News came out this week that the Obama administration will continue to roll out a Bush-era program to check every immigrant booked at a local jail against a national fingerprint database to see if they have been convicted of a crime and ordered deported. The administration and Democrats say the program will help focus on deporting law-breaking illegal immigrants instead of the upstanding ones.
With the program currently functioning in 48 counties nationwide, Los Angeles slated to start later this year, and all local jails by 2012, you know where this is going, San Francisco. When told about this Friday, San Francisco Police Department Spokesperson Sgt. Lyn Tomioka asked our question for us: "What will this do to the sanctuary city policy?"
A quick primer: It's long been the policy of the SFPD to only alert immigration officials to a person's immigration status if they are booked for a felony. So folks picked up for such misdemeanors as public intoxication, shoplifting, or a traffic violation aren't handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That's even if a background check alerts the police that they have a warrant from immigration authorities, Tomioka says. (Of course, there's always the chance that the immigrant could be picked up in one of ICE's sweeps of the jail while in custody.)
There are many among us who obviously harbor some enormous moral judgments about Marijuana and about those who legally use it as medicine -- as if we should somehow feel guilty about the relief that is afforded us through using this herb.
As a legal medical Marijuana patient myself, I take exception to this moralistic, judgmental, and willfully ignorant tone.
Such anti-Marijuana zealots often assert that "statistics strongly suggest" that more Californians use Marijuana as a result of Proposition 215, which the voters passed 13 years ago, when in fact statistics suggest no such thing.
Look, to paraphrase Lincoln, honesty is one of the better policies. So, let's be honest. You've got a chicken coop. It may have four wheels (or close to that) and a windshield, and it may even say "Datsun" on the exterior. All we're saying is, it's...
