How serious a crime should it take to get an illegal alien deported?
One of the occasional frustrations of being a police officer is having to sit idly by as the law is subordinated to transient political expediency. Here in Los Angeles, for example, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has made no secret of his sympathies for the cause of illegal aliens. Those sympathies are reflected in the management ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department — perhaps out of genuine conviction but far more likely out of careerism. Recall that when things went awry during an immigrants’-rights demonstration at L.A.’s MacArthur Park two years ago (discussed here, here, and here), one of the senior officers present, a white deputy chief, was demoted a few days later and replaced by a Latino. Recall also that for years the LAPD has been embroiled in a dispute over the application of the regulation known as Special Order 40, instituted in 1979, which governs how the department deals with criminal illegal aliens. Special Order 40 prohibits officers from taking action against person
