Anarchy - Pomona style

Here are some photos of a city council meeting in Pomona California May 27th. (It has that Carpentersville look to it.)

Now why would these people be so upset? Police checkpoints.

At first I thought this was a new program and that’s why all the complaints. But it turns out that they have been doing this program for at least the last couple of years.

KCAL-TV, the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles did a report in October of 2005 where 20 people were arrested and 171 vehicles impounded in Pomona. Similar stories were aired in December 2005 and six times in 2006 (over a period of months).

There was a checkpoint reported on March 29, 2008 where two arrests were made and 194 vehicles impounded.

So, why all the protests? Well, maybe because this last checkpoint was Cinco de Mayo week end. Or maybe because the mayor is running for a seat in the California General Assembly. Or maybe because one member of the city council turns out to be a Latino activist. She has called the police checkpoints “Gestapo” tactics.

The police chief, who is also Hispanic, was offended by the “Gestapo” label and wrote a letter to the newspaper. Here’s what Police Chief Joe Romero wrote:

Our combined efforts must be focused on reducing senseless death in our community.

Such death whether caused by a car or a bullet requires our full energy and united resolve.

Sadly, we know that to a grieving mother it matters not how their son or daughter is killed - car or bullet - the pain is the same...

Councilwoman Carrizosa is accurate when she points out that we have an impoverished segment of our community.

But does that mean economics is the gauge for what is right and wrong? The possibilities are endless: just think about the impoverished burglar who breaks into cars or homes.

I have lived in Pomona all my life and I am not blind to the immense social needs of my community.

I can tell you that neither are the rest of the men and women of the Pomona Police Department…

However, in the course of this debate let's not lose sight of the fact that police officers do not make the law. That's another difference between police officers and Gestapo members. The Gestapo was able to make laws on its own - while cops do not…

Pomona's checkpoints are rotated throughout the city and any independent auditor will be able to dispel the notion that our traffic safety efforts are an "assault" on any particular council district. The Traffic Bureau is not deaf to what has been said…

One thing is for sure, though: It is not reasonable to think that we can simply turn a blind eye and let a violator drive off.

Just imagine one of my officers finding a car being driven by an unlicensed driver and letting that violator drive off.

How quick would the city of Pomona be named in a lawsuit should that unlicensed driver go down the road and slam into a car carrying an innocent family of four?

Regardless of the litigation aspect, who is callous enough to live with that decision? Blood on one's hands is an awful stain to bear.

No matter what kind of stance anyone has on this issue, we all have an obligation to obey the rules of the road. Please drive safely and continue to make Pomona better in all aspects.
(Source: 05/20/2008 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

I hope this statement attributed to city council member Christina Carrizosa is a case of bad news reporting: “Carrizosa along with residents have said the checkpoint was heavy-handed and impacted the poor and those without driver's licenses.” (Source: 05/28/2008 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin) Otherwise, there is clearly a problem when an elected official is advocating the protection of unlicensed drivers!

AFLA would like to remind you that it is important to uphold the law in the community, even if some groups are offended by enforcement. We support the efforts of law enforcement to keep us safe.

We're Invited!

The Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration has been working up in Carpentersville for the same cause - enforcing the laws against the presence of illegal aliens.

They have an entry in the Memorial Day Parade up in Dundee and they have invited us to join them. It should be a nice day.

The Fox Valley group has been in parades before and have been well-received.

They have invited AFLA to join them. If you would like to participate, here is the information:

Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration has invited AFLA supporters to join them on their Memorial Day float Sunday. The parade starts at 1:00.

Line up is at the Immanuel Lutheran Church. If anyone wants to join us they probably should be there no later than 12:30. The float is a BIG flat bed truck decorated with flags and bunting.

Red, white, blue is a great choice to wear. Kids are certainly welcome. They get placed in the center of the float. If adults want to ride, lawn chairs could be used.

That’s Sunday, May 25th, 12:30 pm, Immanuel Lutheran Church, 310 East Main Street, East Dundee.

Take time this Memorial Day to remember our freedoms and how they were earned.

Regards,
Doug Heaton
Co-director
Association for Legal Americans

Thank you note

Mom taught me to write thank you notes. I wrote one to President David Sam at ECC right after our successful display. He responded back right away thanking me for the kind words.

