Unconscionable delays

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan was on WGN with Spike O”Dell on the 24th. She was doing her consumer protection thing, all indignant about “the unconscionable delays” (her exact words) on the part of the federal CPSC in doing the crib recall.

I was thinking Lisa ought to look in the mirror. It has been a month now since her counterpart in New Jersey issued the law enforcement directive requiring police to do 100% screening for illegal aliens in custody.

Why hasn’t she followed suit in Illinois? Must three college students be murdered here before she takes action?

Madigan’s unconscionable delay means that illegal aliens in custody are let out on bail or simply given court dates. They are back on the street and no one knows that they are illegal and a flight risk. No one knows that they could be deported if only someone would investigate and tell ICE.

No one will know unless someone dies. Then the truth comes out. Here’s what ICE spokesman Gail Montenegro said about an illegal alien with prior DUIs who killed a woman in Hoffman Estates in May of 2006: (From the Northwest Herald) Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Chicago, said she had no information about Rico or his case. But speaking generally, Montenegro said, agents interviewed foreign-born prison inmates to determine their citizenship status. Illegal immigrants receive a “detainer” tag, she said, and are released to immigration officials after serving their prison terms. “We have agents in place at various locations, sort of as checkpoints, where we can encounter aliens who could be passing through the jail system,” Montenegro said. But in cases such as Rico’s – he never received jail time for his DUI conviction – Montenegro said the department needed cooperation from local authorities. “In those cases, we’re a bit at the mercy of county officals to let us know,” she said. (end of Northwest Herald quotation)

The New Jersey directive makes sure the feds DO know, as well as informing the county prosecutor and the court.

Will it save lives? At first, I think it will not. It will simply mean more illegals reported to the feds that are not picked up for deportation. But that will change as police departments and county sheriffs are able to produce solid proof that an innocent citizen is dead and ICE was told about the illegal alien perpetrator on such-and-such-a-date and they refused to take custody of them.

Only then will our deportations become more aggressive.

At the moment, Lisa Madigan is responsible for those lives because she has a tool at her disposal that she is not using. Don’t delay, Ms. Madigan. That would be unconscionable.