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It is a call to arms! Are you willing to pick up a pen or send an e-mail to protect and defend your community?
Senate Bill 260 is presently before the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee. If passed, Senate Bill 260 would grant authority permitting a county sheriff to assist federal immigration authorities for the purpose of enforcing immigration law.
A sheriff would have to be asked to render assistance and his deputies would be supervised and trained by federal immigration authorities. No county sheriff would have authority to act independent of federal officials.
Federal immigration authorities cannot reasonably be expected to provide all of the man power and resources necessary to enforce immigration law in every county and every state. Task forces or mutual aid agreements occur all the time among state agencies, so why not statutorily allow for cooperation between county and federal entities?
Our state legislators should pass SB 260 to allow a collaborative effort. If the sheriff doesn't think he has the resources available, his agency doesn't have to respond.
Investigating and apprehending illegal immigrants who have committed crimes is expensive and almost impossible. Due to their "illegal" status, they are without ties to the community, usually using false identities. Those they work with can't provide any background information. Illegal immigrants frequently skip out on bond which generates even more work in issuing warrants. Once outside our country, it is nearly impossible to get perpetrators back from certain countries.
Meanwhile, the case has aged, witnesses disappear and memories fade, making prosecutions unnecessarily difficult and expensive.
Illegal immigrants have shot and killed police officers making routine stops. A friend's son was stabbed to death because he caught them breaking into his car. The offenders skipped bond and are now safely back in their own country. Locally, we have several unprosecuted homicides and the unprosecuted rape of a 9-year-old little girl because the perpetrators were quick to go underground and easily disappeared. More and more of those who are here illegally are placing significant strain on our local criminal justice system. We recently had a victim who was here illegally, the defendant was here illegally, and no one spoke English. The time, money and resources generated can be enormous.
There are other dangers presented by the illegal
status of individuals in our
country. For example, there are currently 15,000 illegal aliens currently in the California penal system alone. It's difficult to imagine the medical, dental, psychological and security expenses associated with housing such a population. Others, more knowledgeable than myself, have articulated the magnitude of various dangers associated with a growing illegal alien population ...Even Ohio judges are seeking solutions as seen recently by Hamilton County Judge Nadel's recent call for stricter laws pertaining to the hiring of illegal aliens. We need your help!
Please write or e-mail your local state representative or state senator and support SB 260. Contact the members of the Senate State and Local
Government and Veterans Affairs Committee, as well as the president of the Senate, Bill Harris. To obtain their addresses, please visit the Butler County prosecutor's Web site at www.countyprosecutor.org.
Thomas Jefferson said, "We get the government we deserve." If we aren't willing to participate and seek solutions, then we have to live with the problems created by our silence. I've written. Will you?
Robin Piper
Butler County
Prosecuting Attorney
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