The United States is supposed to be a “nation of laws” but widespread sanctuary jurisdictions show that idea to be a lie.
California is arguably the [...]]]>
The United States is supposed to be a “nation of laws” but widespread sanctuary jurisdictions show that idea to be a lie.
California is arguably the worst, as a sanctuary state that has had many crimes committed by illegal aliens against US citizens — deaths like three members of the Bologna family, 32-year-old Kate Steinle, Officer Ronil Singh, and Sacramento County Deputy Danny Oliver and Placer County Detective Michael David Davis Jr., among many others. With so many preventable deaths, you might think that California would pay more attention to public safety, but Sacramento prefers diverse criminals to law-abiding citizens.
See ICE’s web page showing the dangerous men released onto American streets by irresponsible local governments — below is a sampling:
Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins recently investigated the difficulty ICE agents face in Los Angeles, where the deck is strongly stacked against law enforcement in a sanctuary county in a sanctuary state. Officers are forced by the policy to search for criminals rather than simply pick them up at jails just prior to their release.
]]>Griff Jenkins hits streets of sanctuary city with ICE agents, Fox News, September 26, 2019
Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins followed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Los Angeles, a sanctuary city, as they pursued criminal aliens and detailed the difficulties of making such apprehensions.
“If you had a criminal warrant from a judge on a specific person, you could go forcibly in, but ICE cannot. They’re abiding by the law,” Jenkins explained Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”
At one stop, ICE agents could see the suspect inside, but could not forcibly enter, having to wait for the owner of the property to allow them inside.
“[It] speaks to the difficulty that ICE has in trying to make these apprehensions,” Jenkins said.
An ICE agent told Jenkins that the criminal alien had been convicted of multiple crimes and had a detainer placed on him on August 9, though it was not honored by local law enforcement and he was released.
“It’s been extremely disappointing to us in federal law enforcement,” the ICE agent said. (Continues)
Protecting public safety is supposed to rank high on the priorities of [...]]]>
Protecting public safety is supposed to rank high on the priorities of elected officials, so the decision of Santa Clara County to maintain its sanctuary policy even when it arguably contributed the death of a San Jose woman did not go over well during the supervisors meeting.
Below, illegal alien Carlos Eduardo Arevalo-Carranza (left) stabbed Larson to death in her home, inflicting “extensive and deep” wounds on the mother of two.
Arevalo-Carranza had been arrested multiple times in San Jose since 2014 for meth possession, false imprisonment, prowling and battery on a police officer. ICE says it has filed detainer requests seven times with Santa Clara County, but they were ignored due to the county’s sanctuary policy.
San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia disagreed with the supervisors’ decision. “This is not just a local issue, but a national issue,” he remarked. “And I know I speak for major city chiefs around the country when I say decisions like this are disappointing and frustrating at the same time.”
One supervisor tried to explain the skewed thinking behind the vote: “We must separate issues of immigration status from administration of our criminal justice system and today’s decision strengthens and clarified that separation,” Supervisor Susan Ellenberg said in a statement. “Santa Clara County has long been a shining example of open and progressive thought, diversity and inclusion for the state of California and the nation.”
During an earlier supervisors meeting about the sanctuary policy, Larson’s cousin Rick Loek was taken aback by some of the crowd’s preference for alien lawbreakers, noting, “I’m surprised anybody would argue in favor of keeping a violent criminal in this country.”
In the video below, Paul Kelly of the San Jose Police Officers Association said the supervisors were “deaf to solving he problem because they’re playing politics. . . What they should worry about first is the safety of our people.”
Supporters of illegal alien criminals “celebrated” the decision, as a local NBC report noted.
]]>Santa Clara County Supervisors Vote to Keep Current Sanctuary County Policy, NBC News Bay Area, June 4, 2019
Hundreds of people packed the Santa Clara County Supervisors chamber on Tuesday to find out whether the county would be making a critical change to its sanctuary city policy.
Many are demanding the county make a change to better work with immigration officials. Meanwhile, immigrant rights groups are urging supervisors not to make any changes.
After the death of Bambi Larson, supervisors gave staff 60 days to come up with modifications to the policy. Those 60 days are up, and staff is siding the immigrant rights groups.
