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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (365110)	3/1/2003 7:00:49 PM
From: RON BL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Leftist vermin are under fire. New York, Houston grilled about 'sanctuary' policies Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle News Services WASHINGTON -- New York and Houston were criticized at a congressional hearing Thursday for "sanctuary" ordinances that deter local police from reporting illegal immigrants to the federal authorities. John Feinblatt, criminal justice coordinator for New York, bristled at a hearing of a House Judiciary subcommittee that was spurred by the rape of a 42-year-old woman in a Queens park last December. Four of the five men charged in the case are illegal immigrants. Three of those four had been previously arrested by New York police for petty crimes and at least one felony, so they could have been deported before the attack. "Let me begin by making on thing crystal clear: New York City has no `sanctuary' policy for undocumented aliens," Feinblatt told the panel. Feinblatt was on the defensive because of a 1989 ordinance that forbids New York officials from notifying the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service about illegal immigrants they encounter. Much of that law has been overturned by the courts or pre-empted by a 1996 federal law, Feinblatt said. He added that police have always been free to report criminal illegal immigrants to the INS, and said that the detective in the rape case called the INS about the defendants. Feinblatt said the city was still investigating whether the INS had been told about these individuals when they were picked up for earlier crimes. Most of the men had claimed to be legal residents, he said. In an event, Feinblatt said that "the number one inhibitor" for New York police officers in reporting cases to the INS is not city policies but the federal agency's lack of response to their calls. Michael W. Cutler, a retired special agent for the INS in New York, countered that the city's policies have had a "chilling effect" on immigration enforcement in the city. The 1989 order "may well have been promulgated with the intention of showing sympathy to our illegal alien population, but in this day and age it sends a wrong and dangerous message," he said. Houston police Officer John Nickell told the congressional panel that his work has been hindered by his city's so-called "sanctuary law." Nickell said the police department does not always honor warrants taken out by the INS, forbids officers to ask the nationality of suspects, and does not have a link to the INS to check the criminal status of noncitizen criminal suspects. Nickell said he has filed a legal challenge to those policies in the Houston Police Department. Opponents to giving local police a bigger role in immigration law enforcement argued that if police are seen as an arm of the immigration service -- which starting Saturday will be part of the Homeland Security Department -- then immigrant victims will be afraid to call for help. Some members of the panel, including Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, questioned whether such policies might be endangering American lives by allowing dangerous criminals to hide in immigrant communities, especially amid heightened fears of terrorist attacks. Smith said outside the hearing that he felt local police departments should be more strongly encouraged to report criminals in the country illegally to immigration authorities. "Untold lives could be saved. All we have to do is enforce the law," said Smith. "Unfortunately, this is not being done in a number of localities." Cox news services and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Return to top

To: JDN who wrote (365110)	3/1/2003 7:02:40 PM
From: RON BL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Here is what the left actually is. Judge says sorry after jailing rapist for too long (Filed: 01/03/2003) An Old Bailey judge apologised to a violent rapist yesterday for the trauma he had caused him by sentencing him too harshly. Recorder Robert Seabrook, QC, called Adam Levy back an hour after jailing him for nine years to cut the term by a third. Describing the rape as abhorrent, the judge said he had given insufficient credit for Levy's guilty plea as he reduced the term to six years. "I publicly apologise for the trauma I have put you through today and hope I have some redress for that to have you back to deal with this matter today," he said. The court had been told that Levy, 32, a landscape gardener from County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, had attacked a 25-year-old tourist in south London in 1997. Stifling her screams with a handkerchief, Levy dragged his Mexican victim, who was ony 4ft 10ins tall, out of view and raped her. He was charged with the rape after being identified from a DNA sample which was taken when he was arrested for stealing a hanging basket outside a pub.