I also sent a copy to the local papers. The Courier News printed it. For some unknown reason the Daily Herald did not.

I thought our readers would like to see it. Here you go:
As a follow up to our display of “Empty Shoes – Empty Hearts” I would like to simply say that Elgin Community College took the democracy class and they passed. The walls of the ivory tower shook a bit, but the foundation held.

The administration was professional and unbiased throughout the process, though we were very careful to follow all the rules for political exhibits to a tee.

The faculty was a little apprehensive. The dean of students sent out a warning e-mail to faculty and staff, something one staff member told me had never been done before. The e-mail said in part, “While dealing with controversial issues is never easy, we offer students opportunities to learn, investigate, and discover many diverse topics. Acting in alignment with our process for Non-Profit, Non-Commercial Community or Political organizations to reserve table space and promote a mission within the scope of college policies and procedures, the college replied affirmatively to AFLA’s request for table space.”

I believe it is healthy for professors to experience the same discomfort others feel when they hear that the college is holding events featuring war protests, homosexual themes, global warming, “meat is murder”, abortion, gun control…Not everyone in the community is thrilled with the things most professors are comfortable teaching our students. Academic freedom indeed cuts both ways.

In general the faculty avoided the display, though a few did stop by to study the photos and stories displayed. Those same few had thoughtful comments and I had a delightful dialogue with two of them. Although we disagreed on major issues, we were in accord that over the last 25 years our government has failed to manage this issue.

The students were very well-behaved. My concerns about them being careless with the display turned out to be entirely unfounded. In hindsight I could have left the display unattended and no one would have disturbed it.

Six students were openly enthusiastic about our message. Three were outwardly offended. The other 112 were unemotional, but that didn’t mean they were uninterested. Nearly all of them spent several minutes reading the stories rather than hurrying away once they realized what it was all about. Something was going on inside their heads.

We also had some community members stop by after reading about it in the paper or hearing the radio interview. They came from St. Charles, Crystal Lake, and even Antioch. We received an e-mail from Gary, Indiana wanting information. One gentleman was prompted to come because a friend of his was killed by an illegal alien. (More about the event can be found at www.legalamericans.net)

What was missing from the event? Well, there were no counter-protesters. I very much appreciated that. And there were no “extra police” on hand. I saw a security guard twice in the two days as he walked down the hall. We’ve had too many events cancelled in the past couple of years due to “security concerns” or a request to pay thousands of dollars for police overtime. That is not what America is about.

Thank you, Dr. Sam (ECC President), for your impressive response to this emotional issue. You have quite a college.

Doug Heaton
Co-director
Association for Legal Americans

Another chance

Humberto Romero is the alleged purse-snatcher who was caught by some brave bystanders in a store parking lot last week.

It turns out that Mr. Romero was convicted of aggravated battery in 2006 and placed on probation. But instead of staying Illinois, he went to California.

Now, he’s caught red handed and Judge Boles warns him that he could be deported if he pleads guilty (free legal advice from the bench) or if he is found guilty.

So Judge Boles sets bail at $10,000. And Immigration wants a piece of him as well because he is not a citizen.

(AFLA isn’t sure if that means he is illegal or they are interested in him because some crimes invalidate a green card.)

I’d really like to know what Judge Boles is thinking. She knows he fled before. She knows he is not a citizen. She knows he could be deported.

State’s Attorney Barsanti wanted bail set at $50,000. Judge Boles set it at $10,000.

Will someone explain to the judge why this low bail for a significant flight risk is nothing more than giving him a head start to leave the area? It’s like paying $1,000 for a get-out-of-jail-free card. (Or explain to us why it isn't.)

Ask around. You’ll soon find someone who will tell you about the guy who ran into their car, got out and peeled off $500-$1,000 to pay them off, then drove away without waiting for the police. $1,000 is NOTHING to dope dealers and thieves.

Now, the woman got her purse back and her scrapes and bruises will heal. But the mental trauma never goes away.