Larson’s murder prompted supervisors to revisit the county’s sanctuary policy. Police say she was killed by an undocumented immigrant with a long rap sheet.
Immigrant agents on several occasions put holds on the release of Carlos Eduardo Arevalo Carranza. The holds, known as detainers, were requested so agents could come take him away.
County staff was tasked with finding a way to legally tweak that policy.
“We are recommending against the implementation of any notification policy,” Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith said.
Before Tuesday’s board meeting, immigrant rights groups celebrated the staff decision outside the chambers.
“We already have ICE picking up individuals in our community every day,” said Priya Murthy with Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network. “We don’t need to be giving them more avenues and be able to instill fear in our communities.” (Continues)
Below, illegal alien Carlos Eduardo Arevalo Carranza (left) stabbed Larson to death in her home, inflicting “extensive and deep” wounds on the mother of two.
[...]]]>Below, illegal alien Carlos Eduardo Arevalo Carranza (left) stabbed Larson to death in her home, inflicting “extensive and deep” wounds on the mother of two.
Viewing the extensive criminal record of the accused Salvadoran illegal alien, Police Chief Eddie Garcia observed, “He could have been turned over six times,” meaning to ICE for deportation.
Carranza’s rap sheet is indeed extensive, as listed by Chief Garcia:
“His criminal history convictions consist of in Feb. 2013 he was detained by the Department of Homeland Security at the border near McAllen, Texas, and deported.”
“In 2015, he was arrested for drug paraphernalia. In 2015 he was convicted of burglary in San Jose. In 2016, battery of an officer, resisting arrest and entering a property. In 2016, he was arrested for battery in Los Angeles. In 2017, he was arrested and convicted of false imprisonment in San Jose. On April of 2018, arrested for paraphernalia again. In May, he was arrested for possession of methamphetamine.”
“In August of 2018, he was arrested for prowling. On October 2018, he was arrested for false identification and paraphernalia once again.”
Carranza was clearly a dangerous character as shown by charges of battery against an officer and false imprisonment along with extensive drug use, yet he was allowed to roam California at will, with no unpleasant deportation.
California’s alien-loving political establishment is clearly embarrassed by the obvious failure of diversity ideology, illustrated by finger-pointing from various officials. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo posted a letter online in which he expressed concern for safety. . . of immigrants:
It is long overdue for the County to reconsider its current policy of ignoring ICE hold requests for predatory felons, which undermines the safety of the very immigrant communities we collectively seek to protect.
Meanwhile, a San Jose Mercury-News headline (March 13) showed a different political blame object: County officials say ICE, not their policy, to blame for releasing homicide suspect.
“ICE should’ve gotten a warrant here. They could’ve gotten a warrant here,” said County Counsel James R. Williams, at a press conference late Wednesday afternoon. “And the county’s practice has always been to honor warrants that are issued.”
And just this last week, new Governor Gavin Newsom announced an end of executions in the state in yet another blow against public safety.
The murder of Bambi Larson could have been prevented if California officials had done their basic job of corralling criminals, but that responsibility is apparently too onerous if the perp is diverse. So the once-Golden State continues down the road to perdition because Democrats let foreigners run wild as a matter of political belief.
]]>An additional sanctuary state is [...]]]>
An additional sanctuary state is not the way things are supposed to be going. The election of Donald Trump was due in part to his position as strong on law and borders. The American people want their immigration laws enforced.
In particular, the new law is an insult to crime victims of illegal aliens, like Brian McCann, whose brother Denny (pictured) was killed in Chicago in 2011 by a drunk-driving illegal alien Saul Chavez with priors who was not deported.
Worse, he was released on bail from Cook County Jail, as if an illegal alien causing a death in a hit-and-run was not a flight risk.
Brian has continued to pursue justice despite all the obstacles thrown up by open-borders forces in government. He spoke at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2015 that was titled Oversight of the Administration’s Misdirected Immigration Enforcement Policies: Examining the Impact on Public Safety and Honoring the Victims.
A C-SPAN video of the hearing is available, and Brian tells the story of his brother’s death beginning at 54:00. His written testimony is here: BRIAN MCCANN, Testimony, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Tuesday July 21, 2015
As Brian McCann says in the video below, sanctuary policy protecting illegal aliens endangers the safety of Americans.
