Virginia policeman will not be allowed to arrest illegal aliens for immigration violations. In light of the September 11th attacks being pulled off by illegals with Virginia driver's licenses, you would think the state would do all that they can to address the issue. Instead, they are bowing to Big Immigrant.

The Virginia State Police have backed off a plan that would have allowed some officers to make immigration arrests, a prospect that had been fiercely opposed by immigrant rights advocates.

The state police chief, Col. Steve Flaherty, said last week that his department has decided against proceeding with an agreement with federal authorities that would have made Virginia the third state in the nation to adopt such a practice.

Watch out for the newspeak. When they say "immigrant" they really mean "illegal alien". There was never a plan for police to go out and round up legal immigrants. We are only talking about people who have already violated federal immigration law.

You never see police bowing to any other pressure groups. They don't refuse to arrest drug users because of hurting the feelings of drug legalization activists. It's interesting that they would choose selective enforcement for political reasons. Especially considering most of America supports cracking down on illegal aliens. It also makes me wonder just why the State Police is worried about their political image. Is the Governor or General Assembly behind this?

While state police were negotiating their agreement last year with Homeland Security officials, the Virginia legislature passed a bill giving local and state police slightly more power to enforce immigration law.

Immigrants panicked, despite the fact that the Virginia law was very narrowly drawn. It allowed police to arrest only convicted felons who had re-entered the country illegally after being deported.

So it only applied to convicted felons, and still they balked at enforcing the law. This is essentially a two-fer, catering to advocacy groups representing both felons and illegal aliens.

Police claim that crime victims and witnesses will be afraid to come forward out of fear of being arrested on immigration violations. Meanwhile the Salvadoran gang, MS-13, continues to plague the community. (And still people ask me why I carry a gun.)