An illegal immigrant arrested on a traffic violation last month was forced to leave her three children on the shoulder of Interstate 85 in the middle of the night -- where they were alone and stranded for eight hours.
Did the police officer do the right thing by leaving the chilcdren? Read the whole story HERE.
The question: Did the police officer do the right thing by leaving the children?
In the comment section are many posts with titles like, "Don't care","No Sympathy","Got we she deserved" etc. In the debate about immigration reform, it's important to remember how people responded today to this horrific incident (think of your children being out on the highway alone at night for eight hours) and the empathy-challenged character of many of those espousing anti-immigrant views. This is naked prejudice against another ethnic group. Pass McCain-Kennedy!
There are so many concerns with the nature of the story in this incident.
If the police officer did not speak Spanish, how did he know that the 14 year-old asked the mother the same question that he supposedly posed? The mother might have been nodding her head to anything! She might have had no idea that she was agreeing to leave her kids with this man. That is what translators, available to police, are there for!
If the police officer did not speak Spanish, he was not able to ask the male friend if he would stay with the children until someone else arrived. He was also not able to ask when help was coming. So he was NOT sure that the children were safe in someone else's care.
I also cannot believe that if this was a group of children who were US Citizens that they would be allowed to sit on the side of a major highway, with or without an adult. Think of how many times you see a police officer waiting behind a broken down car to make sure they are safe. And this is in the middle of the day!
Lastly, nowhere in this article does it state the children themselves are undocumented immigrants. For all of the comments on this story talking about how the children and adults get what they deserve for breaking the law, perhaps you should think about the motto of police officers; to protect and to serve. It does not say "To protect and to serve legal residents" or "To protect and to serve only those from non-controversial groups of people." You do not know that these kids, who you so freely chastise, are even undocumented themselves! If they were born in the US, they are legal citizens themselves! And if even they are not, they are children- who cannot speak for themselves- and therefore need to protected and sheltered.
Leaving them on the side of the road, even if they were undocumented...even if their mother was breaking the law...even if they had someone with them who the officer "thought" was going to stay with them...should be a crime!
This mother knew the risks that she was putting her children in. Regardless of her origin, language skills, or intent, she consciously made the decision to a) live in this country without regard for legal process b) operate a vehicle in this country under false pretenses of identity and c) operate a vehicle without being tagged legally. It is not law enforcement's responsibility to second guess her decision to leave her children with another adult. It was their responsibility to enforce the laws that she'd clearly violated.
She committed neglect, not the cop.
(I support LEGAL immigration.)
I don't know that I have EVER read a more disturbing article. This is HORRIBLE!
Illegal immigrants are a growing population. there are many questions and problems which came before the incident on I85. First, how does an entire family illegally get into this country if they did not come from Mexico? Second who sold them the vehicle that they were driving? Who employed them without requiring the appropriate documentation on status. These issues aside, I am sure that the officer involved knows someone who speaks Spanish that could have asisted him. If the girl, whose knowledge of our legal system is certainly limited, was asked to translate, how could the officer be sure of what she really asked her mother. This is a double edged sword and could have endangered the officer. I think that he showed inadequate judgment. He should have called dispatch and asked for assistance. He did not require the passenger to show any identification. Lack of consistency. Were these occupants black every one whould have had to produce legitimate identification. If they were white, all would have been taken to the station and someone would have had to claim them. Therefore, he would have been assured that the children were safe. By the way, what good is it to deport a mother and leave her children? Who cares for them. I don't think the officer should be chastised for a policy that he could not create. However, his department should develop a policy to deal with this situation regrdless as to age, race or national creed of the suspects.
Last, there are may businesses that rely heavily on the lower wages that they pay immigrants. They also profit from not having to pay benefits or taxes for them. Therefore each taxpapyer pays for healthcare and education of these immigrants. What is happening is that we are creating another racial divide. If you need immigrant labor, at the very least, you should require them to learn to speak English. Since immigrants who are sponsored by their employers can obtain visas more easily, it should be a requirement that these documents are obtained. It should be the responsibility of the employer to make sure that these laborers enter and leave the country as agreed. Leaving children on the side of the road with an unidentified male is asking for trouble. Something we will all have to pay for in the end.
Yellow jounalism about Alamance county sheriff's department
This whole article is full of bias and is yellow journalism at its worst. The first paragraph reads as if the deputy (NOT POLICE) arrested this woman and left the kids alone. Not true, if you read further. An adult male was left in charge after the officer says the illegal immigrant gave permission (nodded her head) after the teenage daughter asked if this was O.K. He checked to see if the adult male had a cell phone - and someone to call. On July 9th, over three weeks after the arrest, the woman is interviewed by the Justice Center and Cas de Maryland and disputes this. Why are these groups in Alamance county?
I guess after an arrest the officer is required to write up a warrant and the circumstances about the arrest. He had to be pretty quick to come up with all his "lies" when HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE CHILDREN WERE LEFT ALONE. No complaint has yet been filed. I guess the author felt too pressed for a deadline to even try to interview the deputy. Or perhaps question why he would lie on a filed arrest report that is a legal document. Perhaps the arrest report could be shown, but that would that might mess up the bias of this story.
Sometimes it takes articles like this to remind me why I never buy a newspaper. Supporting this type of journalism is against my ethics.