As the debate rages on about illegal immigration and how to stem the tide of a growing population of illegal immigrants it was heartening to learn that federal agents in Baltimore arrested 24 men of being in the U.S. illegally.  But before anyone gets too excited that the government is actually doing something about the problem, please note that it was the illegal aliens actions that got them arrested.

The U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were actually on a break and were sitting in their unmarked vehicles which were parked in a 7-Eleven lot when the men approached the van and solicited employment.

It didn’t take the agents long to determine the immigration status and place them under arrest.  ICE told The Washington Times that of those arrested, 10 were Honduran, 8 were Mexican, 5 were Salvadoran and one was from Peru. In addition six of the men arrested had criminal records, another eight had failed to comply with final removal orders from an immigration judge and one man had been caught on the border four times. Not exactly poster children for looser immigration laws.

Of course the government’s actions brought a strong rebuke from Casa of Maryland who” called the arrests an “illegal raid”.  I’m not sure how they can call this a raid when the illegal aliens approached them and not vice versa.  Then again this is all a part of Casa of Maryland’s twisted logic as spokeswoman Kim Propeack told the Times that “Asking a bunch of people about their immigration status is well beyond the confines of a specific warrant.” Huh?  I’m actually surprised that based on this line of thinking that they didn’t accuse ICE of entrapment since everyone knows that illegals like to congregate at 7-Elevens.  That’s it! They were set up. 

To try and bolster their argument Casa of Maryland held a press conference to protest the arrests saying the government unfairly targeted Hispanics and brought in religious leaders to speak as well.  One such leader quoted by the Times was the Rev. Robert Wojtek, a pastor at a couple of nearby Roman Catholic parishes who said that “Were making it more difficult to be good,”  and asking “What sin against God have these people done?”  The last time I checked committing a crime is a sin and they all broke the law to get into the country and several others had criminal records here as well.  It’s hard to be good when you are a criminal in my book.

Then finally there is the statement from the spokesman for the new Democratic Mayor Sheila Dixon who told the Associated Press that the arrests highlighted the need for a designated day-laborer center in the city.  That’s just great.  Instead of applauding the federal government from ridding her city of some criminals she would rather spend taxpayer money to build them a place to congregate while the tried to find work so they can send money home to bring even more illegals into the U.S.

The federal agents did exactly what they were supposed to do.  It’s a shame though that it wasn’t from some enforcement action they were undertaking but from sheer dumb luck by some even dumber illegal aliens.

We can’t count on incidences like this repeating themselves so if the government wants to get serious about illegal immigration then they should start enforcing the laws.

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