Richmond CA now sanctuary city; question for mayor Gayle McLaughlin

Richmond, California is in the San Francisco Bay Area, and they've just declared themselves a sanctuary city for illegal aliens. They're calling for a moratorium on immigration raids and their police are refusing to work with ICE on raids. Their new mayor is one Gayle McLaughlin, a member of the Green Party and a former leader of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (the sanctuary movement) [1].

The headline of the "report" reads "CBS 5 Investigates with Anna Werner", but as one might expect there's little investigating involved, and Werner serves only as a transcriptionist. Another Werner report is a pro-illegal immigration puff piece ("Federal Immigration Raids Concern Richmond Police", link). Her bio offers the ludicrous statement that she's "one of the nation's top investigative reporters".

The raids took place under the "Return to Sender" program, which was designed to pick up fugitive aliens and criminal aliens (many of whom were already in jails). ICE may have picked up other illegal aliens, and McLaughlin just can't stand that:

"I really don't believe that any of our residents should be living in a climate of fear and terror like this... People who have no real criminal behavior at all have been unjustly placed under arrest... People just came and spoke from their heart and were so clearly concerned and in a state of fear and wanting to register that something needs to be done... I was totally convinced. There was no doubt in my mind that this was happening."

Her cri de coeur has resulted in:

So a new resolution passed by the city council Tuesday night calls for a moratorium on those raids until Congress takes up immigration reform.

It also calls for ICE agents to clearly state they are not Richmond police.

The resolution also says Richmond's police department will not cooperate with immigration agents in going after undocumented immigrants.

A question for the mayor: since immigration "reform" supposedly will have increased enforcement, and since it will without a doubt result in increased illegal immigration, will you sign a statement of some kind pledging support for such raids at that time, or will you just have another emotional jag and oppose those new raids? I suspect the latter, but if you want to ask her call 510-620-6503 or email Gayle_McLaughlin *at* officeofthemayor.net

[1] gaylemclaughlin.net/speech1.htm

Immigration2007a · Thu, 02/08/2007 - 10:50 · Importance: 1