The American Spectator

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Another Perspective

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California's criminal trespass statutes are tightly defined and run for pages, outlining in very specific detail each type of trespass and apparently precluding any interpretation that would apply to someone illegally crossing the border. But maybe a creative lawyer could prove otherwise.

Of course, immigrants illegally enter from Canada too, and it would be worth researching trespass laws in all border states to see if criminal trespass could be applied to illegal aliens all along the border. (For the sake of brevity, I restricted my statute search to the four states bordering Mexico, where the immigration issue is most highly charged and the problem is most severe.)

The application of criminal trespass laws to illegal aliens would not have to hold up in court in all states to have an effect. If enough police departments simply arrested people for the offense, it could generate a public outcry that would pressure lawmakers and the administration to speed up the reforms that are slowly winding their way through Congress and the Department of Homeland Security.

Congress has told DHS to hire 2,000 new border agents this year. But last week DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff told a Senate subcommittee that the number would be 210 new agents this year. The department just is not able to train or pay 2,000 new agents, he said.

Since DHS won't be devoting the resources necessary to clamp down on illegal immigration in the near future, it sure wouldn't hurt if local police did.

topics:
Law, Immigration