LAPD Union Sues City Over New, Lax Tow Policy Aimed at Letting Undocumented Keep Their Cars

Burkey Devitt

update 5.4.12.Attorney General says impound rule doesn't conflict with state law..

Poorrichard

They. Are. ILLEGAL. Aliens. They are not supposed to be here. They have NO rights.

Vivich

they do have rights my friend, as persons. I still dont agree with this LAPD bullshit though. Beck has become a politician, in the same line as the infamous mayor of LA

SZwartz

Again, passions overrule reason and law. Of course they have rights.

Please take the time to educate yourself. If you are so proud to be an American, then avail yourself of the American opportunity to become educated rather than spewing forth ignorance.

bigriggs

Yes, they have rights. They have the rights of the country they came from. Human rights? Of course, however, they should not benefit in any way from the rights all Americans are guarenteed.

European American

What part of illegal alien do you not understand? To be here illegally is against the law; Enforce the law, arrest, deport, or send to prision!!!!

Burkey Devitt

Yeah, so get mad at the employers for hiring them. And then you can get mad at the corporations who have shipped all our manufacturing jobs overseas so that anyone in this country who wants to compete has to employ slave labor.

Your outrage is misplaced. Besides, the census says illegal immigrants have stopped coming from Mexico. They are coming from Asia now. Net immigration from Mexico is at zero.

proxicon

Why do illegal aliens get treated better than our own citizens?

Burkey Devitt

This applies to everyone, not just illegal immigrants.

SZwartz

They do not get better treatment

ralphie44

because this is The Joo World Order, and thats how they want it, keeps us week, and them on top.Same as always. This is the core problem. The illegals are the weapon of the enemy, not the actual enemy.

big.casino

Sure, give them their cars back in 24 hoursBut LA should rent space in an impound lot in mexico for the cars impoundedThat way they will have to go back and hopefully not get back in

Burkey Devitt

As many people went back to Mexico from the US as entered last year. People are going back because the economy sucks here.

Mexico is starting to sound really good to me. Beautiful people, west coast beaches, and fewer jackasses like you.

big.casino

Then go there asso. Go to an area where they find 20-30 people at a time decapitated by these beautiful peopleWhat are you waiting for?

4teepee

Adopt Mexico's tough immigration laws. Immigrant rights hypocrites never demonstrate against them.

dirtydog1776

This country was founded on the principal of equality before the law. Obama and his minions have perverted the law so some people are "more equal" than others. Time for a Revolution?

SZwartz

Your passions have suffused your reasoning ability

Robert Cole

Why don't they just get rid of the illegal aliens and solve the problem entirely?

Burkey Devitt

Hate's fun, huh.

Reading these comments is making me want a really nice hot shower with a hard scrubbing loofah.

Personally I am thrilled to be living in L.A. where there are people of all nationalities. I once lived in a small town where everyone was white and anyone who was different was looked upon suspiciously.

I love our Latin American brothers and sisters, they are handsome, hard working family and God-loving people. In fact when I see comments like this it makes me like them more. Small minded crackers on the other hand, sure would be nice to have a few less of those around.

big.casino

There are a hardly any small minded crackers in mexico jurkey, get the helll out!

SZwartz

Could you be a little more simplistic in your thinking?

bigriggs

Good for the union.

SZwartz

This situation is more complex legally than it appears and if we had a competent City Attorney, we might be able to resolve this dispute in a more mature manner. Leaving aside the politics of the situation, there is a thorny legal issue -- I do not know which way the court's will eventually rule.

There is another statute which forbids issuing licenses to undocumented persons without regard to how well they may drive. Thus, undocumented people do not have licenses because the government makes it legally impossible for them to obtain a license. The prohibition bears zero relationship to their ability to drive.

Thus, the undocumented persons have the defense of impossibility. The statute is unenforceable against them since they are prohibited from obtaining driver licenses without regard to driving ability.

