Journal pudge's Journal: Napolitano Attacked for Stating Fact 9
Newsmax attacked DHS Secretary Napolitano today because "she asserted that illegal immigration is really not a crime."
Well, according to Newsmax's own story, not quite. What she said was that "crossing the border is not a crime per se," in response to Sheriff Joe Arpaio saying he "wants illegal aliens to be prosecuted and jailed."
Let's distinguish between two different things: crossing the border illegally, and crossing the border legally, but remaining illegally.
Crossing the border illegally is a crime (a misdemeanor), and punishable by a fine and up to six months imprisonment.
But crossing the border legally and remaining in the country illegally is not a crime at all. It's a violation of our immigration laws and subjects you to deporation, but is not a crime. It's essentially a civil infraction, like a speeding ticket. The penalty is by many estimations more severe than a speeding ticket -- deportation -- but our law doesn't even really see that as a penalty, so much as just sending you where you are supposed to be (except in that if you are deported and you come back, it carries a more significant penalty).
So when Napolitano says that some "illegal aliens" have not committed any crimes, she's absolutely correct. It is a crime to lie about your social security number, a crime to cross the border illegally, and so on, but it is not a crime to be here illegally.
Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.
Uh... (Score:2)
Either you're joking or my dictionary needs to be updated.
I think this is just another example of left wing Newspeak. Rob the language of its common sense meaning is the first step toward totalitarianism. Someone reminded me that Orwell himself claimed
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Either you're joking or my dictionary needs to be updated.
Neither.
It is not a crime to be here illegally. "Crime" has a specific meaning, and it is not "violating the law." Crimes fall into two general categories, felonies and misdemeanors. Being here illegally is neither. It's more like a civil infraction, like violating the speed limit. You may note that we do not say people who get a speeding ticket are criminals.
And this is a GOOD THING: there's a much higher burden of proof, and more rights, granted to people charged with crimes than with infractions. T
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No offense taken.
I'm sure there is a context in which her statement and your affirmation are correct, but not one that would be understood by the average CNN listener where her statement was made. I didn't see the show, so I can judge the context or if she went on to explain the legal nuances. From here:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/76/C0747600.html [bartleby.com]
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I didn't see the show, so I can judge the context or if she went on to explain the legal nuances.
OK. But whether she explained it or not, in the U.S., a criminal offense (as opposed to a civil offense, which she made explicit reference to) is one that is punishable by jail time and is a misdemeanor or a felony. That's very standard, though I realize many people don't understand it (I didn't until a several years ago).
Remember, this is the same woman who recently said the 9/11 hijackers snuck across the Canadian border.
Oh, I have no serious respect for her. Just talking about this one issue. And actually, one way or another she DID misspeak here. There's really two possibilities: either she meant wh
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Why aren't the employers in these cases being held to task?
Largely because our gov't doesn't want to.
I've always wondered how my own state keeps them off the voter rolls.
The short answer is, they don't. Just like mine. One woman, to expose how easy voter registration fraud is, registered her dog to vote. They didn't catch it until several election later, after the dog had been sent several ballots, and the woman basically shoved it right in their face, saying, HELLO, THIS IS A DOG. And then they had the gall to say "the system works" because this illegal registration was "caught."
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This would depend on the dog. My dog, Terri the Terrorist Terrier, was born right here in Manatee County, Florida, so she is an American citizen and is at least as smart as a lot of human Florida voters. Obviously, she should be allowed to vote.
The Obamas' Portuguese Water Dog is another matter. With a breed name like that, it's good chance that either he or his ancestors came to this country without immigration papers. And legal or not, you'd think Bo would change his breed name to American Water Dog if he
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"Crime" has a specific meaning, and it is not "violating the law." Crimes fall into two general categories, felonies and misdemeanors. Being here illegally is neither. It's more like a civil infraction, like violating the speed limit.
Or drunk driving in my state. Yes one stereotype Wisconsinites may well deserve, we like our alcohol/beer so much that drunk driving is a civil offense. So it would follow then that here, someone pulled over & found guilty of drunk driving, first offense is not a criminal?
Wandering further OT, state legislators recently took a look at changing this - of course on the heels of a particularly emotional case where a drunk driver managed to wipe out a whole family while free awaiting his trial/court appeara
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So it would follow then that here, someone pulled over & found guilty of drunk driving, first offense is not a criminal?
If the law does not define it as a criminal offense, then yes, in a law enforcement context (which is how Napolitano was explicitly speaking), it would not be a criminal.
Of course, loosely speaking, a "crime" is just something you do against established norms. It's a crime against fellow moviegoers to reveal spoilers uninvited. But this was in a context of how law enforcement should react to various offenses.