]]>MIKE TOBIN: Illinois with a Republican governor just became a sanctuary state. The bill was signed by Governor Bruce Rauner yesterday. It prohibits local police from making an arrest based on immigration status; it mandates that local police ignore immigration detainers, and says they can only hold an undocumented immigrant if a court order is obtained. Now members of the Hispanic community were on hand as the bill was signed into law, and there was representation from the Illinois law enforcement community. Rovernor Rauner said he consulted with local police before signing it.
GOV. RAUNER: They all said to me governor this is a reasonable compromise, it will help us do our jobs better, it will help us keep our communities safer.
TOBIN: Now the 2016 Illinois Republican party platform called for a reversal of sanctuary city policies but the Republican Party chair is supporting the governor with the signing of this bill because he said Governor Rauner’s negotiations turned a 40-page bill filled with restrictions for police into a two-page compromise.
SHANNON BREAM: Okay, I imagine though, Mike, that a Republican governor signing a bill like this has run into some opposition.
TOBIN: Lots of opposition: starting with Brian McCann. Brian McCain’s brother Dennis was killed by a drunk driver in 2011. That drunk driver Saul Chavez was in the country illegally. An immigration order was was filed, but that immigration order was ignored due to the policies of Cook County. Saul Chavez made bail, then fled to Mexico.
BRIAN MCCANN: The insult and injury continues because they know better. This is the issue of safety; this is safety. The American citizens are less safe with these sanctuary city policies. It’s as plain as night and day.
TOBIN: Now downstate Republican Senator Kyle McCarter told me yesterday that the governor just alienated his base in the part of this state that supported Donald Trump. In fact, he said this Republican governor is the best governor Democrats ever had.
The Sacramento Bee headlined its Saturday front page with the lawsuit story:
A state that has had terrible crimes committed by illegal aliens should be embarrassed by having its disregard of law enforcement further highlighted. Kate Steinle was shot dead while strolling with her father on a popular San Francisco pier by a five-times-deported Mexican who said he returned to the city because of its sanctuary policy.
In 2008, three members of the Bologna family were murdered in a mistaken gang hit by stupid illegal alien Edwin Ramos who had been coddled by San Francisco authorities despite his violent record as an MS-13 gangster.
Further south in sanctuary Los Angeles, high-school football star Jamiel Shaw was shot dead just a few doors from home by illegal alien Pedro Espinoza who was so violent in jail — like attacking a police officer who was interrogating him — that the 18th Street gangster should have been incarcerated as long as possible. But he was released onto city streets instead of being deported and killed Jamiel 28 hours later on March 2, 2008.
Isn’t it basic to imprison and/or deport dangerous illegal aliens to protect the innocent? It seems like common sense, but liberal officials believe otherwise. The list of dead Americans will not make them budge.
]]>State set to sue over ‘sanctuary city’ cuts, Sacramento Bee, August 5, 2017
Stockton, San Bernardino among those losing feds’ anti-crime funds
California is poised to sue the Trump administration over the president’s latest attempt to punish jurisdictions tagged by the Justice Department as “sanctuary cities” that harbor undocumented immigrants, according to two sources close to the case.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra — in conjunction with other California city and county attorneys — is considering charging the Justice Department with violating the Constitution by threatening to take crime-fighting funds away from cities and states that do not fully cooperate with federal immigration agents, according to those sources.
“The cities and states affected by these provisions have strong arguments to make in court that these conditions are illegal,” said a former Justice Department official familiar with California officials’ thinking. “If Congress wanted these requirements to be part of the grant funding decision, they would have written it into the law.”
California’s concern stems from an announcement last month by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who warned that jurisdictions that do not assist federal immigration agents seeking to deport undocumented immigrants would no longer get funding from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant.
California was allocated nearly $18 million under that program in Fiscal 2017. To get future grants, municipalities will have to allow federal immigration agents access to detention facilities, and provide 48-hours notice before they release inmates who are wanted by federal authorities on suspicion of being in the country illegally.
Did La [...]]]>
Did La Raza’s cartel division help write S.744? The notion that government’s top job is to protect public safety has been diminished greatly by the open-borders extremists.
