths arrested on suspicion of a felony, are to be released to federal authorities. Campos even goes so far as to cite frustration with the “noncompliance” of Sifferman, illuminating Campos’ authoritarian propensities since he appears to believe that simply because he was able to persuade The Board to pass the local ordinance, that it is somehow a legitimate law. Campos is threatening to pursue a legal challenge and propose withholding city funding form the Juvenile Probation Department as long as it, in his words “ignores the law.” He called for a public hearing to get some answers form Sifferman. “This is the point we’re trying to make,” Campos stated. “This is yet another example of families being torn apart over something that the great majority of people would say doesn’t warrant deportation.” However, there are likely a great many people who would ardently disagree with Campos. Furthermore, it is acts such as those perpetrated by the little felonious brat in question, which severely destabilize the learning atmosphere of the nation’s educational system, and it is in grave need of reforms which truly protect students from this kind of peer pressure and abuse. How many more school shootings does the nation need to see before people wake up? The actions by the violent youth likely in no way exhibited the natural frustration of adolescence now coursing through the society, and instead appears to have been just one more display of oppressive and intentional abuse of another person. He will likely make a great miscreant Wall Street executive or authoritarian politician one day. Is Enron still seeking new talent? Far too many bureaucrats such as Campos, with their personal agendas and aggrandizing platforms, incessantly seek to gain support for unconstitutional and wrongheaded ordinances or statutes that in no way comply with the supreme law of the land, the United States Constitution, and thus are not legitimate laws, regardless of the majority vote of the board, or even the will of the people. This is a nation of people who are part and parcel of a government of laws. And the government is bound by that law first and foremost, and second are bound to exfoliating the desires and needs of the people. This is not, as so many politicians intend to pretend, a nation run by the will of the people, absent the rule of law. If the people desire any reform, or expect adherence to currently enacted legislation, the legislative body’s primary purpose is to determine whether the proposed actions are compliant with the United States Constitution, aka “the law.” The will of the people is an intrinsic and critical portion of overall societal progress and proficiency, but it is not, and cannot be, the primary factor in decision making among the elected officials and community leaders. Those elected to office must be more than sensationalists and lawyerly lackeys who are reliant on the art of persuasion, or as is so often exposed, are simply sociopaths who will do or say anything in a bid for power. The leaders of this nation’s many municipalities and states must be experts in the art of intuition and inspiration. They must understand the true will of the people within the capacity of the law, and act with indefatigable dedication to the inalienable rights of the individual which respects the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of all citizens, not just those who present as grandiose talking points for political straw-men such as Campos. The leaders of this free and constitutional republic must be veritable sooth-sayers, with the ability to see into the future. They must be able to pierce the pools of time with a vision that is unaffected by the winds of discourse which often mar their reflective surface. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors appears to be a bureaucratic body which is itself in grave need of reform, as it languishes in defamatory denial and patronization of special interests that do not in any way represent the true will of the nation, and certainly do not conscript compliance with the constitution nor respect for the founding principles which made this the greatest country in the world. The immigration policy of this nation which brought so many aspiring and hopeful people to its auspicious shores, seeking shelter under a statuesque promise of Liberty, states “bring us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free…” Not those seeking to exploit, and oppress, the good nature and ingenuity this policy so demonstrably created within its tenaciously diverse citizenry.

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