By DAVE JONESLos Alamos
I attended the Los Alamos County Council meeting Tuesday night to support President Trump’s temporary immigration ban and to oppose the proposed resolution relating to immigration.
Here are a few of my takeaway thoughts from that meeting:
Councilor Antonio Maggiore stated that, because the Council went beyond their purview many times and have gotten away with it, they could continue doing so. That’s not my opinion. What that tells me is that we need to watch the Council more closely and prevent them from going beyond their purview in the first place.
Councilor Pete Sheehey continued to stress that his motivation in authoring the resolution is to follow the Constitution. The Constitution doesn’t address how we interact with foreign nationals wanting to immigrate to the USA. It sets a foundation for how our country functions and addresses how US citizens and legal immigrants are treated.
Any Councilor has the right, under the constitution, to have a voice in the functioning of the country, just like I do. It however doesn’t give the council, as a county government function, the right to make partisan political statements on the community’s or my behalf.
I’m certainly in favor of immigration and I’m respectful and appreciative of immigrants. That said, a person who wants to come to the USA is NOT an immigrant until they receive authorization and enter the USA. Until they come to the USA, they are foreign nationals and if they enter the USA without authorization, they are illegal immigrants.
Foreign nationals and illegal immigrants have no Constitutional protection whatsoever.
It’s also fact that President Trump’s ban is in accordance with existing law and the Constitution. The Supreme Court said in 1950 “The exclusion of aliens is a fundamental act of sovereignty … inherent in the executive power”. And lest there be doubt, Congress adopted a provision in 1952 saying the president “may by proclamation and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens and any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants” whenever he thinks it “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
Up to this point, regarding Los Alamos Councilors, I have based my votes on my impression of the person, not party affiliation. If the Council is going to play partisan politics while purporting to represent me, as witnessed Tuesday night, I will need to rethink my approach.