Fortunately the criminal-friendly aspect of the bill is beginning to come to light. The legislation allows a great deal of discretion to the DHS Secretary about who may be deported. For example, if a drunk driver’s removal might cause inconvenience to his US-residing familia, he could be permitted to stay, despite the obvious danger to Americans.
The open-border gang has always been squishy on public safety and particularly so on drunk driving illegal aliens, probably because hispanics disproportionately drive drunk (at least according to NPR). It’s just easier for DHS boss Janet Napolitano cover up shocking cases like the Virginia nun Denise Mosier killed by previously arrested illegal Carlos Montano who had been released from jail.
The video above mentioned a couple of preventable deaths, one being that of Phoenix Police Officer Daryl Raetz (shown below with his wife and five-year-old daughter), killed by a hit-and-run driver, an illegal alien with priors.
But to the Gang of Eight and other friends of diverse crime, the preventable deaths of Americans killed by criminal aliens are unimportant, so the plan is to lessen the immigration enforcement that protects public safety.
]]>Debate grows over deporting illegal immigrants with rap sheets after police officers killed, By William La Jeunesse, Fox News, June 17, 2013
As the House and Senate continue to debate overhauling America’s immigration system, new differences are emerging between the two chambers over how to handle criminal illegal immigrants.
The controversy is emerging after two police officers were killed, allegedly by illegal immigrant drunk drivers with prior DUI arrests.
“There are thousands of Americans killed intentionally and accidentally by illegal immigrants who have already been arrested and could have been deported from the U.S.,” said Kris Kobach, an attorney representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who claim the Obama administration is preventing them from deporting law-breakers.
In Houston, police say 23-year-old Andres Munos was driving drunk on May 20 when he struck and killed 47-year-old Sgt. Dwayne Polk, a Harris County sheriff’s deputy. Munos, who is in this country illegally, was previously arrested in 2010 for drunk driving and unlawful carrying of a weapon.
In Phoenix, Jesus Cabrera-Molina admitted he was drunk and high on cocaine the night his SUV struck and killed Phoenix Police Officer Daryl Raetz — but he denies he was behind the wheel. Witnesses disagree, and Phoenix police have charged Molina with manslaughter.
Under a House bill now being debated, drivers like Munos and Molina would likely get deported immediately by ICE or local police, who would have the authority to enforce federal immigration statutes.
Under the Senate bill, however, illegal immigrants accused of non-violent crimes are entitled to a hearing and a taxpayer-funded lawyer. Those with three or fewer misdemeanors and some felonies would be allowed to remain if they had children or wives in the U.S.
Advocates say all illegal immigrants must have the opportunity to fairly present their cases in court. The temptation to make immigration laws “tougher” is a mistake, they say — which is why the Senate bill provides for judicial “discretion” if deporting a criminal alien imposes a “hardship” on a family members living in the U.S.
“These are real human situations that require human decisions,” said Crystal Williams of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “Drunk driving needs to be treated as the crime that it is — an alcohol-related, a substance abuse-related crime and not something related to immigration. The two are wholly unrelated.”
Differences in the House and Senate bills will likely have to be worked out in committee should the respective immigration efforts pass each chamber.
The change would essentially remove licensing as a requirement for driving. It’s a recipe for roadway anarchy and death. Unlicensed drivers are involved in one in five fatal crashes according to a 2008 study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Nobody pretends that the change is anything but a convenience for illegal aliens. LAPD Chief Beck has said impounds and the associated fees represent an onerous burden to people “who are a valuable asset to our community and who have very limited resources.” No officials in city government worry that poor citizens are harmed by expensive tickets they might incur.
The situation is a little confusing because California disallowed the impound of vehicles at roadway checkpoints as of 2012. The Los Angeles measure covers any situation of unlicensed drivers coming into contact with police. So an unlicensed illegal alien could run down a pedestrian in a crosswalk and be allowed to keep his car under the new LA policy.
Because making life easier for lawbreaking illegal aliens trumps public safety in today’s Mexifornia.
On Tuesday night, the Police Commission held a forum in Northridge, and hundreds of concerned citizens showed up (many listeners of the John and Ken radio program, presumably, since they have been publicizing the issue). Don Rosenberg (pictured) spoke as the father of a son, Drew, killed by an unlicensed illegal alien driver who had been previously arrested but released.
