Greetings, Race 4 2008! I bring you on this day news from the People’s Republic of Massachusetts – that our current Governor, he of the perfect hair and teeth, and erstwhile candidate for the 2008 GOP Presidential nomination has decided he’s had enough of illegal aliens (I’m still allowed to call them that, right?) running amok in the Commonwealth:

Governor Mitt Romney is seeking an agreement with federal authorities that would allow Massachusetts state troopers to arrest undocumented immigrants for being in the country illegally.

Oh, please do read on…

It is widely known that state officials are essentially powerless to do anything about the sizeable number of criminal trespassers in our midst. Well, it would appear that Gov. Romney would like to change that:

Under the agreement Romney is seeking, troopers would have greatly expanded powers: They could check an immigrant’s legal status during routine patrols such as during a traffic stop and decide whether the immigrant should be held.

“It’s one more thing you can do to make this a less attractive place for illegal aliens to come to work,” Romney said.

Indeed. Well, it cannot be said that Romney is hiding from one of the major hot button issues of the day – and the one issue I happen to believe has the potential to blow-apart both major-party coalitions in what could be a very, very messy realignment. That said, this is not exactly “new trail” material:

If the proposal is approved, Massachusetts would join a handful of states and localities that have entered into such pacts since they were first authorized in 1996. That list includes Florida, Alabama, and a few counties in California and North Carolina, where a limited number of officers have been trained to enforce immigration laws.

But what is the likelihood that the General Court of the Commonwealth (that would be the legislature, by the way) – with 6-of-7 seats in the control of Democrats, most of them raving, moonbat leftists (but I repeat myself) – would sign-off on something like this:

The agreement would not require legislative approval, said (Romney spokesman Eric) Fehrnstrom.

Well thank Heaven for small favors, I suppose. OK, so even if we get past that hurdle, how will the Kennedy-voter-on-the-street take it?

The arrangement is likely to be controversial in Massachusetts, where Cambridge, for example, has passed a resolution declaring itself a sanctuary for immigrants, and moves are underway in other cities to follow that example.

Behold! Planet Cambridge – the People’s Republic of the People’s Republic. Glad to see them leading the way on this.

Unsurprisingly, the Usual Suspects?? are less than pleased:

Immigrant and civil rights advocates derided the plan yesterday, saying that turning troopers into immigration enforcement agents would lead to racial profiling and have a chilling effect on immigrants who might otherwise report crimes.

“This will overwhelm the State Police force, it will hinder real law enforcement, real community law enforcement, and it clearly will lead to racial and ethnic profiling,” said Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. “That’s not effective law enforcement, or effective immigration policy.”

Oh, come now Ms. Rose. You and your organization have spent considerable money and effort precisely to “overwhelm” police forces and other law enforcement agencies across the country. Further, your organization’s record demonstrates that you don’t care a whit about either “effective law enforcement” or “effective immigration policy”, so forgive me if I call “BS” on your entire statement.

BTW, in case you’re wondering – you ACLU stooge – when dealing with the finding of criminal illegal alien trespassers, “effective law enforcement” is precisely the same as “racial and ethnic profiling”. So thanks so much for demonstrating precisely how clueless you are in one neat, clean, easy to digest morsel.

Not satisfied demonstrating their utter cluelessness in this area however, Ms. Rose and other “advocates” for the felons decided to trot-out the canard about how enforcement of our immigration laws undermines the “trust” these same felons have that they can report crimes without fear of deportation. Boo. Hoo.

Happily, Romney’s flak was buying precisely none of it:

“It’s not a very effective argument to say that people who are in the country illegally will be less likely to report crime if they themselves are arrested,” he said. “If we applied that principle across the board, we wouldn’t arrest anybody for anything for fear it would deter crime reporting.”

Stay tuned. This could get interesting.