Are they doing all they can do? Daily Sound April 3, 2008

One year after a murder that woke the city up to a festering gang problem, after all of the youth programs, “truces” and picnics in the park, we still have a problem with graffiti, gangs and stabbings. Are our Leaders using every tool in the toolbox? There is one tool it is clear that they are fond of – the tool of “entertaining the youth” at taxpayer expense, through teen centers and youth programs.

A tool that is not being used, however, is the gang injunction tool. Why? Ask the Police Chief.
Because “It’s a tool that’s useful, but we don’t want to use it unless it’s useful” according to Stanley, who has talked to Chief Cam Sanchez about gang injunctions (see “Texas talks gangs” Daily Sound March 29). What? That’s right, it’s useful, but we don’t want to use it unless it’s going to be…useful.

This quote was from a meeting last week (attended by Sanchez) at which three visiting officials from El Paso, TX, shared their successful strategies for addressing youth violence. Were youth entertainment and youth programs a part of their strategies? No. Was a civil gang injunction part of the strategy? Yes, in fact it was the focus of El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez’ presentation. According to the Sound, “City officials in El Paso established a two year safety zone, allowing police to detain known gang members for violations as seemingly innocuous as using a cel phone or profane language. As a result, crime dropped 12 percent.” But we wouldn’t want that for Santa Barbara, it might prove … useful?

At another meeting, Monday March 24 the Chief’s “soft on gangsters” approach was made clear by his expression that “an issue with identifying the right students [those involved in gang activity] is that of privacy”. No, Chief, privacy isn’t an issue. Minor students do not have a right to privacy. Anyone that has had the note they passed to their friend and read aloud by the teacher will tell you that. School attending minors do not and should not have the privacy rights of an adult, especially when the concern is the safety of other students. But apparently the Chief is more concerned with children’s privacy than with children’s safety.

Another tool that is not being used by the Chief is the 287(g) program offered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Why not? Because he does not feel, (or is afraid to admit) that illegal immigration is a contributor to the gang problem.

If you listened to the Mayor’s Saturday noon talk show on KTMS 990 a few weeks ago, you may have gotten a hint at the City’s perspective. After apparently being fed up with the “all is wonderful in paradise” monologue from the Mayor, a caller wanted to know why we are not taking advantage of the 287(g) program to help combat youth crime. The Mayor demonstrated her ignorance of the program by stating that “we already do that” and cited examples of criminal aliens that have been deported after being caught in a crime. But that is not the same thing. It is a reactive approach, after the crime has already been committed, it is not proactive or preventative, and does not incorporate day to day enforcement by local officers of Immigration Law. For example, little may be done locally about the felony of possessing a forged document or ID, and there is no access to Federal databases. Currently, the only authority our local officers have regarding a removable alien is to transfer them to ICE after a crime has already occurred.

Under 287(g), ICE provides state and local law enforcement with the training and subsequent authorization to identify, process, and when appropriate, detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity in cooperation with Federal authorities, sharing resources. They are deputized to perform the functions of an immigration officer. Short of that, we are effectively a sanctuary city. When pressed, the Mayor admitted by default that we do not have this specific agreement with ICE or participate in this program.

When the caller declared that “The gang problem has its roots in illegal immigration” he was hung up on. What is it about this true statement that makes the Mayor, and others of us, uncomfortable? Does illegal immigration have nothing to do with the gang problem, as the Mayor and Police Chief would have us believe? We believe the statement is true, for the primary reason that illegal immigration has contributed to the disintegration of the Hispanic family. The act of immigration itself is disruptive to a family, because of forced separations. Then, the cultural gap between generations is widened through our tolerance and accommodation of illegal immigration by way of everything bilingual, from education to banking. Through this accommodation, we have taken away incentive and encouragement to assimilate into an English speaking culture. This has created an isolated slave underclass in our country of non-assimilated immigrants, a class that is underpaid and taken advantage of, widening the poverty and culture gap between US born Hispanic children, assimilated Hispanic Americans, and non-assimilated, likely illegal, Mexicans. Then there is a tendency of poor underclasses toward teen pregnancy and single parenting, for whatever reason, coupled with rapid reproduction rates.

The breakdown trend of Hispanic families is shown in the following data from:
http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_3_immigrant_gang.html

In California, # of children of U.S.-born Hispanic parents living in an intact family:
67 percent in 1990, 56 percent in 1999.
The % of Hispanic children living with a single mother in California:
18 percent in 1990, 29 percent in 1999.
Nationally, % of Hispanic households with minor children that are single-parent households:
25 percent in 1980, 34 percent by 2000.
Number of births per 1000 females between age 15 and 19 in 2002:
83.4 Hispanics, 66.6 Blacks,28.5 non-Hispanic whites.
In California, 79 percent of teen births to U.S. born Latinas in 1999 were to unmarried girls.

According to Rodriquez from El Paso, to solve the gang problem, children have to be reached at their own homes by their parents. That solution falls apart when there is no family and there are no parents.

The end result of the tolerance of illegal immigration is a chasm between traditional Hispanic family values and contemporary American ones, a chasm in which second generation Hispanic youths are caught, feeling that they belong to neither side of the gap. They do not feel they are Mexican and they do not feel they are American. In this dangerous area, there is a lack of parenting by single working parents, lack of communication with schools and neighborhood groups, lack of role models, family or protection. The teens find their sense of “belonging” and a feeling of security and safety only in gangs, mentored by older gang members, parolees, drug dealers and other criminals with little parental oversight. The often single parents must neglect their children as they struggle to make a living, parental responsibility becomes an impossibility, and is thus usually forgiven and not enforced legally.

As we are seeing the first wave of effects from our tolerance of illegal immigration in the past, the first thing we need to do to prevent it from getting worse is to do our share to help turn off the spigot at the border. This is where the City throws up its hands, points to the Federal Government and says “not my problem”. Then they move on to other national issues which apparently “are their problem” like climate change and bringing the troops home from Iraq. ICE cannot do it alone, they require assistance from local authorities.

Continue to demand that your leaders consider 287(g) agreements with ICE and gang injunctions. Replace illegal immigration with legal immigration. Throughout the history of our country, immigrants have managed to assimilate and advance economically without the aid of bilingualism. Get rid of bilingualism and encourage assimilation into a culture that everyone can participate in with equal opportunity. By doing this you will help keep families intact, and put an end to the underclass poverty and slavery.

The Conservative Turtle is not an individual, but a group of like-minded individuals organized by Aaron Shaw. More info may be found and comments may be left at conservativeturtle.blogspot.com or emailed to: feedback@conservativeturtle.com