The Chinese government, hoping to summon the good vibes from Chinese lucky numbers, began the Beijing Olympics on 08/08/08. When cops across North Carolina chose 08/08/08 as the date to set up drunken driving checkpoints, some people figured their luck was about to run out. And not because they were pickled and set to blow 0.08 or worse.

Let's face it: Wrecks involving illegal immigrants have gotten people injured or killed with excruciating regularity.

But their drinking habits weren't the reason many immigrants feared that the checkpoints would land them in jail, headed for deportation. Instead it was their immigration status itself, the focus of a crackdown by law enforcement agencies against people in this country illegally.

Someone busted for not being able to show proper or genuine driving credentials, which illegal immigrants typically don't have, could see his or her whole life unravel if the arrest occurred in a county such as Wake, where officers are cooperating with federal authorities to deport illegal immigrants who break the law.

The Aug. 8 checkpoint operation raised the specter of widespread arrests followed by splintered families, lost jobs and lost homes. Those fears may have been exaggerated, but reports are that some people were afraid to go to work and once there were afraid to leave. Kids were said to have been kept home from school. Maybe a family would have to flee!

Checkpoints aimed at getting drunks off the road are of course worthwhile. But when a climate of fear spreads within a community -- yes, even among people who some would say ought to be afraid, because they're breaking the law merely by their presence -- that's worrisome. It becomes too easy to demonize people who in reality may be industrious, conscientious neighbors whose only wrongdoing consists of being without permission in a place where they have a realistic chance of bettering their lot in life.

Heaven, or hell, knows there's lots of demonizing going on.

The state Board of Community Colleges certainly heard the raves and rants when it was considering whether to let illegal immigrants enroll. No dice for now, says the board -- grasping for excuses to avoid helping young people who typically have had no say in where they were raised.

Over in Alamance County, where they seem about ready to start up their own border patrol, a young library worker who was brought illegally to the U.S. as a toddler and who became a high school honor student recently was thrust into the deportation pipeline along with her family. It has the acrid whiff of a human rights violation.

Authorities deny it, but there's reason to wonder whether the woman's status was flagged on the basis of information in her medical records. She had sought prenatal care at the county health department. There can be no excuses for her alleged use of a dead person's Social Security number -- for which she's charged with federal felonies -- but neither should people be deterred from seeking medical treatment by the prospect that someone would rummage their private records looking for info with which to bust them.

Alamance also distinguished itself as the county where, in their zeal to lock up a Hispanic woman found to be driving without a license, deputies left her three kids in the car on the side of I-85, where they remained all night. A man who was being given a ride by the woman skedaddled. Yes, the adults were illegal immigrants. But what if the kids, scared and miserable, had been hurt?

Send-'em home agitators and the politicians who pander to them gin up hostility that's beginning to approach the kind of racist fervor that led to vicious abuses of blacks, up to and including murder. Two prominent Raleigh-area Hispanic leaders say they've been targeted with death threats. Maybe it's just harassment, but here's hoping the violence-mongers get caught and prosecuted to the max.

To condemn their sort of hatred, must we condone violation of immigration laws? Of course not. But the laws themselves are not immutable and in fact are badly in need of an overhaul. Why should it be so difficult for someone to travel here legally from Mexico to work in construction or on a farm -- if not in an office or lab? It's a system that can serve everyone's interests. And legal immigrants are more likely to be paid and treated fairly.

People coming to America to work can enhance communities and the economy. (Do they dilute wages? Less so if they're legal.) Whether there should be a wider path to citizenship is almost beside the point. Our dysfunctional immigration laws needlessly stigmatize and punish people who are ready, willing and able to contribute to America's well-being. Don't understand "illegal"? Fix the laws.

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