Every tax is a pay cut. Every tax cut is a pay raise.
Citizens for Limited Taxation

The police chief's capitulation 10/30/2009

Michael Kane Metrowest Daily News

October 18, 2009 MetroWest Daily News headline: "Report says 71 percent of Brazilian immigrants are living here illegally." October 2, 2009 MetroWest Daily News headline: "Police Back out of ICE Program." Looking at the Framingham police department's daily police log and the MetroWest Daily News, crime is not decreasing here. Gangs are flourishing. Illegal immigrants work and reside here with relative impunity. Many are driving unregistered and uninsured cars and have no driver's license.
Chief Carl says "We don't want them to be afraid of us. If we participated in the full program, they'd be terrified of us." Section 287(g) of the program ".... allows local and State officers necessary resources and latitude to pursue investigations relating to violent crimes, human smuggling, gang/organized crime activity, sexual-related offenses, narcotics smuggling ...." using data otherwise unavailable to local police on ICE computers (www.ice.gov). Do these crimes sound familiar to what you read in the MetroWest Daily News on a daily basis?
With due respect Chief; shouldn't the police "want" criminals to be terrified of you? The excuse police used in the past was that they had no authority to enforce federal immigration laws. Chief, you got a little bit of that authority when you signed on to 287(g). You had some successes and then you threw it away. Chief Carl goes on to say "ICE's wish (to expand the program) would also have stretched an already understaffed department and a cash-strapped town more money." Exactly how much would it cost us Chief? Did you ever ask we taxpayers if we would pay the additional cost? I do not recall any such request. How much are we taxpayers paying to educate the children of illegal immigrants? I am willing to guess its costing Framingham millions! Do you know Chief? We'd like to see those numbers.
I won't lay all the blame on the Chief. He works for the selectmen. I doubt this could have happened without their tacit, if not outright approval. I saw no objection from the selectmen in the MetroWest Daily News, so I assume they are in agreement until they prove differently. It's sad, frustrating and even enraging when our elected officials and their appointed chief law enforcement officer, do not care enough about their town to find a way to make the ICE Section 287(g) program work. Two officers out of 128 (source - 2006 Town Warrant) is hardly a significant diversion of police officers or dollars. The end result would be that criminals would be removed from Framingham "forever," saving us money and making us safer. My guess is that political considerations and not good law enforcement is what's in play here. Our selectmen, our governor, our Congress and our president simply refuse to aggressively enforce the country's existing immigration laws and our nation is suffering irreparable damage.
This is not a liberal vs. conservative issue. It's not a race issue. It's an American issue. I am of Irish ancestry (as opposed to an Irish American) and believe Irish illegals must be subject to the same rules of law as those of any other nationality. Framingham voters, if you care about our town and our country, think about this the next time you enter that voting booth.
MICHAEL KANE
Framingham

The police chief's capitulation	10/30/2009
Michael Kane	Metrowest Daily News
October 18, 2009 MetroWest Daily News headline: "Report says 71 percent of Brazilian immigrants are living here illegally." October 2, 2009 MetroWest Daily News headline: "Police Back out of ICE Program." Looking at the Framingham police department's daily police log and the MetroWest Daily News, crime is not decreasing here. Gangs are flourishing. Illegal immigrants work and reside here with relative impunity. Many are driving unregistered and uninsured cars and have no driver's license. Chief Carl says "We don't want them to be afraid of us. If we participated in the full program, they'd be terrified of us." Section 287(g) of the program ".... allows local and State officers necessary resources and latitude to pursue investigations relating to violent crimes, human smuggling, gang/organized crime activity, sexual-related offenses, narcotics smuggling ...." using data otherwise unavailable to local police on ICE computers (www.ice.gov). Do these crimes sound familiar to what you read in the MetroWest Daily News on a daily basis? With due respect Chief; shouldn't the police "want" criminals to be terrified of you? The excuse police used in the past was that they had no authority to enforce federal immigration laws. Chief, you got a little bit of that authority when you signed on to 287(g). You had some successes and then you threw it away. Chief Carl goes on to say "ICE's wish (to expand the program) would also have stretched an already understaffed department and a cash-strapped town more money." Exactly how much would it cost us Chief? Did you ever ask we taxpayers if we would pay the additional cost? I do not recall any such request. How much are we taxpayers paying to educate the children of illegal immigrants? I am willing to guess its costing Framingham millions! Do you know Chief? We'd like to see those numbers. I won't lay all the blame on the Chief. He works for the selectmen. I doubt this could have happened without their tacit, if not outright approval. I saw no objection from the selectmen in the MetroWest Daily News, so I assume they are in agreement until they prove differently. It's sad, frustrating and even enraging when our elected officials and their appointed chief law enforcement officer, do not care enough about their town to find a way to make the ICE Section 287(g) program work. Two officers out of 128 (source - 2006 Town Warrant) is hardly a significant diversion of police officers or dollars. The end result would be that criminals would be removed from Framingham "forever," saving us money and making us safer. My guess is that political considerations and not good law enforcement is what's in play here. Our selectmen, our governor, our Congress and our president simply refuse to aggressively enforce the country's existing immigration laws and our nation is suffering irreparable damage. This is not a liberal vs. conservative issue. It's not a race issue. It's an American issue. I am of Irish ancestry (as opposed to an Irish American) and believe Irish illegals must be subject to the same rules of law as those of any other nationality. Framingham voters, if you care about our town and our country, think about this the next time you enter that voting booth. MICHAEL KANE Framingham

Send comments to: hjw2001@gmail.com