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Herndon Defies Intimidation
By Greg L | 14 March 2007 | Fairfax County, Illegal Aliens | 4 Comments
Last night the Herndon Town Council approved by unanimous vote the draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency of the Department of Homeland Security which will govern how the Town of Herndon will participate in the Section 287(g) program. This MOA is tremendous, and should probably serve as a template for other jurisdictions. I came away extremely impressed by the town council, the town attorney who drafted and presented this MOA, and Help Save Herndon, which was integral in getting this program adopted and helped the city move through this process. Last evening was a clear victory for the citizens of Herndon, who are getting everything they had hoped for when they remade the town council into something that represented their views and objectives.
For those who might not be so familiar with the program, Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 2005 allows localities to have their law enforcement personnel trained in immigration enforcement, and under ICE supervision to process for deportation illegal aliens that they encounter during the course of their normal duties who have committed serious crimes. The five week training is provided free of charge by ICE, but localities bear some costs as officers being trained must have their shifts covered by other officers. This isn’t unusual, as police departments regularly reassign officers for training in order to conduct training required under accreditation standards or other mandates. With the training and the authority that is granted to these officers as a result, criminal illegal aliens are processed for deportation at the completion of their sentences rather than released back into the community.
The memorandum Herndon has crafted is probably one of the best of these there is. Herndon has negotiated with ICE to have the training performed in Herndon which will save the town travel and lodging expenses. The program will utilize existing resources to support trained officers, and plans on training up to seven officers at the outset. Instead of this being narrowly applied, criminal illegal aliens committing any one of 46 “Class A” offenses (the classification is used by localities to report to the state serious crime statistics) such as arson, murder and rape, as well as one “Class B” offsense of Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol, will be subject to processing for deportation under the Section 287(g) program. The MOU incorporates strong civil rights protections and has a reporting mechanism for complaints about the execution of these powers. It is thorough, specific, cites specific law, and is understandable not only by lawyerly types, but is entirely comprehensible to average citizens.
In addition to a large number of Herndon residents who spoke overwhelmingly in support of the MOA at the public hearing, there was representation from a number of outsiders including Reston Interfaith, a local civil rights law center, and young people from an organization called “Pueblo Unido”, one of whom actually showed up in camouflage pants to address the town council. The folks from Pueblo Unido, all of them Fairfax residents, were by far the amusing ones, rambling off talking points from a La Raza position paper, accusing the town council of lying on numerous occasions, and generally making fools of themselves by misrepresenting the facts to such a degree that at one point it even evoked laughter from the audience. After the draft MOA was adopted, these folks confronted town residents speaking together outside in an angry tirade of profane insults which really looked like it would erupt into a full-on brawl until one of the social worker types from the civil rights law center intervened. This shoving, in-your-face screaming and intimidation was the pathetic reaction of illegal alien apologists who were clearly disappointed that their cries of bigotry and racism had not yielded the normal result of politicians running for cover, and not knowing what else to do, the intimidation went from the rhetorical to the physical. Unfortunately it seemed as if all other media had left well before the council meeting adjourned around midnight, as it would have been fascinating to see how this altercation would have been covered in the mainstream media.
Local resident Aubrey Stokes remarked that it’s the losing dog who barks, referencing a japanese maxim that seemed rather appropriate to the evening’s denoument. In this case a town council stood up to intimidation, and the citizens won. Now this example deserves to be shared with other localities, so other citizens can win in their fights to retain the quality and character of their communities. All it takes is to refuse to be intimidated.
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4 Comments
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Excellent news for law and order in Herndon.
I would like to expand on what happened after the Town Council meeting. The apologists came out of the building SCREAMING, “Are you happy now? Look what you have done!” among other vile statements. They were looking for a fight and almost got it. I asked the police to come outside, that I thought a fight was getting ready to start. By the time the Chief and another officer arrived the antagonists group was in the process of leaving.
When they were almost out of sight at least four police cars pull up. There were probably six that responded altogether. I was impressed with the response, but one would have thought they would have planned ahead. It probably would have been a good idea to have police there as the meeting was being let out.. Oh well. It was very interesting to see how these pro illegal immigration organizations react when things don’t go their way. To bad we didn’t have a video camera.
Other localities need to do the same. I plan on sharing this MOA with the Manassas City Council and I hope Greg will bring it to the BOCS.
The only way to get that many MCPD to show up is to let them know there are legal gun owners exercising their rights in a local business.
Last year during the “family definition” public hearing, I only noticed two or three officers in the crowd.
Looking forward to the day the Manassas City Council defies intimidation regarding illegal aliens. And wonder how long it will take our city officals to look at the model Herdnon has created and fall in line. A phone call can only take a few minutes. Reinventing the wheel isn’t needed. Following some real leadership is needed.