Orange County Über...whatever

There's an interesting article in today's Orange County Register (free registration required) about boycott that's being proposed by a group calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Rights (you'll see why that name is funny in a minute).

A coalition of nonprofits groups, labor unions and business owners on Thursday threatened to boycott any Costa Mesa business that refuses to display a poster opposing the city's immigration-law enforcement plan.

"We will not give these businesses the luxury of neutrality," spokesman Nativo Lopez said. "The silent Germans allowed the Nazis to flourish, and there can be no silent Germans on this issue."

So, we're two paragraphs into the story, and we've already got a Nazi reference. What's at issue here?

The City Council voted 3-2 in December to allow some police officials to check felony suspects' legal status and to launch the deportation process if they are in the country illegally. Officials say it's a tool to get criminals off the street.

That's right, folks. The police are being allowed to perform a law enforcement function. If somebody--a felony suspect, mind you--is in this country illegally, the cops can initiate the process that will have them deported. Can the gas chambers and ovens be far behind?

While these people are fully within their rights to call for a boycott, the heavy-handedness of the whole thing may end up costing them some support. Observe:

"We'd put up the sign because we are against this policy based on its (merits), but we don't like anyone trying to force us to do so," said Hooman Yeroushalmi, manager of Persian Treasure Rugs on Newport Boulevard.

There's more to it than just the threatened boycott, too.

The coalition, Citizens for Constitutional Rights, also called for Costa Mesa residents to practice "non-violent civil disobedience" by refusing to provide police officers with information about crimes.

So, if one of your friends or loved ones is murdered in Costa Mesa and a witness refuses to come forward, you can take some comfort in the fact that they're not being one of the "good Germans" by helping police to catch a killer.

You've also got to love the group's name. What "Constitutional Rights" are they agitating for here? Remember, we're talking about a proposed law enforcement policy that would allow police to begin deportation proceedings against felony suspects who are also illegal aliens. I must have missed the part of the Bill of Rights that guarantees your right to violate the country's immigration laws with impunity.

Maybe that's one of those "penumbras" that we're always hearing about.