Saturday, August 23, 2003

Here's a plan
Over at quepasa.com (headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona) Rocio Ayuso amuses with Hispanics blast impounding of vehicles in L.A.:
Los Angeles, U.S., August 22, 2003 (EFE).- Hispanics in the South L.A. municipality of Maywood are angry at what they say is a discriminatory campaign in which police are stopping Latinos and impounding the vehicles of those without a driver's license.

"We're not talking about agents of law and order but of official corruption, as though this were Latin America," an irate Felipe Aguirre of the Comite Pro Uno, an activist group organizing protests against the practice, told EFE.
If irate Felipe were more acquainted with the USA, he would know that impounding the cars of unlicensed drivers is the standard practice in most places for obvious reasons. Wait, maybe he does get it:
Although the underlying reason for the regulation is road safety, the Comite Pro Uno, supported by the nationwide League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, allege the manner of enforcement in Maywood has made it a new form of racial discrimination.

"They're taking it out on the immigrant community," said Aguirre, after pointing out that the number of vehicles impounded in the community exceeded the total for the rest of the state of California.
Of course, it could be that the town is overrun by unlicensed immigrant drivers. But Felipe, why don't the immigrants just get licenses?
The vast majority of undocumented immigrants do not have a driver's license, because documentation is required in order to obtain one.
Ah, those kind of "immigrants" - the illegal alien kind. And here's another puzzle:
Maywood is "99.9 percent Hispanic," as attested by the fact that even the council members are Latino, but the traffic cops are "all white," Aguirre said.

The activist alleges, however, that the problem is not only another instance of racial discrimination.

According to Aguirre, the massive impounding of vehicles in the Hispanic community is aimed at fattening the municipal coffers with easy money obtained from the most needy, whose cars are usually worth less than the fines that must be paid to get them back.
So according to Felipe, the Latino city council is using racist white cops to fatten the town coffers. What a tearjerker! And I bet they are claiming they are just trying to keep a horde of unlicensed drivers out of town, eh Felipe?

If I can stop sniffling long enough, I'd like to make a suggestion. The illegal aliens wouldn't face such an awful quandary if they'd just head back across the border. Why don't they go home and stop breaking the law in the USA? Problem solved. Of course, Felipe would then miss out on his 15 minutes of fame.