The Blog @ Spolitics

“Operation Return to Sender”

It’s about time. The Los Angeles Times ran this story about a nationwide sweep to deport criminals who were in the U.S. illegally:

Thirty-six illegal immigrants who served time for child sex offenses but were released in Orange County rather than deported were among more than 2,100 criminal foreign nationals arrested in a nationwide sweep announced Wednesday.

[--snip--]

Officials said the raids focused on the most dangerous criminals, including gang members, pedophiles, violent felons and those who sneaked back into the country after being deported.

The article also points out that the number of illegal immigrants in county jails is so large that it’s difficult to even identify them. Which leads us to this point:

In Washington, where lawmakers are trying to forge a compromise on a new immigration policy, at least one senator from a border state said the crackdown was a step in the right direction.

“These are exactly the kinds of offenders we must prevent from entering our country in the first place,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who will be on the conference committee that negotiates an immigration bill with the House of Representatives.

Let’s hope the Senate and House can at least agree on that point.