The sensible approach would be to change the law which forbids issuing licenses to competent drivers. Then everyone in the State would receive Due Process and not be singled out for discriminatory treatment.

If California enacted safety laws in order to ensure the public safety, then we would not deprive safe drivers of driver licenses. However, the anti-Mexican zeal in the State is so great, many people prefer abusing the legal system in order to harm the less fortunate. Changing the discriminatory law would take leadership; a missing quality in Los Angeles.

Rocco

Undocumented makes them illegal. They should not be allowed to drive, simply because the are here illegally. I will never understand a liberals mentality.

SZwartz

One thing which research studies have revealed is that Liberals are better at understanding other people's points of view than people who identify themselves as Conservative. My comment, however, was neither Liberal nor Conservative. It was a legal analysis of the situation. In fact, there is nothing Liberal or Conservative about the position that we are a nation of laws and not the whims and prejudices of the few or even of the many.

From your comment, I see that you are ignoring some legal principles.

(1) There are two type of criminal statutes -- malum per se (which means that the behavior is inherently bad, e.g. murder, theft, battery) and malum prohibitum (which means that the behavior is not inherently bad but is illegal solely because there is a law). Being an undocumented alien is a malum prohibitum and hence carries no moral taint. Thus, it is unduly simplistic to lump malum per se violators with malum prohibitum violators. This distinction has very deep roots in our legal system and should not be ignored.

(2) Defense of Impossibility. I described this defense in my prior comment.

The state has unwisely set up an unfortunate situation where it makes it legally impossible for certain persons to comply with the law. Thus, it is possible that the LAPD's holding the cars for 30 days for persons who simply have no license but have no other negative factor except being undocumented will be found unenforceable.

On the other hand, the court may decide that the undocumented person should make the decision not drive and if she or he does, then they suffer the consequences.

As a matter of public policy, however, imposing foolish laws often harms individuals and society as a whole. The better public policy decision would be for the legislature to repeal that portion of the law that prevents undocumented people from obtaining drivers' licenses. That way they would have to have minimum driving skills before driving and could obtain insurance, and we would have a good way to separate the bad drivers from the good.

Increasing road safety does not strike me as a Liberal or Conservative position.

big.casino

Then let them be dangerous drivers in mexico dum bass

Burkey Devitt

In the real world, what will really happen if they cannot be licensed is that they will drive anyway. That is what experience teaches, that's the history of the thing. They are going to drive regardless because public transit sucks here.

Better get them taught and licensed.Otherwise, there are dangerous drivers on the road who do not know the rules of our roads.

Burkey Devitt

i love you.

Hollywood Dodger Mark

You are an ahole.

SZwartz

You are mixing apples and oranges. Public Policy strongly favors public safety statutes place the public safety first and not make public safety statutes mix in other irrelevant objectives.

The courts can make Public Policy determinations or they can defer to the legislature. It is difficult to justify making the roads more dangerous for citizens and legal aliens in order to harm undocumented persons.

It is regrettable that you do not understand the complexities of the legal system and you prefer to abuse it in order to satisfy your passions.

There is also the possible issue of preemption by federal law, but that approach does not strike me as especially strong. The wisest approach is to tailor public safety laws to protect the public from bad drivers and to address undocumented persons via the immigrant laws.

John Smith

Convoluted answer with thrown in legal terms, good job.

"The sensible approach would be to change the law which forbids issuing licenses to competent drivers. Then everyone in the State would receive Due Process and not be singled out for discriminatory treatment. "No, the sensible approach is to impound then auction the car. Use the proceeds to deport the illegal back to their country of origin.

Their status as illegal aliens makes it impossible for them to operate in our society legally, so we should change the laws allowing illegal aliens to operate within the law? Thats your answer???That move makes their status as illegal alien meaningless. Your rationing is idiotic and tantamount to removing the immigration process completely. If an illegal is stopped by a cop or comes in to get a license, they should be detained and deported.