It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know

Jose Antonio Vargas, the writer and activist who went public last year with his status as an undocumented immigrant, was arrested for a driving infraction in Minnesota on Friday, but federal immigration authorities did not detain him or take any other action, officials said Saturday.

Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter who revealed his status in The New York Times Magazine and touched off a debate in the journalistic community, was initially pulled over by a state trooper for driving while wearing head phones, Eric Roeske, public information officer for the Minnesota state patrol, told POLITICO.

“He did produce a Washington driver’s license” after being pulled over, Roeske said. “When the trooper ran the license, it showed the status [of the license] was canceled. It also indicated there may have been fraudulent activity associated with the license. That’s why [it might have been] canceled. That triggered the trooper to look into that further and contact ICE (U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement).”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82109.html

 

We need to send the illegal immigrant latino back to where he comes from.

 

So he's driving while impaired,(studies have shown what he was doing is as dangerous as a drunk driver), he has a phoney drivers license and there is a high probability that he has engaged in obtaining that license in a criminal fashion. Oh, and he's here illegally. I do this and I'm going to jail. This guy walks. And somehow people are suprised by my contempt for this criminally negligent government we have.

 

I'm not surprised by your contempt. I share it. I'm surprised that it just doesn't seem to matter to so many. The double standards in this country are beyond count.

 

Could not have put it better.

 

While I agree with what you are saying, I didn't copy the entire story. It seems he did go to jail and bailed out the same day. I'm not sure what charges they brought. It's just that the INS had no interest in holding him or deporting him.

 

If you're a middle class white guy with a clean record you would be surprised at what you could do and not go to jail.

 

Please...do tell.

 

I'll give some credit to the locals for doing something, but if the INS has no interest in detaining and deporting illegals there is no reason for the agency to exist. Scrap it and save some money. Kind of like the SEC...what's the point?

 

I'll go for that. Just mine a 50 yard wide swath along the border and get rid of the INS or ICE, what ever they call it these days. That's all we need.