Lawless LA Police Chief Charlie Beck Google Images
Judicial Watch Goes to Court to End Los Angeles Illegal Immigration Sanctuary Policy
I've said this before in this space many times. Illegal alien sanctuary policies are deadly and dangerous. And right now, Judicial Watch is locked in a battle against the City of Los Angeles to put an end to a sanctuary policy that places the citizens of California at great risk.
In fact, on Monday, we will be in court on behalf of our taxpayer client, Harold Sturgeon, in a lawsuit that has been consolidated with another filed by the Los Angeles Police Protection League (the police union). The ACLU, on behalf of the Coalition for Humane Immigrants’ Rights of Los Angeles and LA Voice, has intervened to defend the LAPD policy.
You can read Judicial Watch’s Court documents here. But let’s quickly review the facts.
In 1994, the California Legislature enacted changes to the California Vehicle Code that required police officers, under certain circumstances to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers for 30 days. And here’s why:
- At the time, an estimated 1,000,000 individuals were driving in California without a license, and an additional 720,000 were driving on suspended or revoked licenses.
- More than 20% of drivers involved in fatal accidents were unlicensed drivers.
- A driver with a suspended license was four times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than a properly licensed driver.
So this was a problem of “critical interest,” as the Legislature noted – one that was endangering the lives of the citizens of California. California legislators felt compelled to act, and act they did, implementing changes to the California Vehicle Code that stood unchallenged for 18 years.
That’s when Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and the Board of Police Commissioners decided to put the interests of illegal aliens – who comprise “the vast majority of unlicensed drivers” – ahead of the citizens of California by enacting Special Order 7, put into effect in April 2012.
As reported by the Los Angeles Daily News, Special Order 7 requires that “vehicles of unlicensed drivers will only be impounded for a day, if that person has insurance, valid identification, has not caused an accident and has not been cited previously for unlicensed driving. An exception may be made in some cases if a licensed driver is immediately available to drive the vehicle away.”
What possible sense does this make so far as the safety and well-being of the citizens of California are concerned? Not a bit. Nonetheless, Special Order 7 has accomplished its objective. The number of cars impounded dropped from 28,796 in 2011 to 16,242 in 2012. So one can surmise that thousands of unlicensed drivers have been allowed back on the roads during this policy, likely leading to more accidents and more deaths. . . .
[second article down at link below]
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