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Brighton state rep rear-ended by alleged drunken illegal immigrant in dance costume
By adamg on Fri, 05/21/2010 - 8:59pm
Channel 25 reports the guy slammed into state Rep. Mike Moran's car at 60 m.p.h.
The station details the state's current policy on illegal immigrants, which might be why it doesn't have enough room online to say how Moran is doing.
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Comments
Any word on the condition of
Any word on the condition of State Rep. Moran? He is a swell guy.
Moran is hot, hot, hot!!!
Moran is hot, hot, hot!!!
at least fox is covering the story- nobody else did
Not a single other Boston news source has bothered to cover it at all, according to Google and an admittedly short survey. It's pretty newsworthy, regardless of the guy's immigration status.
If he wasn't an illegal immigrant, you'd have some clever comment about the costume...
The more I think about this story
The more annoyed I am at Fox 25. Sure, props for breaking it, but for Christ's sake, get off the immigration horse for a second and answer the question: How is Mike Moran doing? For what it's worth, reporter Joe Battenfeld was guffawing about the guy's costume on Twitter last night. I sent a tweet his way asking about Moran's condition. No response.
This is just a flat-out lie
State Police could have called the local ICE office and told them they suspect the person in custody was illegal and ask what ICE would like them to do with him. State Police don't have to investigate his status, ICE does. That's what the policy revocation from Patrick does. However, there's no rule that says that State Police can't alert ICE to their suspicions and ask if they would like to deal with him.
The same thing happened in RI and has been a big case on reasonable suspicion and unreasonable search-and-seizure over a traffic stop where the officer called ICE from his patrol car after he learned the car was full of suspected illegals.
This crap from Fox that suggests State Police just had to throw their hands up in the air and go "Whelp, if you're illegal, we can't care at all...so break all the laws you want!" is just fear-mongering to the "why don't we do like Arizona!" Republi-thug crew.
The following article says
The following article says nothing about the state police calling ICE - only that the power to deal with immigration violations would be taken away from them and given to prison guards. If the state police could refer cases to ICE, on what basis would they do it - probably cause? What would be probable cause - the race of the person? Could they refer every Spanish-speaking person? Not likely, my friend.
Wha??
What basis? Whatever basis they want....just like you or me. If you want to drop a dime on your neighbor and call ICE about them, feel free. Cops are free to do the same. That's like asking "If I think my neighbor is beating his wife, what basis do I have to call 911?"
I know the article says nothing about them calling ICE. The point is it says that *they* can't explore the legality of the person's existence in the US and implies that they are therefore helpless due to Governor Patrick's decision. They aren't. They are capable of dialing ICE and asking if ICE would be interested in what they know just like you or I would be capable of.
The article tries to say "guess what Deval did! He made it so illegals can run free and laugh at the police!" and that's just not true.
I think the amount of time someone can be detained is the issue.
If I recall correctly, the law before wanted to change the amount of time state or local police could detain someone while trying to figure out their immigration status. As of right now, immigration status is not a factor in determining how long you can detain someone. If you can't figure out if ICE is comming or not in x amount of time, then that person has to be released, arraigned, bailed, etc.
Well...
This guy was smashed, driving unlicensed and involved in a serious accident (how is Moran doing? Plowing into someone at 60 mph is not usually something you walk away from laughing). I think they have reason to hold him long enough for ICE to check into it. He's being held on $50K bail, and he probably works as a mariachi -- chances are he ain't makin' bail.
60 MPH rear-end
Probably accordioned Moran's car.
Moran is OK, according to the video, but the passenger is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. I hope he recovers.
Get your terminology right
He's not "illegal". He's "undocumented" or "unauthorized". Just ask the Boston Globe.
Anyone Actually Know?
WFXT says "suspected illegal immigrant." So is it Battenfeld who suspects this, or someone who actually has a brain in his or her skull?
Obviously...
