California is DOOMED! Another American Traitor, pat torliatt supports illegal aliens and their criminal activities

Petaluma Mayor and south county supervisorial candidate Pam Torliatt says she supports efforts to make Sonoma County a “sanctuary county” for illegal immigrants.

That designation would prohibit the sheriff's department and other county departments and employees from cooperating with federal immigration officers in the investigation, detention, or deportation of otherwise law-abiding undocumented residents.

Torliatt said this week that she supported such a policy, calling current enforcement of immigration law “a troublesome issue.”

“We need to make sure we're providing a safe place for all of us to live,” she said in an interview Thursday. “A large part of our economy in Sonoma County depends on undocumented workers. The wine industry, the dairy industry ... And having an underground economy is not necessarily good for us. I would rather have everyone paying into the system.”

Petaluma City Council member David Rabbitt, who is running against Torliatt for the 2nd district supervisor's seat, said making Sonoma County a sanctuary county — and withdrawing the county support for federal law enforcement on immigration cases — would present too many legal and financial problems.

“I don't think it would do much good,” he said, “and it's not fair to those (immigrants) who come here legally.”

The candidates were asked their stance on the issue Saturday at the Latino Community Conference held at Santa Rosa Junior College's Petaluma campus.

Torliatt gave a one-word answer to the question of whether she'd support a “sanctuary” policy — “Yes,” she said — while Rabbitt said he explained his concerns about the consequences of such a shift

More than two dozen California cities, including San Francisco, and nearly 20 others across the country have established policies that either prevent local authorities from enforcing immigration law or bar cooperation with federal authorities.

Most make exceptions in the case of illegal immigrants convicted of serious felonies and individuals suspected of involvement in human trafficking.

Earlier this year, the county's appointed Human Rights Commission adopted a draft resolution promoting a sanctuary policy out of concern that current immigration policies “have engendered in that (immigrant) community a fear of, and alienation from law enforcement, County authorities, and the greater community.”

The commission held off in presenting the resolution to the Board of Supervisors, however, after receiving input from the sheriff and other county officials. Chairwoman Judy Rice said the commission is gathering statistics on local law enforcement contacts with Latino residents and looking into reports, including a county Grand Jury investigation, of alleged mistreatment of immigrants by the sheriff's department.

Sheriff Bill Cogbill could not be reached Friday for comment on the issue.

Supervisors Shirlee Zane and Valerie Brown said they were unhappy with current federal immigration policy.

Zane said she is opposed to using local law enforcement to help detain and deport illegal immigrants who haven't committed a serious crime or been suspected of one. She wouldn't say whether she supported enacting a policy along those lines, saying “I would have to look at what that means.”

Brown, the board chairwoman, expressed concern about the potential impact of a sanctuary policy on the sheriff's department operations.

“We have undocumented people in this county. You can't sidestep that,” she said. “But you've got to give law enforcement the ability to deal with it.”

Supervisor Efren Carrillo and Supervisor-elect Mike McGuire could not be reached Friday.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20101008/ARTICLES/101009455/1033