The former vice president was analyzed by Tucker Carlson recently for the thoughtless remarks designed to appeal to persons whose culture may not value highway safety. It was disturbing to see Biden essentially excuse drunk driving when it has killed many thousands of Americans over the years. Drunk driving has been more accepted among certain cultural groups, like Mexicans, so diversity is definitely not a strength on that front.
This website has noted the deaths of numerous Americans as a result of drunk driving illegal aliens, such as the few following:
Below, 21-year-old Sarah Root was killed in Omaha just a day after her college graduation in 2016 by one of Obama’s protected DREAMers, reported here: ”Drunk Driving Illegal Alien Kills Woman, Is Bailed Out and Disappears.”
Mesa, Arizona, police Sergeant Brandon Mendoza was killed by a head-on collision with a previously arrested but not deported drunk-driving illegal alien with a blood alcohol level of .24 percent.
Young Alabama couple Tad Mattle and Leigh Anna Jimmerson were killed by a drunk-driving illegal alien with a blood-alcohol content more than three times the legal limit and who had at least four previous DUIs.
Houston Officer Kevin Will died when a drunk Mexican crashed through a police barrier at 90 mph and hit Will as he was standing on a road shoulder investigating an accident.
Three-year-old Marten Kudlis was run down in a Colorado ice cream shop by a 16-times-arrested drunk-driving illegal alien. Two adult women were also killed when the truck smashed into the building.
Best friends Tessa Tranchant, 16, left, and Allison Kunhardt, 17, died when their car, stopped at a light, was hit by a seriously drunk illegal alien, who had three previous alcohol-related convictions but was not deported.
There are many more preventable drunk-driving deaths to mention, but I’ll stop and continue with Tucker Carlson’s discussion of Joe Biden:
(A spare video, slightly longer, is here.)
]]>TUCKER CARLSON: Now they tell you that the Democratic establishment wants Joe Biden as the nominee in the first place because he’s moderate and can win. But is Joe Biden actually moderate? He hugs people — that doesn’t mean he’s moderate, he’s just not a threat to the lifestyle of Democratic leaders.
On immigration for example, he’s not moderate by anybody’s definition. In a recent interview with Vice, Biden explained that even illegal aliens who commit drunk driving offenses ought to be allowed to stay here forever. Watch:
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOE BIDEN: You only arrest for the purpose of dealing with a felony that’s committed, and I don’t count drunk driving as a felony.
CARLSON: Yeah have a few beers, like whatever. Drunk driving kills thousands of Americans every year: Democrats used to tell you a lot about that. Biden doesn’t care any more, not if illegals are doing it. And for good measure after those illegal immigrant drunk drivers cause a crash, they get free healthcare for their injuries. while their victims may not.
Do you get free health care? No, but Biden likes to give it to people here illegally.
That’s okay. After all, according to Biden, illegal aliens are more American than you are. He said it. Watch:
BIDEN: These kids that come, they’ve done well. Most of these kids — there’s a lot of them, they’re not just hispanic or Asian-Pacific islanders as well. And they in fact have done very well. In many cases, they’re more American than most Americans are because they have done well in school; they believe the basic principles that we all share.
CARLSON: “They’re more American than most Americans are,” more American than you are — shut up, you foreigner. In the same interview, Biden vowed to protect drunk drivers. He also said Americans must pay reparations to illegal aliens for what they’ve done to them. Watch:
VICE SHOW HOST: Do these numbers separated by the federal government deserve any kind of reparations or any kind of restitution for what they suffered?
BIDEN: Yes, they should be made whole; they should be made whole in terms of first and foremost getting back with their families. That’s it, I mean reparation is repairing damage. Some of you, part of the Latino community, what is, talk about things — let people know the anxiety the children you know of or parents who may have an illegal parent and an undocumented parent in the country.
It’s an enormous anxiety, and so that’s why we should be fighting them, the kind of help that is needed and the family that helped me to restore their confidence restore their sense of who they are.
CARLSON: Oops, he said it “illegal” but quickly corrected himself — “undocumented.” That’s fine, go ahead and drunk drive. By the way, we’re giving you reparations and free healthcare.
Is that moderate? That’s the question, is it moderate? Alana Goodman writes for the Washington Examiner and we’re happy to have her tonight because she covers all this stuff. Thanks so much for coming.
So from the very beginning, the assumption has been, mostly because of his temperament, that Biden is this moderate guy with broad appeal to swing voters to the extent they still exist. Is that still true?
ALANA GOODMAN: Look, I think people look at this, the DUI comments you know, and they say why didn’t Biden do anything about this when he was vice president? I mean Obama deported a hundred thousand illegal immigrants who had DUI convictions, and I don’t remember Joe Biden saying anything about this at the time. So the question is, why is this an issue for him all of a sudden right now?
CARLSON: It’s just a little weird because your average American-born eighteen-year-old lives in terror of getting caught using a fake ID or drunk driving: they’re telling us that’s totally cool — fake documents, drunk driving — no problem.
GOODMAN: Yeah, it downplays in a way also the seriousness of drunk driving, especially felony drunk driving. I mean you there’s usually more factors to it in those states to get a felony, usually things like you know if you cause an accident that results in an injury or if you have a young child in the car, so there’s usually other issues like that, and it just seems to kind of downplay the severity of it to say. . .
