Texas Congresswoman wants us to leave illegals alone

While researching a tip that democrats were renewing efforts to quietly introduce legislation that would give illegal aliens amnesty, I stumbled upon this little bill currently under consideration in the House of Representatives. It's known as "H.R. 73: Traffic Stops Along the Border Statistics Study Act of 2009," and it's sponsor is liberal Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas.

At first I thought that this was just an effort to put forth a nationwide version of a racial profiling bill like Obama did back when he was an Illinois legislator. But the problem was that I searched thomas.loc.gov using the key word "immigration"...so I clicked the text to learn more. It's worse than a racial profiling bill...it's an attempt to discourage law enforcement from making traffic stops that involve suspected illegal aliens (pay particular attention to the bold part):

(3) DATA COLLECTION- After completion of the initial analysis under paragraph (2), the Attorney General shall gather the following data on traffic stops from a nationwide sample of jurisdictions, including jurisdictions identified in the initial analysis:

(A) The traffic infraction alleged to have been committed that led to the stop.

(B) Identifying characteristics of the driver stopped, including the race, gender, ethnicity, and approximate age of the driver.

(C) Whether immigration status was questioned, immigration documents were requested, or an inquiry was made to the Immigration and Naturalization Service with regard to any individual in the vehicle and whether any individual in the vehicle was turned over to immigration officials.

(D) The number of stops conducted within 25 miles of the United States border with Mexico compared with the number of stops conducted within 25 miles of the United States border with Canada.

(E) The number of individuals in the stopped vehicle.

(F) Whether a search was instituted as a result of the stop and whether consent was requested for the search.

(G) Any alleged criminal behavior by the driver that justified the search.

(H) Any items seized, including contraband or money.

(I) Whether any warning or citation was issued as a result of the stop.

(J) Whether an arrest was made as a result of either the stop or the search and the justification for the arrest.

(K) The duration of the stop.

Did you catch that back in subsection D? She wants to collect data to compare the number of stops along the Mexican border and compare it to the stops near the Canadian border. This is so that she can claim prejudice when it is revealed that there's simply more "action" down at the southern border. It wouldn't be because of it being a popular spot to cross because Mexicans have more poor than Canadians. No no...it MUST be because we are racists.

Some people may not see a problem with the language as written on the surface, but you have to think about what it will be like in practice. Keeping track of this sort of data may give law enforcement reason to pause during a legitimate traffic stop because they may live in an area that is predominantly hispanic, therefore causing the officer to foolishly attempt to follow some sort of racial quota per month to not appear like he is targeting a specific group of individuals. It is this sort of second guessing that officers do not need to be burdened with.

So in the end, what is likely to happen, if passed, is that officers around the country may end up letting go a group of illegal aliens, or perhaps the next group of terrorists, all because of this stupid quota proposal that was written under the presupposition that police officers are racists.

What I also find interesting about Congresswoman Jackson Lee is that she's an unapologetic democrat who LOVES pork...and no not the kind you eat, but the kind that find their way into spending bills. If you visit her web site, there is a link right under her signature to print and fill out a form for your own earmark project.

It's safe to say that this is one Congresswoman who will not embarrassed to pull up a chair to the trough when the stimulus money starts raining from the sky, with not a care in the world about where it comes from because she is certain to be a big believer in the redistribution of wealth!