Finding Fault In the Wrong Place On Immigration Enforcement

SAN DIEGO -- A heinous crime in a California city recently gave the local police chief a soapbox, which he promptly stumbled over.

As the son of a retired cop, I might normally defend a law enforcement official who appears to be trying to keep the public safe.

Not this time. Not when it sounds as if the police chief wants to be a politician. Not when he gets so emotionally overwrought by a horrific act in his city -- one allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant -- that he accuses elected officials of making the problem of illegal immigration worse instead of looking closer to home. And not when the lawman ignores the obvious: Illegal immigrants are drawn not by welfare but by work. The states that suffer the most illegal immigration also benefit the most from the sweat of illegal immigrants.

California tops the list, with an agriculture industry that is almost completely dependent on an undocumented workforce and which generates more than $40 billion in annual revenue.

This includes the money earned from strawberry fields surrounding Santa Maria -- a central coast city of about 100,000 people located about 120 miles northwest of Los Angeles that is home to many illegal immigrants.

Police Chief Ralph Martin rushed into the fray over illegal immigration after a local woman was brutally attacked and murdered.

Those facing charges include 29-year-old Victor Aureliano Martinez Ramirez, an illegal immigrant who has been in trouble with the law before but escaped deportation. On July 24, Ramirez and another man, Jose Fernando Villagomez, allegedly broke into the home of Marilyn Pharis. The 64-year-old was sexually assaulted and pummeled with a hammer. She died eight days later. If these two men are found guilty, no punishment would be too severe

Still, it was not honest or helpful for Martin to accuse elected officials of emptying out the prisons with laws that reduce sentences and end prolonged detention for less-serious crimes.

"I think it starts in Washington, D.C., with this administration that we see and their policies," Martin said to reporters. "I think you can draw a direct line over to Sacramento with the policies of ... I'm going to say this governor and the Legislature. ... We've seen AB 109 pass. We've seen Prop 47 pass. And I am not remiss to say that, from Washington, D.C., to Sacramento, there is a blood trail into the bedroom of Marilyn Pharis."

A blood trail? You had to go there. Just the facts, chief.

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