Governator considers releasing illegals from prison

In case you haven't noticed, things are getting ugly in California. In fact, things are so bad in the cash-strapped state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is even floating the idea of saving money by simply releasing all of the illegal immigrants currently serving time in the state's prisons into the custody of the U.S. Immigration services so they can be deported.

California routinely turns over illegal immigrants to the federal authorities for deportation, but only after their prison sentences have been fully served. If put into practice, this idea would inundate a federal system that's already struggling under the weight of millions of illegals with thousands more - all of them hardened criminals. And all to save the bungling California state budget $180 million (which seems like chump change by Obama stimulus package standards).

As you know, when it comes to the illegal immigration issue in this country, I'd be the first one to hold open the door back into Mexico - and also the one to double and triple check the locks after the last "undocumented alien" was back on the right side of the border.

But I'll be honest: this idea gives me the willies.

Think about it: when was the last time you heard about a federal agency handling any aspect of the immigration issue with cool efficiency. Heck, even the illegals who aren't criminals (keeping in mind the fact that all illegal immigrants are, by definition, criminals) would be thinking of trying to escape the feds and wriggle their way back into the general population. Imagine the havoc (and danger) that could be wrought when the more than 19,000 convicts currently held in California prisons are trying to hoof it!

Incredibly, there is some degree of common sense being employed by the usually loony California government when it comes to this plan. For example, the convicts who are serving time for sex crimes or violent offenses would not be eligible for release. However, immigrants who committed their crimes while in the U.S. legally would still be turned over for deportation (their convictions would have nullified their "legal" status).

This entire fiasco gives you a good snapshot of the incredibly desperate financial straits in which California currently finds itself. In the grand scheme of things, the $180 million savings wouldn't even come close to making a dent in the state's budget woes. How bad is it? Before proposing that immigrants be cut loose from prisons, Schwarzenegger actually floated the idea of cutting funding for poor children's health care. In political terms, that's Armageddon.

If you ask me, there's an air of futility to this entire idea. First off, the governor's office simply doesn't have the legal authority to release the prisoners; only the courts can do that, and you can just imagine the Niagra of red tape and delays that will cause. What's more, California's government has proposed keeping the prisoners incarcerated until they are cleared for deportation by the courts - and then they'll simply take them back over the border by bus.

Now if you thought that the U.S. government was inefficient, imagine handing over all these cons to the Mexican government - a government that's are even less enthusiastic about Mexicans coming into their country than even the most ardent "minute man" on the Rio Grande!

Will this corrupt and questionable regime be able to resist the urge to collect these reprobates in their own buses, drive them to another portion of the US border and let them go? What bureaucrat wouldn't love to see 19,000 stacks of paperwork and headaches jump over the border to become the paperwork and headache of some other country's bureaucrat?