Congratulations to the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates, a little-known regional government entity on Cape Cod that could easily have bowed to the pressure of illegalistas this week to snub the county sheriff's cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Instead, five of the assembly's 15 delegates, representing about 57 percent of the Cape's population, voted no on Wednesday on a resolution expressing opposition to the sheriff's agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Under the assembly's proportional-voting system, that means the anti-immigration-enforcement resolution failed.)
The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates has voted down a resolution opposing the Cape Cod sheriff's agreement with the federal government to help enforce immigration law at the county jail.
The resolution was a protest only, since the assembly has no authority over the sheriff. But some supporters thought it might help a bill in the Massachusetts Legislature designed to prevent local and regional law enforcement agencies from enforcing federal immigration laws.