He's latino and he has no license... MUST be illegal. Oddly, when white people are pulled over for driving without a license you just assume they forgot it or had it revoked for some reason or the dog ate it or who knows. So I guess a Puerto Rican who forgets his license at home should understand that he will have a hassle for driving unlicensed (his bad) AND will be investigated by ICE (if they can get over there in time), whereas the white guy just has the hassle for driving unlicensed. Is the white guy an 'illegal' for driving unlicensed? A criminal and a security threat to this nation? He did break the law....
Heres the difference John-W
When you pull over someone who doesn't have their license, it takes 20 seconds to figure out whether or not he actually has a license. And you have to figure that out with anyone you pull over that doesn't have a physical license.
And the white guy who doesn't have a license gets arrested as much as the hispanic guy who doesn't have a license. Actually, the white guy probably gets arrested more since the immigrant might actually have a real license from his own country.
You're a cop
So what is the procedure for a person (regardless of skin color, accents, etc.) who, according to the database you check during the stop, has never had a license that you can see (didn't just leave the license at home)? They're arrested and brought to the station for booking (I'm assuming, my police procedures knowledge is limited to television and film). Do you routinely contact ICE to investigate every unlicensed (and never had a license) driver? Would you do so if that person was Latino?
I suppose that the status of the car plays a role here -- who is it registered to, is it insured, etc. and whether the person has a foreign drivers license. Which would lead to the question, if you pull over a drunk driver with only a German drivers license or a drunk driver with only a Peruvian drivers license do you contact ICE for both of them?
I'm asking because I don't know. I'm asking you because you're a cop and seem to be pretty knowledgeable about the topic.
Sometimes
The unlicensed driver gets fingerprinted, the fingerprints go to the FBI and then come back to the station to see if the person is who they say they are. After that is done the arrestee either goes to court to be arraigned, gets bailed, or stays in a jail cell until the next court day.
ICE is not routinely contacted in MA if the arrestee is suspected of being illegal because ICE usually does not care. If the arrest is for something more serious than driving without a license (drug or weapons trafficking), then ICE might take an interest and send someone out or ask you to hold that person. And of course those fingerprints that go to the FBI will also send out warnings to ICE if in fact they were looking for that person.
As for the German or Peruvian drunk drivers, I would say no for both of them only because ICE won't care about either of them.
So long story short, Massachusetts Police officers don't contact ICE about illegal aliens because ICE doesn't do anything about it.
The irony is delicious. He
The irony is delicious. He votes against Perry Amendment and gets rear ended for it. It's Karma baby!
These criminaliens are like the south africans in Lethal Weapon 4. But instead of saying "Diplomatic Immunity" they say "I'm going back home to Mexico!"
Yes...
..always good to filter your world view through the Lethal Weapon series of cinematic works. I prefer the Mad Max series myself, although painting myself with blue face paint and riding around with a broadsword yelling "IT'S THE JEWWWWS!" usually remedies most public policy concerns.
Before this country became
Before this country became primarily a whiners haven for those who want to be taken care of, or to sue someone or to thumb their noses at the law so show they can, it was truly a beautifl country. Too bad it became a place for people to cry about what's wrong rather than what's right. Notice most of the whiners came from countrys where they wouldn't even have a right to complain, but yet it's what they do best here. I'm sorry for Morgan's accident. Even more sorry that apparently the media doesn't think he counts as much has hidding the criminal activities of an illegal alien. Something similiar happened in Los Gatos Ca a couple of years ago. A Mother of 3 was putting her son's bike in the back of her car and a drunk illegal Mexican slammed into her legs. It wasn't covered much, no big deal. White woman with some kids, so what if she lost her leg, lost her profession as a nurse and the ability to care for her children independently (I believe ultimately she lost both legs.) Buy whoo hooo did the illegals come out strong against saying anything bad about the guy who did it even though it was his 2nd DUI and had not been deported. So say whatever you wish about the color of people's skin meaning something one way or the other. Brown skin I think we can say, have a license to kill so to speak. Maybe they will make the guy who slammed into Morgan drunker than a skunk keys to the city or something. Crazy.
Seriously?
Do they pay people to be as racist and illogical as you? Because I'm not sure how else you make a living.