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Encouraging Update

The other day, when I told the story of the abandoned chicken, the one left behind by a family of Guatemalan immigrants, I wished I could do more than speculate on how my community might behave toward the growing Hispanic population, legal AND illegal. This morning's local newspaper offered some insight that I found encouraging.

The Guatemalan man with no driver's license who is being tried for vehicular homicide was pictured on the front page. But the story wasn't about how he is a shiftless burden to society or how his ethnic group should be purged from our otherwise pristine town (if you lived here, you'd know how laughable that concept is). The story is about how our local court system provides interpreters to all Spanish-speaking residents who find themselves before a judge, and the service is free to them. While the cost is passed on to the rest of us, it is minimal. The story also pointed out that local immigrants do not commit more crimes than our original citizens, and the majoritiy of their crimes are related to not having a drivers' license.

As I mentioned in the Chicken Post, we have a team of advocates who interpret for immigrants and help them to assimilate, and one of these team members was the focus of this morning's story. She is a retired school teacher who served in Colombia in the Peace Corps years ago and is now using her knowledge of Spanish to work in the court.

Here is a bit of the today's article with quotes from the judge (Space):

“It’s all due process,” Space said, adding that her job as a judge is to make sure that the person not only understands the language she’s speaking, but also understands his legal options when in front of her.

“All of that is an expense we incur to make sure that there is justice in society,” Space said of the costs of interpreters and court-appointed lawyers. “If I’m going to sentence someone, especially to a serious term of incarceration, or to anything, I want to make sure the conviction was a just conviction, and that the person has had every opportunity to present a defense.”


This makes me proud of where I live, I have to say.

Comments

Sassy Sundry said…
Well done, your town! That is encouraging.
dive said…
It's good and fair system, Robyn.
But what happened to the chicken?
All I can think of is that old song by the Talking Heads - Psycho Chicken
Anonymous said…
Robyn, although today, While the cost is passed on to the rest of us, it is minimal.

Fact: FAIR estimates the current local annual costs of illegal immigration from just three program areas — educating the children in public primary and secondary schools, providing medical services in emergency rooms, and incarceration — amount to about $36 billion PER YEAR!

"local immigrants do not commit more crimes than our original citizens" The catch phase there is "do not commit MORE" however,

A report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study found 20 percent of fatal accidents involve at least one driver who lacks a valid license.

In April 2005, the Government Accountability Office released a report on a study of 55,322 illegal aliens incarcerated in federal, state, and local facilities during 2003. It found the following:
·The 55,322 illegal aliens studied represented a total of 459,614 arrests – some eight arrests per illegal alien;
·Their arrests represented a total of about 700,000 criminal offenses – some 13 offenses per illegal alien;
·36 percent had been arrested at least five times before.
I would say that we have enough crime here in the USA without allowing it to be imported!
That a girl Prudence - I didn't have to write all that. I think I'll make you my new assistant

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