Fresh on the heels of Cobb County, GA starting standard immigration database checks of those in custody, it was reported today that the Sheriff of Forsyth County, GA is applying to join the federal program as well.
According to WDUN:
Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton announced Tuesday that he has applied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to begin enforcement of immigration statutes.
That means Forsyth County deputies will soon be trained to perform immigration-related duties of suspected illegal aliens who are arrested and brought into the Forsyth County jail.
“The time has come where the Sheriff’s Office has got to be more proactive in addressing the issue of crimes being committed in our county by illegal aliens,” Sheriff Paxton said. “The Immigration and Nationality Act give us the authority to do just that,” he added.
Paxton added, “While immigration enforcement is primarily a federal issue, when illegal aliens commit crimes in our county then the issue becomes local and calls for swift, local response on our part. That is what is provided for in Section 287(g).”
Selected deputies will be trained by ICE and given the resources to determine if someone brought into the Forsyth County jail is in the country illegally. If the person is in the country illegally, the deputies will initiate the paperwork to start the deportation process. All of this is done under the supervision of an ICE agent. However, arrestees must serve their sentences before deportation occurs.
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office joins a handful of other agencies across Georgia, and the nation, who are using the Immigration Act on a local basis.
Over the weekend, I happened to see the Reuters “report”: Post 9/11, Islam flourishes among blacks. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to say about it, but I am very happy to see that Independent Conservative is already all over the case. The article, without actually having any hard statistics to back it, also kept referring vaguely to some sympathy between black Americans and Muslims because of reactions to radical terrorist acts. And that there is some connection because of government conspiracy. From the article:
They (the government) unplug black people and plug in Arabs or Muslims. They unplug Arabs and plug in communists. America needs war to maintain its economic status,” [cleric Nadim Ali] said.
Interestingly, the article also says that it not really about integrating with the existing religious community:
Black Americans typically attend mosques separate from Muslims from immigrant backgrounds despite sharing common beliefs, according to Aminah McCloud, religious studies professor at DePaul University in Chicago.
That makes me wonder whether or not this is about the attractiveness of the religion in any way, or simply a banner under which to recruit followers of the particular “clerics”. Of course, there’s no way to really leap to any conclusion, I’m sure that you could study the racial profiles of many Christian churches and make similar statements, much of which goes to reflect the racial makeup of the communities in which they are established.
But the report ended with the money quote:
For young African Americans, there is some attraction to learning about traditions that have been associated with resistance to European imperialism,” said [new convert Mark] King, who has adopted the name Bilal Mansa since his conversion.
Connecting religion with race is a very curious, and disturbing thinking. As Independent Conservative puts it bluntly:
Well unlike how things are done in Christianity, Muslims have no problem playing on race and it appears Blacks who enjoy having their ears and egos tickled and playing on Black versus White or African versus European are eating up the foul meat from the cult of Muhammad.
But please, go read the whole thing.
