This is sneaky, but not unexpected. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has proposed letting illegals go free if they are nabbed via traffic stops. The specifics:
Immigration officers should not issue detainers against an alien charged only with a traffic-related misdemeanor unless or until the alien is convicted.
In other words, this is precisely the change open-borders activists have been trying to achieve. No more deportation for (sic) traffic stops.
But notice the havoc such a change would play with the routine enforcement of traffic laws by local law enforcement. Any illegal charged with a traffic-related misdemeanor would have zero incentive to come to court or participate in the system at all — lest it result in a conviction. A conviction which would then trigger ICE flags.
Ah-ha, you say, surely ignoring summons and court dates would get you in some kinda trouble, resulting in some kind of conviction. Not in Mecklenburg County. Think about it. We can’t even keep track of violent repeat offenders. Who is gonna go chase down the guy who refuses to come to court for an illegal U-turn?
This bring us to the fact that such a policy change dumps all the legwork and cost of dealing with illegals on the local law enforcement and legal systems. The cost of jailing an illegal on misdemeanor traffic charges would shift from the feds to the county. Of course, they would not be jailed until their third or fourth missed court date. Then what?
They make bond and are never seen again by the system.
