Sanity Prevails, For a Moment....

...it's just too bad it took a triple-homicide to wake up New Jersey Democrats. Recently appointed State Attorney General Anne Milgram, after no doubt checking with her political patrons within the Party, took at least some semblence of action in order to limit New Jersey's wink-and-nod policy towards illegal immigrants:

State Attorney General Anne Milgram on Wednesday ordered all New Jersey law enforcement authorities to notify federal immigration officials whenever an illegal immigrant is arrested for an indictable offense or drunken driving.

Milgram said the need "to have a uniform state policy on notification to immigration" became evident after a recent triple homicide in Newark. Before the directive, "all police departments in our state had complete discretion as to if, when and how to notify immigration authorities," Milgram said.
The policy, which follows the Aug. 4 killings of three Newark college students in a schoolyard by six suspects, also specifies that prosecutors and courts be notified. The directive is effective immediately.

Someone ought to tell the national party leadership that if the Democrats are leading the "lock 'em up" cries in New Jersey, then something is truly amiss:

The fact that {murder suspect} Carranza was out on bail after being accused of committing serious felonies also enraged some, including state Sen. Shirley Turner, who on Wednesday urged bail restrictions for accused illegal immigrants

Under Turner's proposed law, illegal immigrants would be required to post a full cash bail if they are charged with committing a crime in New Jersey.
"When illegals commit crimes, they should be taken off our streets," said Turner, a Mercer County Democrat. "Full cash bail should crack down on the underground escape routes of illegals with nothing to lose."

Et tu, Cory Booker?

"I often see people back on our streets that I believe should not be back on our streets after they've committed serious crimes," Newark Mayor Cory Booker said. "I would be remiss if I wasn't calling for larger changes and larger reforms in the state of New Jersey and the United States."

But Milgram leaves plenty of loopholes to be exploited:

Her directive prohibits law enforcement officers from checking the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses or people seeking police assistance, saying such policies would discourage people from coming forward to report crime or to help authorities identify criminal suspects.
She also treaded lightly on a federal law allowing local police to be deputized as immigration agents. Milgram said the practice will be allowed in New Jersey, but deputized agents can only perform immigration status checks after someone is arrested for an indictable offense.

Victims, huh? So if an obvious illegal is injured in a bar fight, enforcement must turn their heads and avert their eyes ? OK, I know that crime victims really should be able to call police with no fear of repercussion, but can we at least allow some latitude here so that officers can use their own judgement?
And agents can only ask about immigration status after an arrest for a serious crime? A bit like locking up the barn door after the horse has fled, and all that, no?

But this is the best that can be expected in a place like Jersey; and perhaps more than one may have hoped for. Would liberals learn the follies of their ways quicker, before promising youths are slaughtered...

How does this Jersey Turnabout bode for the national party in the upcoming election season? They are aready conceding the Iraq policy back to the President; and it seems as if they are going to need to scramble if they want to be on the "right" side of the immigration debate as well.
If the Democratic Party winds up learning the hard way, as they did locally in New Jersey, they are going to have quite a bit of trouble holding on to their razor-slim majority in Washington...

UPDATE: Now if the people of New Jersey can only show some backbone on resisting some of the insanse gun-control measures that certain liberal governers are trying to impose upon law-abiding citizens...see here to read about Corzine's "holistic" (dear God!) gun control plan, and see here to get a firsthand look at what happens to societies that embrace the "gun-free" mantra...