PrintMay 24, 2010
Accused Seattle-area rape suspect arrested and deported nine times
Three years ago the City of Seattle, joined the leftist fraternity of sanctuary cities which includes such bastions of public safety as Chicago and San Francisco. Last November the King County Council officially adopted similar policies. According to kingcounty.gov
"Our community will be safer when all individuals trust they can cooperate with law enforcement officers and public health officials without fear of discrimination or retribution based on immigration status," said Council member Larry Phillips.
"King County has long observed policies that its employees not inquire into the immigration status of the people with whom they interact," said Council Chair Dow Constantine. "This law makes our county safer."
With the current furor over Arizona's Enforcement Law (SB1070) dominating the headlines, the immigration advocacy group OneAmerica staged a rally in the illegal-immigrant friendly city of Seattle. The event which was part of a nationwide protest for immigration reform and amnesty for illegals drew an estimated crowd of 250. The Seattle Times reported.
Try as they might, immigration-overhaul advocates who were hoping to get arrested during a demonstration Thursday in downtown Seattle just, well, couldn't.
They packed the lobby of a downtown office building for about an hour, blocking access to its elevators and refusing to let people through.
When that wasn't enough, they spilled into the street and sat down in the middle of three successive intersections along Madison Street, blocking traffic.
Pramila Jayapal, the founder and executive director of OneAmerica was dismayed that no members of the protest could manage to get arrested. Javapal promised that "next time, we'll be looking at something bigger." There were reports that people attempting to go to work in the building where the protest originated were subjected to "grabbing and pushing."
Seattle's finest "looked on and redirected traffic," but did not attempt to intervene on behalf of their fellow citizens. Local attorney Dan Ford was pleased with the protest despite their inability to engage the police. Ford said "We showed there are people willing to be arrested," apparently a difficult task in Seattle.
The demonstration and the lackadaisical attitude of the Seattle Police are particularly troubling given the events that had transpired earlier in the week. Jose Lopez Madrigal, an illegal alien was arrested last Sunday and accused of raping a woman near an Edmonds Supermarket, north of Seattle and King County.
Establishing the identity of Madrigal (a Mexican citizen who has some 30 aliases) was only accomplished when the police ran his fingerprints. According to King5.com.
Madrigal's arrest and immigration record includes a staggering number of contacts with law enforcement since 1989. That's the year he was convicted of theft using a firearm in California.
He was deported a couple of times after that. Then in 1999, he was arrested for drug sales in both San Diego and San Francisco. Records show that he was deported three times that year between April and August.
He was arrested for drugs again in Stockton, Calif. in 2000. In 2002, he pleaded to third degree sexual assault in Denver. Later that year, he was deported again. And in 2003, records show he was deported three more times.
If the United States were to adopt the immigration policy of our poor aggrieved neighbors to the south then Mr. Madrigal would have been arrested, jailed for two years and then deported the very first time he entered our country illegally. Perhaps a more fair immigration policy like that of Madrigal's native Mexico would have prevented some two decades of violent criminal attacks against our fellow Americans.
Hey Seattle, wake up and smell the coffee!
paboehmke@yahoo.com
