9/11 another reason immigration status question should be allowed

It was a beautiful morning 17 years ago today. The sun was shining brightly as I was feeding traffic reports from my house to three Philadelphia radio stations. I was tired after staying up to watch the Giants lose to Denver on Monday Night Football, (some things never change) I had done my last report at 8:45 am when my father called to tell me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I thought it was an accident, then came the second plane. The rest as they say is history.

At that point, I was riveted to the television looking to find out what was going on until I received a phone call that I would be spending the rest of the day doing news in Philadelphia. Like everyone else, I was numb while trying to process all the information that was going into the reports thinking, "How can anyone attack the United States of America?" It was truly a nightmare that I was so hoping to wake up from.

It wasn't until 7 pm that I got off the air and slumped into the couch watching President Bush tell us about something called Al Qaeda and the Taliban. I was amazed by the fact that they were able to identify them so quickly. These people were able to move about the country unnoticed, taking flying lessons and preparing for their big day.

I think about that today as New Jersey tries to figure out how to give "sanctuary" to those we don't know. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said that policies from 2007 allow authorities to question criminal defendants about their immigration status, but that "doesn’t reflect the immigration realities of today.” One reality is that not everyone coming here is looking to start a new life in this country and live happily ever after.

We're instructed that if we see something to say something. I think if a police officer suspects something, he should definitely be able to ask about immigration status. If the person is not here legally, at least find out what they're up to. You can always use discretion as to what to do from there. But you should be able to ask. If you want to know why think back 17 years.

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