I’ll tell you a story about a fellow from Jamaica. Hamilton was arrested in 2002 for aggravated vehicular hijacking and was sentenced to 7 years in prison after pleading guilty. He was paroled in 2005. Records show he also had been convicted of possession of cannabis and retail theft. And he was behind in his child support and had been the subject of an order of protection.

All of these crimes should have brought the wrath of Immigration upon him. He should have been deported before he ever even met Brenetta Beck. But he wasn’t. Now Beck is dead and Hezekiah Hamilton is being tried for her murder.

Sometimes failure to detain and deport illegals results in much more than a purse-snatching. AFLA thinks bail ought to reflect the flight risk, unless the judge is an open-borders advocate.

By the way, Humberto Romero made bail. He’s on the loose somewhere.

Clarification: It turns out that Humberto is in the Kane County Jail. The bail was set at $100,000. The figure quoted in the paper is 10%. Whatever it takes to keep him. Let's hope ICE can keep track of him.

A close up of plaques

Here are a couple of examples of the plaques. One is the story of Kris Eggle, a park ranger who died while assisting the Border Patrol. The one on the right tells the story of the four school children killed in Cottonwood, Minnesota when an illegal alien from Guatemala slammed into their school bus.

More pictures from the ECC exhibit

Here are some photos from the exhibit last week at ECC. Thanks to DC and EE for the pictures.

AFLA friends

Spending time at the exhibit last week helped me apprciate what great friends we have in AFLA.

First thing Thursday morning I was met by a man from St. Charles who had come up to see what he could do. He's a retired phone company executive who brought me some articles he had clipped out about crimes in the Fox Valley.

He spent about three hours with me that morning. When things were slow (during class time) he kept me company. He had quite a story. His father died when he was 19 so he went to work full time to provide for his mother and three younger sisters. What a guy! And he came back on Friday morning to spend more time with me.

Then there was Dean Knopse's friend who came down to say "thank you" and tell his story.

An amputee toured the exhibit in his wheelchair.

One fellow from up in Antioch drove down to see the display. He was accompanied by his 90-year-old mother. He wants to make arrangements to do it at College of Lake County.

And who can forget the two AFLA folks who came in on Friday to relieve me while I went to a wedding? They were a great source of support and encouragement.

Last but not least, a single mom who has been with us from the beginning came walking in after work at about 4:15 on Friday. She stayed through to the end and helped me pack up the exhibit. Her son even helped carry things out to the car for me.

So, from start to finish we had AFLA help. The first person I saw on day one and the last person I saw on day two were both good AFLA friends. Most of the help was spontaneous. All of it was heartfelt. We are indeed blessed to have good friends in this cause.

For more information about victims

You might be interested in these web sites. They have information about some of the victims killed by illegal aliens. Unfortunately, our display of 25 victims is only a small sample.

We suggest you take them in small doses. The stories are very sad.


http://www.ojjpac.org/memorial.asp

http://www.immigrationshumancost.org/text/crimevictims.html

http://www.victimsofillegalaliens.com/

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SpomTIkv0V8&feature=related

http://www.yourdeathtube.com/2007/08/in-memory-of-three-students-at-delaware.html

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/08/photos_from_the_scene.html

http://illegalaliensrunningamuk.blogspot.com/2007/02/ariel-sellouk.html

http://www.azconservative.org/Hugeri5.htm

http://www.nfpa-info.org/

Disclaimer: These groups are not affiliated with AFLA and our opinions and purposes may or may not coincide. We have included them because they have compiled victim lists.

Hits close to home

I met some great people during the display at Elgin Community College. Peter Ropinski came down from Crystal Lake after hearing me talk about it on Jerry Agar’s Show (WLS) Thursday morning.

Peter worked for the airlines until he retired more than a few years ago. He was friends with Dean Knopse, another retired airline employee. One of the things that Dean wanted to do after he retired was ride a motorcycle. And he was on his bike when an illegal alien ran him over and killed him.

What made things worse was the fact that the perpetrator had a criminal history. So many “what-if’s” surround this and other cases. And they all eventually lead back to the failure of government.

