Somerville News Coverage of MS-13 Arrest

[cemeterygates.livejournal.com]

I think that the Somerville News piece about the recent MS-13 arrest did an unusually good job depicting the grey area of morality that is so often ignored by the media in their coverage of criminals. I know that such an opinion is commonly viewed by the masses as bleeding-heart, or liberal-guilt, or what have you, but I can honestly say I am proud to be part of a community that recognizes the human side of all people, and I feel this article is an excellent example of that. I do not know specifically what actions Morales was responsible for as a gangster, and I do not question that MS-13 is a very powerful and dangerous entity; but because of this article perhaps a few more people also reflect on the fact that no-one is only a thug.

I would welcome your thoughts.

Comments

[julishka.livejournal.com]

if he was guilty of a federal crime, the feds have every right to "barge into our city" and arrest him. different jurisdictions, different law enforcement people. they're not required to talk to the police regarding an ongoing case pre or post 9/11. there's always been that divide.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

I still don't understand why they felt the need to check everyone else's immigration status. Was there some evidence that there were illegal aliens working for that company?

[cemeterygates.livejournal.com]

My guess is they were speaking the wrong language in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

Don't forget that they were probably also the wrong color.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

from what i can tell on the INS (or whatever it's called now) employer info pages regarding I-9 status of ee's, they give 3 days notice to inspect employer's have complied wrt documentation of eligibility to work. couldn't find anything else about say, if they just happen to be there and want to inspect. that part does sound crappy to me.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

"Was there some evidence that there were illegal aliens working for that company?"

Do you mean aside from the fellow who was being arrested? This is what we call Probable Cause. It's why, for instance, having an open container of alcoholic beverage in your motor vehicle is grounds for a sobriety test. While it is not direct evidence that you have been consuming said beverage and then operating your vehicle under the influence thereof, the one follows from the other.

Now I'll certainly admit that I'm not familiar with the statistics of these things, but it seems that if an employer has hired one individual who has entered the country illegally, the employment policies that they have in place are more likely to be lax enough to be exploitable by other individuals who seek employment under other false pretenses.

This is admittedly a naive line of reasoning, because I'm not familiar with the statistics of such things. But the inverse line of reasoning - holding that simply because there is one illegally-employed individual, doesn't suggest that there is probable cause to believe that there are more - is just as naive, without the appropriate data.

It is not unreasonable to operate from the premise that the law enforcement agency involved with this operation A) keeps records of their arrests and B) collates these records to generate statistics from which they can develop policies and SOPs. It is also reasonable to believe that checking the employment status of the other employees was within the scope of these policies.