AP Enterprise: More Hispanics go to federal prison

[FR7 Baptist]

They shuffle into the courtroom in shackles, still wearing the dust-covered clothes and shoes from when they crossed the desert into the U.S. from Mexico.
The 70 illegal immigrants, mostly men and mostly in their 20s and 30s, fill the 16-seat jury box and seven rows of wooden benches normally reserved for the public in Tucson's gleaming federal courthouse. The courtroom is expansive, with a regally high ceiling, and is filled with the pungent smell of dried sweat.
In only an hour or so, the dozens of immigrants will agree to plead guilty and be sentenced in a process that could play out for months for most federal defendants.
The scene offers a window into a federal immigration enforcement effort that is pushing the limits of the U.S. justice system, overwhelming federal judges and escalating the ranks of Latinos sent to prison.
Expedited court hearings along the border are a major force driving a seismic demographic shift in who is being sent to federal prison. Statistics released this week revealed that Hispanics now comprise nearly half of all people sentenced for federal felony crimes, a number swollen by immigration offenses. In comparison, Hispanics last year made up 16 percent of the total U.S. population.

Article Link

 

[targus]

What is it that is of interest to you here?

 

[billwald]

Good thing for us that the Indian People didn't have an INS and prisons.

 

[FR7 Baptist]

What is it that is of interest to you here?

Operation Streamline. It is a very good idea even though it needs some tweaking because of due process issues. Once those issues are resolved, we need to expand it so that everyone who is caught entering the country illegally is given a criminal conviction.

 

[targus]

Aren't you the person that used to argue that being in the country "illegally" isn't a crime?

 

[FR7 Baptist]

Aren't you the person that used to argue that being in the country "illegally" isn't a crime?

That's me- and that's true. It's illegal entry that's a crime. By overstaying one's visa, it's possible to become an illegal alien without committing a crime.

What do you think about Operation Streamline?

 

[targus]

What do you think about Operation Streamline?

I think that if this program is stressing the penal system that perhaps a very large fine and then deportation may be a better deterent to illegally entering the U.S.

If money is the reason for illegally entering the country a financial cost may make it less attractive.

 

[carpro]

It seems prison is really good for Hispanics young men.

They get lots of really neat tattoos and prepare themselves for a life of crime by joining gangs and learning to really hate blacks.

Yessir. It does a lot of good to incarcerate illegal aliens. It increases the cost to the general public now ...and later. That's really a beneficial side effect, doncha know? Teaches them how to milk the system while they learn the ins and outs of criminal activity.

After all , McDonalds and WalMart are just looking for the opportunity to hire ex cons with tattoos up to their eyebrows on every piece of exposed skin. Aren't they?

Is it really cheaper and more efficient to incarcerate illegals than it is to secure the borders?

 

[billwald]

If the Indian People had been better organized we white people would have had to stay in Europe and still be peasants.

 

[Arbo]

If the Indian People had been better organized we white people would have had to stay in Europe and still be peasants.

There you go again...

-And don't you mean Native American?

 

[billwald]

No, I'm a native American born in Brooklyn, NYC. Anyone born in the USA is a native American.

 

[Arbo]

No, I'm a native American born in Brooklyn, NYC. Anyone born in the USA is a native American.

:thumbsup:

Perhaps you're not as much of a Leftie as I thought.

 

[Salty]

No, I'm a native American born in Brooklyn, NYC. Anyone born in the USA is a native American.

Bill, I do agree with you on that
Now what did I say about us agreeing? :smilewinkgrin:

Salty

PS - notice he did NOT say New York STATE!

 

[billwald]

Big difference between being born in NYC and Potsdam, New York State. Especially in the winter. About 60 degrees f different <G>