“The car should be confiscated and the driver should be arrested, and if they are caught again, then just keep jacking up the penalty until this stops,” Rosenberg said. “There’s over a million unlicensed drivers in California, and they’re killing people every day.”
Below, Drew, Don and Evan Rosenberg in happier times.
You can also hear a description of the meeting on the John and Ken show from January 18 which includes a recording of Rosenberg’s remarks about how liberal impound policies lead to injury and death, plus his later reflections live on the radio show.
]]>LAPD May Stop Impounding Cars of Unlicensed Drivers, KTLA, January 18, 2012
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KTLA) — The LAPD is looking to changing the department’s policy for towing and impounding cars belonging to unlicensed drivers, and that is sparking outrage among many people.
If officers stop an unlicensed driver under current laws, they tow the vehicle and impound it for 30 days.
Immigrant rights groups believe people in the U.S. illegally are unfairly targeted because they cannot obtain driver’s licenses.
After their vehicles are impounded, they face stiff fines and can’t get to work.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck want to change the policy, offering leniency to unlicensed drivers.
Changes to the LAPD’s policy would lift the 30-day impound and give either the registered owner or a licensed driver a reasonable chance to retrieve the vehicle.
A new state law stops cops from impounding cars at sobriety checkpoints.
Critics, including the LAPD police union, say the changes just reward lawbreakers, and put politics above safety.
One person opposing the changes is Don Rosenberg, whose 25-year-old son Andrew was killed in an accident involving an unlicensed driver in 2010.
“He was arrested,” Rosenberg said. “His car was impounded.”
“Less than 24 hours later, he had signed the title over to another person. She got the car out of impoundment (sic), and he just started driving again.”
Rosenberg says he thinks the city should maintain a tough policy on unlicensed drivers.
“The car should be confiscated and the driver should be arrested, and if they are caught again, then just keep jacking up the penalty until this stops,” Rosenberg said. “There’s over a million unlicensed drivers in California, and they’re killing people every day.”
Rosenberg was one of a few hundred people who attended a community forum hosted by the Los Angeles Police Commission Tuesday night in Northridge meant to give residents the opportunity to express their opinions on the proposed changes to the policy.
And the residents’ opinions were resoundingly negative. Nearly everyone inside the packed meeting was upset over the proposed changes.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re legal or illegal. If you’re an unlicensed driver, you should not be driving,” one man told the commission.
Rosenberg received a resounding applause from the crowd when he spoke.
“If you think it’s fair, you come down the road and come meet my son in his cemetery and you tell him that this is fair,” Rosenberg said, addressing Beck and the commission.
Wait, wasn’t Obama supposed to be prioritizing immigration policy to deal more seriously with violent foreigners? Apparently his home-town Chicago buddies didn’t get the memo, [...]]]>
In Chicago, the illegal alien accused of killing Denny McCann (pictured) disappeared after being released by authorities. (See my earlier report Cook County Releases Hit-and-Run Killer Illegal Alien after Arrest.)
Wait, wasn’t Obama supposed to be prioritizing immigration policy to deal more seriously with violent foreigners? Apparently his home-town Chicago buddies didn’t get the memo, because the Democrat-run Cook County Board of Supervisors passed a new policy by which dangerous foreign criminals are released on bail rather than held until trial or turned over to ICE for deportation.
Dangerous criminals are not supposed to be released when they are flight risks — which is the description of illegal aliens who can easily evade justice by escaping to Mexico or elsewhere. It’s stunning that public officials have so little regard for public safety, but hispandering to illegal aliens trumps that basic governmental function in Chicago today.
]]>Bail jumper fuels Chicago illegals debate, Washington Times, January 15, 2012
CHICAGO — Controversy over a Cook County, Ill., ordinance that forbids the sheriff from notifying federal officials when they’re about to release suspected illegal immigrants from jail is heating up after a suspect charged in a fatal hit-and-run posted bail and disappeared.
Amid reports that Saul Chavez, an illegal immigrant, hasn’t been seen since late last year when his family posted bail, the nation’s top immigration official and the board president of the county that includes Chicago have squared off with dueling statements about the ordinance passed last September.
