Finally. some (not all of it) but some signs of sanity

The New York times headline reads "Immigration Hard-Liner Has His Wings Clipped", I don't know that "immigration hard-liner" properly describes Arpaio, personally i think racist bigot is more suitable. However I'll look past that because as the NY times reports " federal officials had taken away his deputies’ authority to make immigration arrests in the field."


Mr. Arpaio's reaction was as expected:

That prompted an angry, rambling outburst from the sheriff Tuesday at a news conference at which he called Homeland Security officials “liars” and vowed to press on with his campaign, using state laws, against illegal immigrants. He said he would drive those caught on the streets to the border if federal officers refused to take them into custody.

Kind of like a kid throwing a tantrum. "If you wont give me what i want ill do it my way...wah wah."

Change?

This article from NPR just came to my attention:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102723012

It deals with the first immigration raid that has occurred under Obama's Presidency.

On Feb. 24, when armed immigration agents raided Yamato Engine Specialists, a small company that rebuilds car engines in Bellingham, Wash., 28 workers were led away in handcuffs. They were illegal immigrants, most of them from Mexico, and they faced quick deportation. It was the first big immigration raid under President Obama, and it came as a shock to many in the Hispanic community.

Many Latinos and immigrant rights advocates hoped that the new President would place an immediate moratorium on these work place raids (I admit that politically this is near impossible, because of the complexity of the immigration issue). So when this raid occurred, signs of disappointment and anger were apparent in the immigrant community.

The new Secretary of the Department of Homeland "Security", Janet Napolitano, almost immediately had a response to the raid, stating that she did not know of the raid ahead of time and that it would be under review.

And that could have been the end of that.

However, as the NPR article informs, there has been a somewhat interesting development in the month since the raid occurred.

Now, one month later, 27 of the 28 workers have been released. One of them — Luis Ramos — says he can't get over how nice the immigration agents have become.

"They treat us wonderfully," Ramos says. "They even say, 'do you want a soda from the machine?'"

The government is offering them temporary work permits, and immigration agents are even giving the Mexicans free rides to Seattle to file the paperwork

"Nice" immigration agents? this is quite a change from the past few years, where ICE agents raid unsuspecting homes, harass immigrants and even drug them in order to streamline their deportation (Careless Detention- Washington Post).

Still this has only been one case. One instance where the undocumented is not harassed and the employer slapped on the wrist. Nevertheless it could signal a change in the way enforcement is handled in the future. A more pragmatic look at the demand and supply dynamic behind illegal immigration perhaps?

Maybe even a shift (albeit a small one) on the immigration paradigm?