If anyone had any doubts that a significant number of California\u2019s civic leaders have gone totally insane, a recent incident in the City of Richmond should erase them.<\/p>\n
According to the East Bay Times<\/em><\/a>, immigration activists recently held a mock trial to hold U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the East Bay Police, \u201caccountable\u201d for \u201cabuses and human rights violations against detained undocumented immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, you read that correctly. Illegal aliens \u2013 who don\u2019t dispute the fact that they entered the United States in violation of our immigration laws \u2013 and their supporters have put ICE and local law enforcement on trial.<\/p>\n Apparently, the organizers of this little piece of inane agitprop were never told that the purpose of a mock trial, when used as political theater, is to point out when the legal system is being misused to oppress those who come before the bar of justice with clean hands.<\/p>\n But there are a couple of problems with that approach in the current instance:<\/p>\n First off, you can\u2019t willfully violate<\/a> the laws of the United States, for instance, by jumping the border, and then complain when you are arrested. Especially if you make no secret of the fact that you came here illegally.<\/p>\n Second, when you freely admit that you broke our immigration laws, you can\u2019t really complain when ICE places you in detention<\/a>. Particularly when you take into account the\u00a0 fact that illegal aliens apprehended in the United States are given a hearing, afforded due process<\/a> under the Fifth Amendment, and granted all of the other legal protections<\/a> available in America\u2019s unduly tolerant Immigration Court.<\/p>\n Of course, the supreme irony is that none of these activists would dare head south of the border and put the Mexican, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran or Honduran governments \u201con trial\u201d for any of the abuses that allegedly provoke<\/a> nationals of those countries to enter the United States unlawfully.<\/p>\n Might that have to do with the fact that the United States has an independent judiciary<\/a> and law enforcement authorities who are firmly under the control of our elected civic leaders, while the other nations mentioned have a long history of corruption in their justice institutions?<\/p>\n A logical observer would say, \u201cYes\u201d \u2013 especially in light of the fact that neither ICE, nor the East Bay Police, seem to have paid any attention to the Richmond protesters.<\/p>\n But, then again, in California civic life, logic seems to be in very short supply these days.