“This ordinance undermines public safety in Cook County and hinders [the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s] ability to enforce the nation’s immigration laws,” wrote the agency’s director, John Morton, in a letter to County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. “In addition to undermining local public safety, the ordinance may also violate federal law.”
Miss Preckwinkle, though, responded in a news release that it isn’t fair to link Mr. Chavez’s immigration status with his disappearance, calling it a “red herring.”
Miss Preckwinkle said she is bothered by the case, not because of Chavez’s immigration status, but because his bail was set too low for someone with a prior felony conviction and who posed a flight risk.
“Some have tried to blame Chavez’s immigration status, but what allowed Chavez to escape prosecution was an attainable bond that didn’t take into account his criminal history and flight risk,” she said in the news release.
Cook County has been at the center of the debate over the treatment of illegal immigrants for several months. While other places, such as San Francisco, have passed similar measures in response to the Obama administration’s program that aims to pursue more criminal deportations, Cook County was the first to forbid a sheriff from holding suspected felons as well as those accused of misdemeanors.
Proponents say the county’s previous practice of holding immigrants in jail after they served their time or posted bail until federal agents could pick them up was unfair and unconstitutional.
“By refusing the detain people who are entitled to their freedom, based merely on a request from [immigration agents], we are upholding our system of justice,” Jesus Garcia, a commissioner who supported the measure, said in a statement at the time.
But critics have said the ordinance is a disaster waiting to happen, that ultimately an illegal immigrant who otherwise could have been held by federal authorities is going to walk out of jail and commit another crime.
“This is our Willie Horton moment in Cook County,” warned Commissioner Timothy Schneider at the time he voted against the ordinance, referring to the convicted killer who raped a woman and knifed her fiance in 1987 in Oxon Hill, Md., after being released as part of a Massachusetts weekend-furlough program. Horton’s case drew national attention when it was raised during the 1988 presidential campaign.
In her news release last week, Miss Preckwinkle said the problem has nothing to do with immigration and everything to do with an overwhelmed criminal justice system. Judges, she said, have to make decisions “in an instant, without access to the appropriate level of information upon which to base their decision.”
As a result, Miss Preckwinkle has called for the Cook County Judicial Advisory Council to conduct a six-month study on how bail is set in the county. According to a statement by Miss Preckwinkle, one of the goals is to provide judges with more complete information about defendants before they decide on bail.
Below, Michael Denise is the fellow in the white sweater in [...]]]>
Below, Michael Denise is the fellow in the white sweater in the center of the group assembled in Milford to protest the preventable death of Matthew Denise.
Denice plans to run for selectman: MyFoxBOSTON.com
The preventable death of Matthew Denice illustrated how little the state of Massachusetts cares about public safety for citizens. The accused Ecuadoran, Nikolas Guaman, had several prior arrests, including assaulting a police officer. Democrat Governor Deval Patrick was particularly egregious in defending the state’s sanctuary policy that protected the killer alien. Senator Scott Brown urged the governor to adopt Secure Communities statewide, but Patrick wouldn’t budge.
As someone who has followed the issue of illegal alien crime, I know that family members of victims speaking out can make a big difference. After Sean and Donna Wilson were killed by a drunk-driving illegal alien with 17 arrests, daughter Heather Steffek worked within the political system to improve immigration enforcement in Tennessee and Nashville. The city later implemented 287(g).
Ed Kowalski, the uncle of murdered high school student Elizabeth Butler, has testified before elected officials in New York and Arizona about the crimes committed by illegal aliens.
Any time the public is reminded that illegal immigration is not a victimless crime, it’s a good thing.
You can check out Michael Denice’s Facebook page about his candidacy.
]]>Brother of Milford man who died in accident to run for selectman, Milford Daily News, January 11, 2012
The older brother of the Milford man whose death in a motorcycle accident spurred furious debate about illegal immigration has announced his intention to run for selectman this spring.
Michael Denice, 26, who lives at 22 Debbie Lane, has taken out nomination papers and has set up a Facebook page about his candidacy.
If Denice makes the ballot, he would likely face Dino DeBartolomeis, who is seeking his 11th term on the board.
“The citizens of Milford need a voice on town issues. I have seen many changes occur in Milford over the past several years, including a rise in crime, an increase in immigration-related issues and a decline in the local economy and businesses,” Denice said in a statement. “We need selectmen that will not only work for the people, but more importantly work with the people in the community.”