What if our borders were more secure?
What if our perks and benefits weren’t so enticing to the illegals?
What if we didn’t grant automatic citizenship unless BOTH parents could prove they were here legally?
What if police were in the habit of checking immigration status when they arrested someone?
What if Immigration picked up all the criminal aliens; not just those who committed the very worst crimes?
What if the Illinois Secretary of State followed the law and actually checked for valid insurance coverage before issuing plates and stickers?

Just maybe Dean Knopse would still be riding his motorcycle. I’m a religious person and I suppose there are times when “your number is up”, but I also believe that God doesn’t direct cars to crash into each other.

Dean died because the other driver made some foolish choices and crossed paths with him. God wasn’t driving.

Peter Ropinski reminded me why we are doing this. Each death is symbolic of how government has let us down by allowing the number of illegal aliens to grow while ignoring enforcement. There are laws on the books that were simply neglected since 2001.

We showed a picture of Patricia Henneken at the display. I didn’t know her but it was her case that sent me down this path in the summer of 2006. Her killer had a couple of previous DUIs and he was out on the street.

I met Patricia’s mother a couple of weeks after she died. She couldn’t understand why our government didn’t protect her daughter. Neither can I.

Here’s a podcast interview with Patricia’s mother from late last year. It’s about 30 minutes long but I think you will enjoy it.
http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=52866

Making "cheap political points"

The Daily Herald coverage of our display “Empty Shoes – Empty Hearts” included this comment: "The display is taking advantage of families' grief to make cheap political points," said Joshua Hoyt, director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Here’s a link to what his organization is all about. (You’ll need Acrobat Reader to open it):
http://www.icirr.org/outreach_files/factsheets/undocumented%20fact.pdf

The ICIRR not only has no problem with illegal aliens, they are paving the way for them! The frightening part of it all is that this group wrote Governor Blagojevich’s policy on immigration. He used them to create his New Americans program.

And, lest we forget, it is Hoyt’s group in the yellow t-shirts at all the pro-amnesty marches. It is the ICIRR that bused in people from Chicago, Waukegan, and Aurora to protest in Carpentersville in October of 2006. It is Hoyt and company who are setting up organizers in towns throughout Illinois to continue to march for amnesty.

Now, as to his allegations that we are using these tragedies to make “cheap political points”, I disagree. These families have suffered a great loss. In many cases the perpetrator of the crime had a previous criminal record, but NO ONE BOTHERED TO CHECK THEIR IMMIGRATION STATUS! If they had, these victims would not have died.

Our whole point is to shed light on the fact that our government has failed to enforce immigration laws and people are now dead as a result!

I find Hoyt’s flippant comment offensive.

Some say we are sending a false message that illegal aliens commit more crime than other people. Hoyt even quoted a study saying that immigrants are less likely to commit crime. (Notice he said “immigrants”, not illegal aliens. We don’t have data about the illegals because few agencies bother to check and even fewer report their data.)

But, let’s examine Hoyt’s complaint on the face of it. People die every day. It is not an illegal alien problem. More citizens commit those crimes than anyone else. And he’s right about that.

Now, let’s talk about the breast cancer campaign in this country. There are walks and ribbons and pink soup cans. Breast cancer is NOT the #1 killer of women. It isn’t even in the top five. Using Hoyt’s logic, is the breast cancer campaign a “cheap” trick?

Of course it isn’t. Breast cancer is a terrible disease that touches thousands of lives each day. It deserves to be addressed so more can be done about it.

We are saying the same thing about criminal illegal aliens. They are not causing all violent deaths but they are causing death and heartache every day in America and we want government to protect us by enforcing the law.

USC Professor Paul Gray observed, “Nothing gets done in America until somebody dies.” We’ve seen it with OSHA laws, seat belts, child-proof medicine caps, 9/11, disaster planning…All we are doing with this exhibit is demonstrating to government that dozens of people are dying each week and they have an obligation to fix the problem of unlawful presence.

AFLA goes to college

(And I can hear some of you saying, "It's about time!")

AFLA had a display at Elgin Community College today about the illegal alien problem.

First, a big THANK YOU to the college staff. They handled the arrangements in a very professional manner. I'm sure not everyone was happy that they booked the display, but our rights as citizens were upheld at the state-supported school. Thank you Dr. Sam!

Here are some photos. We'll be back again tomorrow for the second (and last) day. My feet hurt!