Opinion: jamiel's law may move to ballot

_This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts._ Mayoral candidate Walter Moore said Thursday he has begun a

drive to put ‘Jamiel’s Law’ on the March 2009 Los Angeles city ballot — the same one in which he is trying to unseat Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. If adopted, the law would permit Los Angeles

police officers to arrest gang members for breaking U.S. immigration law. It would supersede Special Order 40, a 29-year-old LAPD policy that bars officers from arresting or questioning

people solely on suspicion of being in the country illegally. Moore told a crowd of about 200 people — gathered at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre to hear about his proposal — that he decided on

an initiative after hearing no response from City Council members to his request for an ordinance. Jamiel’s Law is named for Jamiel Shaw II, 17, who was shot to death by suspected gang

members on March 2 close to his Arlington Heights home. Police arrested Pedro Espinoza, 19, who reportedly entered the U.S. illegally at age 4. Police say Espinoza is a member of the 18th

Street Gang. He was released from jail, where he was being held on a weapons charge, a day before the killing. Espinoza had been arrested by Culver City police and jailed and released by the

Sheriff’s Department, so the LAPD and Special Order 40 did not come into play. But Moore has dismissed that point, saying, in effect, that if his law had been in place, LAPD officers at

some point prior to his weapons arrest would have seen Espinoza, identified him as a gang member, and arrested him on immigration charges. The killing of Jamiel Shaw II, and Moore’s advocacy

for the change in the law, has united some black and white illegal immigration opponents, threatened to widen a gulf between African Americans and Latino immigrants, and forced city

officials to refocus on Special Order 40. At least some LAPD officers appear to believe, incorrectly, that the policy prevents them from cooperating or even communicating with immigration

authorities. A senior lead officer who misquoted Special Order 40 in a March newsletter, adding in anti-cooperation language, acknowledged that he got the wording not from the LAPD manual

but from the American Patrol anti-illegal-immigration web site. LAPD Chief William J. Bratton said he would clarify the policy for his officers. He also told the Times editorial board that

he would make no changes to the order. Moore repeated his assertion that the Times caters to Latino illegal immigrants because its parent company, Tribune, also owns the Spanish-language

paper Hoy. ‘The mayor, the City Council, and L.A. Times/Hoy won’t take action,’ Moore said. ‘It’s up to you.’ Also speaking at the event were KRLA radio personality Kevin James and the young

victim’s father, Jamiel Shaw Sr. James called for audience members to support Moore’s campaign financially. ‘It’s really expensive to run for mayor of Los Angeles against a former gang

member who is the incumbent,’ James said. Villaraigosa was not a gang member, but the claim that he was has become popular among illegal immigration opponents. Shaw criticized the deputy

district attorney prosecuting Espinoza, saying he worried she would try to portray his son as a gang member because he was carrying a red Spiderman backpack. ‘I want everybody to know,’ he

said, ‘the fix is in.’