A “DANGEROUS SITUATION FOR PUBLIC SAFETY”
by Sharon Rondeau
(Dec. 6, 2015) — The lead ACLU attorney in the case of Melendres, et al v. Arpaio, et al, which has urged a federal judge to pursue criminal charges against Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joseph M. Arpaio stemming from the civil suit is the same attorney who represents a refugee resettlement agency which the state of Texas named in a recent lawsuit over the admission of refugees there.
Cecillia Wang, along with plaintiffs’ attorneys from the law firm Covington & Burling and MALDEF, represents Latinos who claimed that Arpaio racially profiled them while conducting immigration patrols and traffic stops. Melendres was filed nearly eight years ago, and recent civil contempt hearings against Arpaio, four of his deputies, and Maricopa County concluded on November 20.
Wang’s biography states that she “has nearly twenty years of experience as a civil rights and criminal defense lawyer. She is a nationally recognized expert on issues at the intersection of immigration and criminal law, including state anti-immigrant laws, racial profiling and other unlawful police practices relating to immigration enforcement.” Melendres is listed as one of her “notable” court victories.
Wang is the primary supplier of information to Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times, which reported on June 4, 2014 that Arpaio was using confidential informant Dennis Montgomery to “investigate” an alleged connection between Melendres judge G. Murray Snow and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Arpaio, the four deputies and an uncompensated former police officer, Mike Zullo, assigned to assist with Montgomery’s work for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) recently testified that at no time was Snow under investigation.
On her Twitter feed on Wednesday, Wang wrote that Texas “has withdrawn its TRO application” and that the state’s lawsuit against the federal government was “illegal.”
“TRO” stands for “temporary restraining order,” which Texas had sought because of the limited information it said the government and resettlement agency had provided on Syrian refugees scheduled to be settled within the state.
In the underlying lawsuit, Texas’s Health and Human Services Department sued Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Health and Human Services Director Sylvia Burwell, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), among other defendants, in order to stop Syrian refugee resettlement in the immediate future.
Despite the withdrawal of the TRO, the lawsuit is still active, according to Breitbart News.
On November 24, Wang warned that she and others would “hold to account” any governor who refused to “do the right thing” in regard to accepting Syrian refugees in the wake of an Islamic terror attack in Paris, France on November 13 in which at least one such “refugee” had carried out acts of terror culminating in the deaths of 130 and injured “hundreds.”
Some believe that the Obama regime is responsible for the millions of displaced Syrians resulting from the civil war which began with the Arab Spring of early 2011.
Obama has insisted that the U.S. will accept the “refugees” despite the FBI’s declaration that none can be exhaustively vetted for ties to terrorism. Both Obama and Wang have referred to immigrants as “Americans.” “Our proud tradition of continually welcoming immigrants and refugees from around the world is part of what makes America exceptional. It’s what makes us dynamic and entrepreneurial. We’re a group of people bound together by the power of a simple idea – that everyone willing to work hard and play by the rules is welcome,” Obama announced the day after he declared by “executive action” a change in immigration law without an act of Congress.
The U.S. Census Bureau counts all persons present in the country, regardless of immigration status, for purposes of redistricting in the U.S. House of Representatives, whose number is capped by federal law at 435.
The ACLU claims that governors do not have the constitutional authority to bar refugees based on their country of origin. Houston has been chosen as the destination for many Syrian refugees since January.
On November 18, a family of three originally destined for Indiana was instead sent to Connecticut after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence joined at least 25 other governors in declaring a moratorium on Syrian refugees within their borders until the federal government could assure that they have been fully vetted. The father of the family was quoted by The Washington Post as having said of Pence, “Maybe the governor is going to reflect and find in himself that he had made a mistake and come back and see the light.”
When Texas withdrew its TRO on Thursday, Wang was quoted as having commented, “I think that it’s the first sign that Texas is beginning to see the light.”
Wang often tweets the hashtag “#refugeeswelcome.”
On November 19, eight Syrians termed “refugees” attempted to enter Texas illegally.
During the 2008 presidential election, Obama was declared “an immigrant” by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. His long-form birth certificate indicating that he was born in Hawaii has been found to be a forgery by a criminal investigation led by Zullo.
A high-ranking ACLU representative, Vanita Gupta, became Acting Assistant Attorney General under Eric Holder before he left government service last year to work for Covington & Burling.
Some Somali immigrants have been found to be perpetrators of radical Islamic terrorism.
On December 1, a married Muslim couple carried out a terrorist attack on a gathering of county employees in San Bernardino, CA, killing 14 and injuring 21.
According to the FBI, members of the barbaric Islamic group ISIS, to which last week’s female terrorist had reportedly pledged allegiance, is present in all 50 states. In February, three New York City residents were charged with planning terrorist attacks within the U.S., including against Obama.
In 2012, Wang participated in litigation against Arizona’s SB1070, which enabled local law enforcement to “ARREST A PERSON IF THE OFFICER HAS PROBABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE THAT THE PERSON HAS COMMITTED ANY PUBLIC OFFENSE THAT MAKES THE PERSON REMOVABLE FROM THE UNITED STATES,” among other actions. In June of that year, the U.S. Supreme Court nullified three of four major provisions of the law.
In its lawsuit against the federal government, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote, in part:
On Sunday evening, Obama told the American public that he is committed to “destroying ISIL,” another name for ISIS.
Approximately a year following the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reported that “Middle Easterners are one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in America. While the size of the overall immigrant population (legal and illegal) has tripled since 1970, the number of immigrants from the Middle East has grown more than seven-fold, from fewer than 200,000 in 1970 to nearly 1.5 million in 2000.”
According to a report from September of last year, “the number of immigrants in the United States jumped 3 percent in three years — to a record 41.3 million in 2013 — and that the nearly 300,000 who came from Muslim countries pose a major national security threat.”
Obama plans to bring at least 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. over the next fiscal year.
On behalf of the ACLU, Wang has sued Utah over an immigration bill similar to Arizona’s SB 1070.
Following the murder of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier in July, Wang claimed that “the media frenzy that’s been driven by false information has really led to an unfortunate and dangerous situation for public safety.”