Check out this novel approach to the problem of illegal immigration from New Ipswich (N.H.) Police Chief W. Garrett Chamberlain - Charge them with criminal trespassing.

New Ipswich Police Chief W. Garrett Chamberlain charged Ramirez with criminal trespassing — a violation comparable to a traffic ticket — on April 15 after immigration officials refused to take him into custody. Ramirez, who also pleaded guilty to operating without a valid license, has until Friday afternoon to report to immigration authorities in Manchester.

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The statute says a person is guilty of criminal trespassing if, “knowing that he is not licensed or privileged to do so, he enters or remains in any place.”

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“What I’m trying to do is find a manner in which we can get the federal government to step up to the plate and start helping out here,” Chamberlain said. “It’s basically a situation here where right now if you make it past the border patrol, you’re free and clear. There’s no interior enforcement for illegal immigration in the United States. What I’m hoping to do is find a way that if the feds aren’t going to help us out, then local enforcement can take care of it.”

Here’s a great quote:

Paula Grenier, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New England, said when the agency officially gets information on Ramirez, “we intend to write him up and put him into removal proceedings.”

But the fact is, she said, this case is about one illegal immigrant whose only crime was being broken down on the side of the road.

The spokesperson for ICENE has quite a way with words. “Illegal immigrant” by definition means that they committed the crime of immigrating illegally, and yet she says his “only crime was being broken down on the side of the road.” It seems to me that I’m restating the obvious, but apparently it needs to be restated, since the AP writer apparently didn’t catch the irony.