Apparently it is not enough that illegal immigrants from south of the U.S. border are let into our country and allowed to stay scott-free, draining government resources despite their illegal status.

No, we must also now ignore any additional crimes illegals commit, or risk being branded racist. Now that timid U.S. immigration officials have dared to apprehend some illegals believed to have violated other laws too, they are being accused or waging a race war.

The Associated Press reports from Yakima:

Dozens of Latino residents in the agricultural Yakima Valley marched yesterday to protest rumored immigration sweeps by the federal government....Bearing signs that read "Stop the War Against Hispanics" and "No More Racism," more than 100 people walked from St. Joseph's Catholic Church to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Yakima.

Except it's not true.

Just four people have been picked up in the Yakima Valley in the past two weeks as part of an effort to arrest illegal immigrants who have been involved in crime or ignored deportation orders, said Mike Milne, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman in Seattle.

...The Washington Growers League, which represents growers, packing houses and processors, could find no evidence of widespread sweeps to detain undocumented workers, said executive director Mike Gempler.

But there has been surprise over the more concentrated immigration-enforcement effort over the past few weeks, he said.

"I don't think that's been seen for some time," he said.

You don't say.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at July 13, 2004 09:44 AM

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