Defending Phoenix: Mayor Phil Gordon is Right to Crack Down on Illegal Immigrants

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon - a Democrat - is coming under fire from people in Phoenix, from within Arizona, and from across the country for ordering his police officers to check the legal status of criminals after they've committed a crime. But what's so wrong about that?

The story began on September 18^th, 2007 as Phoenix Police Officer Nick Erfle was shot in the face and killed by an illegal alien from Mexico. The Mexican national was apprehended for jay walking and obstructing traffic. Then, he gave the wrong "fake name" to police, one that had an outstanding arrest warrant.

After murdering Officer Erfle, the suspect then carjacked a vehicle, and took the female driver as a hostage. It took police an hour to track down and box in the suspect's vehicle. Once trapped, the suspect then pointed his weapon at the head of the hostage, at which point an officer opened fire and shot and killed the suspect.

It's terrible enough that criminals such as this, so heinous as to murder a an officer of the law, exist in the United States; but this one didn't have any right to be here. It was later discovered that the suspect has a felony record and was deported in 2006. He then crossed the border illegally to reenter the United States.

Being called into question is Phoenix Police Operation Order 1.4. The order, that Mayor Gordon said was "written for another time," calls for police to refrain from reporting Mexican nationals who are in this country illegally to either federal or state immigration officials if the crime committed was a misdemeanor and the criminal meets "cite and release" criteria, if the crime was a minor traffic violation, or if the only crime committed was a federal immigration violation.

Critics of the order have called it "catch and release" and that it is tantamount to "don't ask, don't tell," saying that the policy has made Phoenix a sanctuary city.

Mayor Gordon has ordered a four man panel consisting of two former US attorneys, a former Arizona state attorney general, and a former Maricopa County attorney to develop a new order that will more strongly enforce immigration law. The deadline given by the mayor is December 31^st.