Baltimore warns prosecutors to “think twice” before charging illegal immigrants
BY JAZZ SHAW
It almost pains me to bring this up on the same day that I finally found some good news out of Baltimore, but this has far more to do with the municipal management team than the cops on the beat. We’re once again veering back to the ongoing saga of so-called sanctuary cities figuring out ways to not cooperate with immigration officials in matters of law enforcement. One of the key sticking points for these liberal municipal leaders is that ICE is already deporting some illegals who are only guilty of “minor crimes.” Never ones to be short of outside the box thinking when tackling problems, the city’s State’s Attorney Office has come up with a real brainstorm. ICE won’t be able to pick them up if we don’t charge them with the crimes in the first place. Nope.. this isn’t even a joke. (Baltimore Sun)
The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office has instructed prosecutors to think twice before charging illegal immigrants with minor, non-violent crimes in response to stepped up immigration enforcement by the Trump administration.Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow, in a memo sent to all staff Thursday and obtained by The Sun, wrote that the Justice Department’s deportation efforts “have increased the potential collateral consequences to certain immigrants of minor, non-violent criminal conduct.”“In considering the appropriate disposition of a minor, non-violent criminal case, please be certain to consider those potential consequences to the victim, witnesses, and the defendant,” Schatzow wrote.
There’s a fairly clear line between “defiant resistance to Trump” and going completely around the bend. Baltimore is boldly striking out into uncharted territory in the latter category. It’s one thing to refuse to cooperate with ICE in matters of detainers, sharing information and all the rest. It’s an entirely different ball game to decide that you can avoid attracting the attention of federal immigration officers by deciding not to prosecute criminals, no matter how “serious” the crimes may be. And who thought this up? The article cites the Deputy State’s Attorney as having written the memo but you know this didn’t happen without the seal of approval of Marilyn Mosby. (The actual State’s Prosecutor of Freddie Gray fame.)
Let’s think about that for a moment. In other words, for some of these comparatively low level crimes, the city wants prosecutors to go after and punish actual citizens of the country who may have run afoul of the law, but those who compound the issue by knowingly being in the country illegally to begin with are given a pass. Are the actual citizens in Baltimore who pay the taxes which fund these officials listening to this?
And what sort of crimes are we talking about here? Obviously it’s not jaywalking or parking tickets because prosecutors at that level don’t wind up getting involved in such nuisance issues. For these purposes they want to focus on “minor, non-violent criminal cases.” One could imagine that might include petty theft or any burglary which doesn’t rise in value to the grand theft arena. Perhaps passing bad checks? These are the sorts of things most any of us would wind up in front of a judge for. We might not go to jail, but would probably at least be paying a fine and possibly some sort of probation. But if you happen to be an illegal alien residing in Baltimore, congratulations! You’ve pretty much got a free pass after this. Snatch all the purses you like because even if you get caught there won’t be any consequences.
We’re talking about officers of the court who are charged with upholding the law. And they are seriously cautioning the staff to consider not prosecuting people who are suspected of these crimes on the basis of the fact that they are already committing a crime by being here illegally. If you are a citizen or lawful immigrant living in Baltimore you should be outraged by this. But if you keep electing these same people who pull these sorts of stunts over and over again I have zero sympathy for you at this point.
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