Policemen Who Want To Be Cop, Judge, and Jury
In American society civilians decide whether we are going to go to war or not, and the military's job is to do their best to enforce the decisions made by their civilian supervisors. In many countries the military tells the civilian lawmakers and elected officials how its going to be; not so in America. Here we feel that it is improper for the military to even publicly comment about laws, rules, or wars that they don't like. The military is not given the authority to only follow those orders or directives that they like, and ignore those orders which they do not care for.
Rule-of-law means that the law is enforced the same for a poor, uneducated Mexican woman as it is for the male, white, Mayor of the city. The policemen are not given the authority to let their friends or the rich and powerful violate society's laws without any consequence. They also are not allowed to single out some particular group, subjecting them to stronger enforcement of the laws – like Jews, Blacks, or Mexicans; while allowing white, redneck, Christians to openly lynch people.
The police are not allowed to permit the rich and powerful to openly smoke pot and snort cocaine, all the while arresting poor brown skinned people for possessing one joint of marijuana. Allowing the law enforcement officer to make these decisions is an open encouragement to bribery and other forms of corruption of the legal system.
The above is a lead in to talking about enforcement of laws relating to immigration.
It is improper for policemen or Border Patrol agents to meet with members of the news media to try and influence which laws will be enforced and which laws will be ignored. It is completely understandable that cops or sheriff's deputies have opinions. In many cases their ideas are based upon personal experience and sound judgment; in others their opinions are ignorant or racist. It is simply their job as law enforcement agents to enforce society's laws as impartially as possible.
Except for those countries undergoing a total breakdown like Somalia, all countries have laws, rules, and regulations which are intended to control who may enter the country, who may work in the country, and who is granted the honor of citizenship. The U.S.A. allows more legal in-migration than any other country. Like all civilized countries the U.S.A. has the obligation to protect the country and it's citizens by prohibiting certain types of people from coming in to the country, and encouraging others to move to America and even eventually gain citizenship status.
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Like in almost all countries, America has long standing laws which require non-citizens to always carry proper identification and proof of citizenship. In many cases this means a passport along with entry visas. When one is driving a motor vehicle it is also the law of the land that one carry proper identification including a driver's license and proof of valid liability insurance.
If the police pull someone over because they are speeding, they have failed to stop at a red light, or because their car does not have valid license plates or an up-to-date safety sticker, the cops are expected to insist that the driver show them a driver's license and insurance card. If in doing so the cops notice an open bottle of whiskey between the driver's legs it is not within their authority to ignore this fact. The same would apply if they notice a handgun being openly displayed sitting on the seat. Same if the policeman obviously smelled the pungent odor of burning marijuana.
So if a traffic cop pulls someone over because they notice that his safety sticker or registration has expired, and then the driver who cannot speak English is unable to produce a valid driver's license or proof of insurance, the same logic would apply. It would be sound judgment on the part of the cop to suspect that perhaps this person has entered the country without being granted proper permission from the American Government. This is commonly called being in the country illegally or being an undocumented alien. We would be very shocked if the policeman were to accept a wad of $100 bills so as to just ignore the violation, and we should also be shocked if the policeman makes an on-the-spot decision to behave as judge and jury by simply letting the person off with no consequences.
When all of society begins openly violating any rule, regulation, or law that they personally don't like it leads to a complete breakdown of civilized society. Witness Somalia or our neighbor just to the south. Mexico has long scoffed at rule-of-law, and now they are paying the price big time.
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