Seriousness in immigration enforcement?

Rocky Mountain News:

If you need more evidence that the enforcement side of federal immigration law isn't measuring up, just look at the information that has come to light from Senate Bill 90, one piece of the package of immigration reforms that passed the legislature last year.

The bill, which received bipartisan support, requires Colorado's local law enforcement agencies to report to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency any illegal immigrants who are arrested or cited for most offenses that are more serious than a traffic citation. It also instructs agencies to tally how many people they had referred to ICE in the previous year.

In many cases, these people would be subject to deportation. They've been jailed or ordered to jail for serious misdemeanors and felonies.

But the Rocky's Burt Hubbard found that the lion's share of these illegal immigrants - 37 of every 38 reported to ICE - were never issued a hold or detention order. The feds were notified, and nothing happened.

Anecdotally, local police told Hubbard that they've seen no increase in deportations, even though SB 90 has provided valuable information to the feds.

This failure in enforcement may help explain why the public appears dubious about Washington's steps toward comprehensive immigration reform. Polls show a majority of Americans are open to letting many illegal immigrants enter a path to citizenship. But that support is often conditional - those polling majorities do not endorse porous borders. And they want evidence that those borders are being secured first.

To date, Washington has failed miserably to hold up the enforcement side of the bargain.

Hubbard reported that more than 15,000 illegal immigrants covered by SB 90 were reported to ICE for investigation in the final six months of last year. And that figure is certainly an understatement, because (for instance) some smaller jurisdictions lacked the personnel to do the reporting.

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... SB 90 has highlighted the magnitude of the feds' failure at enforcement. There are thousands of illegal immigrants in our midst who would not have been welcome in the United States had they applied for residency through legal channels. Washington has largely treated them with indifference.

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It is another reason why the politicians in Washington have no credibility when it comes to enforcement of immigration laws. If they do nothing with those who are here illegally when they are handed to them, why should we expect they will do more with the new bill? If the administration and supporters of the bill are still curious about why there is opposition, they should look at this story. Many people just do not believe they are serious when it comes to enforcement. They have good reasons to doubt any commitment to that objective.