Denice is the brother of Matthew Denice, 23, who police say was dragged to his death Aug. 20 by a pickup truck driven by Nicholas D. Guaman, an Ecuadorean who is in the country illegally. Police say Guaman was drunk when he hit Denice, who was riding his motorcycle at Congress and Fayette streets.
Guaman has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while driving, motor vehicle homicide while under the influence, among other charges.
At a September forum in Town Hall designed to clear the air about the local Ecuadorian community, Michael Denice chided Ecuadorean officials, complaining that illegal immigrants have to work under the table, cannot drive with a legal license and must violate other laws just to stay in the country.
“What is your solution for those illegal immigrants already here today?” he asked, prompting a standing ovation from a crowd at Town Hall.
Christopher “Buddy” Rowe (pictured) was hit by a man driving a Honda Accord [...]]]>
A little four-year-old boy was struck by a car in a Santa Rosa crosswalk Thursday afternoon as he walked to soccer practice with his mom and two sisters, one of whom was his twin. He died the next morning in the hospital.
Christopher “Buddy” Rowe (pictured) was hit by a man driving a Honda Accord who then sped off. Fortunately a local resident, Leroy Flach, heard about the hit-and-run on his police scanner and spotted the car, whose driver switched off into a Volvo driven by a woman. Flach got the license number and the driver was quickly arrested, due to the attention of a concerned citizen.
The driver turned out to be an illegal alien, Marcos Lopez Garcia, who had two prior arrests for driving without a license. The most recent arrest was just five days before the hit-and-run; at that time Garcia was merely told not to drive until his court appearance in October — rather than be deported.
Why should any illegal alien be left in this country to endanger public safety when he has shown himself to have no respect for American law or sovereignty? Why do we even have police if they no longer enforce one law for all? In America today, the illegal alien is a special person who is not required to obey the law as we little citizens must.
You can see more about Buddy at his family’s remembrance website, ChristopherBuddyRowe.
]]>4-year-old hit-run victim in Santa Rosa identified, San Francisco Chronicle, August 22, 2011
Authorities have identified the 4-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Santa Rosa last week while walking to soccer practice with his mother, his twin sister and his 6-year-old sister.
Christopher “Buddy” Rowe was hit at about 6 p.m. Thursday at West Ninth Street and Rockwell Place near Jacobs Park in Santa Rosa. He clung to life at Children’s Hospital Oakland, his family said in a statement today, but “his heart finally gave way” Friday morning.
“Little Buddy will be remembered as an energetic, curious, active young boy who was also kind, compassionate and caring, especially with his twin sister,” the family said. “We will always remember his ever-present smile, beautiful steel blue eyes and peace-loving nature.
“The man who stole Buddy’s life from us will be one day free,” the family said, “but we will always carry the burden of losing him forever.”
Christopher and his family were crossing West Ninth in a marked crosswalk when he was hit by a westbound Honda Accord, police said. The car drove away from the intersection, which has no stop signs or signals.
Soon, a 47-year-old Santa Rosa man named Leroy Flach – who heard about the crash on his police scanner – spotted the car at Finley Park, less than a mile from the crash. He said he had called police after he saw the driver peeling off an orange San Francisco Giants decal from the rear window.
The man got into a silver Volvo driven by a woman, Flach said. He relayed the license plate number to police, who by 8 p.m. had found and arrested Marcos Lopez Garcia, 22, who lives near Jacobs Park. Prosecutors were expected to file charges today.
Garcia is being held without bail because federal officials suspect him of being an illegal immigrant. He does not have a driver’s license, records show, and has two previous arrests for driving without one. Five days before the crash, police said, he was told not to drive until a court appearance in October.
Christopher is survived by his parents, James Rowe Jr. and Michelle Rowe, his older sister, Mimi, and his twin sister, Julia, as well as grandparents, uncles and cousins.
A memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Eugene’s Cathedral in Santa Rosa.
The family asks that condolences and donations be sent to the Christopher Rowe Memorial Fund, 1007 West College Ave., No. 313, Santa Rosa, CA 95401. For more information, go to www.christopherbuddyrowe.com.