Things are really getting tough for immigrants. Yesterday, I was in a local municipal court and was having some small talk with the prosecutor, whom I have known for many years. I was advised that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (commonly referred to as ICE) was planning to make random appearances in local municipal courts in hopes of making arrests. The intention is to approach individuals who have been issued unlicensed driver tickets and the like, and who appear to be immigrants.
While I am sensitive to all views on this subject, I am also cognizant of what is really going on here. The approach planned by ICE shall fail for many reasons. The reality is that once individuals catch on to the potential for an ICE arrest in municipal court, there will be a significant chilling effect on collection of fines and appearances in response to these types of summonses. The goal of saving the government money will, in my view, only be further frustrated when collection of fines decline. I think we need to draw the line here.