CARLSON: What’s a little strange honestly because I watched a video — you can watch it yourself on Youtube — of Joe Biden saying that his wife and daughter were killed by a drunk driver, so it’s a little weird for him to be saying that. . .
GOODMAN: I would just want to say, you know as you probably know, the family of the man who had been driving that truck, they said that he was not driving drunk and there was no, he was never charged with drunk driving.
CARLSON: No, I think that’s a totally fair point. Do you think that Democrats in Washington who conceived of, pushed and now are defending the Biden candidacy are worried about it?
GOODMAN: I think that they would have to be. I mean look when he was talking about reparations, things like that, it just shows how far Democrats have shifted on the issue of illegal immigration just in the last four years. I mean President Obama had deported more illegal immigrants than any other president and at a higher rate, and now you have Joe Biden coming out and taking very different positions on this. And where was his criticism of this at the time when he was vice president and should have been able to do something about it?
CARLSON: So really quick, is there majority support in this country for reparations for illegal aliens do you think?
GOODMAN: I have not seen the polling on that yet.
On the three-year anniversary of Sarah’s death, Senator Joni Ernst spoke on the Senate floor about the preventable loss, as well as a reintroduction of Sarah’s [...]]]>
On the three-year anniversary of Sarah’s death, Senator Joni Ernst spoke on the Senate floor about the preventable loss, as well as a reintroduction of Sarah’s Law, proposed legislation that would prohibit federal immigration officials from releasing any illegal alien who has committed a violent crime against an American citizen
]]>On Third Anniversary of Her Death, Senator Ernst Re-Introduces Sarah’s Law, Senator Ernst Press Release, Jan 31 2019
Ernst: “We have an obligation to the Root family, and to the American people, to ensure that no person falls victim to this injustice again”
WASHINGTON – On January 31, 2016, the night of her graduation, Sarah Root, a twenty-one year-old Iowan from Council Bluffs, was struck and killed in Omaha, Neb., by Edwin Mejia, who entered the country illegally and was driving drunk – three times over the legal limit.
Today, on the third anniversary of her death, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), along with Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Deb Fischer (R-NE) and 11 of their colleagues, re-introduced legislation in honor of Sarah, to allow federal law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants criminally charged with killing or seriously injuring another person.
“It is wholly unacceptable that someone who is here illegally and is responsible for the death of another human being is not considered an enforcement priority nor is detained by ICE. We have an obligation to the Root family, and to the American people, to ensure that no person falls victim to this injustice again. Sarah’s Law brings us one step closer to restoring justice in our broken immigration system by allowing ICE to detain and hold these criminals accountable,” said Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA).
“The tragic death of Sarah Root three years ago and the ongoing search for her killer underscore the serious attention border security and immigration enforcement require in America. Sarah’s life was cut short by an undocumented immigrant who disregarded the rule of law and decided to get behind the wheel after drinking. The Obama Administration refused to take custody of Sarah’s killer because it didn’t consider him a priority, allowing him to disappear into the shadows. The Roots have been robbed of their daughter, and at least for now, they have been robbed of justice. Our legislation, named in Sarah’s memory, will ensure that those who harm or kill Americans will be taken into custody and removed while also ensuring that victims and their families get the information they deserve from the government as they pursue justice,” said Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
“Edwin Mejia’s mugshot shouldn’t be on a most wanted poster — Edwin Mejia should be in jail, serving hard time for the life he took and the pain he left behind,” said Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE). “Sarah’s Law is common-sense legislation that Sarah and her family deserve to have signed into law. Congress should waste no time sending this legislation to the President’s desk for his signature.” . . .
Below, Rep. Brooks listed some of the many preventable deaths caused by illegal [...]]]>
Below, Rep. Brooks listed some of the many preventable deaths caused by illegal aliens in the US.
One of the crimes was familiar, the deaths of Alabama residents Tad Mattle and his girlfriend Leigh Anna Jimmerson who died when Tad’s car was rear-ended by a drunk-driving illegal. The killer was a repeat offender (pictured in the inset of photo at right) who should have been deported after several DUIs but wasn’t.
Here’s the text version of Rep. Brooks’ speech:
]]>Brooks Slams Democrats in House Floor Speech for “Aiding and Abetting” Illegal Alien Killers January 15, 2019, Press Release
Washington, DC — Tuesday, Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) delivered a passionate House Floor speech describing the lives and deaths of people killed on American soil by illegal aliens and challenging Democrats in Congress who protect illegal aliens to, instead, help protect American lives.
The full text of Congressman Brooks’ speech follows:
Mr. Speaker, in 2018, more than 2,000 illegal aliens were apprehended by federal law enforcement officers for homicides committed on American soil.
That is roughly 2,000 dead in just one year! And that does not count some number of the 70,000 Americans whose lives are snuffed out each year by poisonous drugs, much of which is shipped illegally into America across our porous southern border!
Americans would know about these horrific killings if the media diverted just a fraction of the time it spends on extolling illegal aliens and attacking our brave border patrol and ICE officers and agents to telling the stories of American lives needlessly ended by illegal aliens.
Today I share a few stories about those who died solely because of illegal aliens and our porous southern border.
Louise Sollowin was a beloved mother, wife, and grandmother. Louise spent 50 years helping her sister fire up the oven at Omaha, Nebraska’s Orsi’s Italian Bakery, where she worked well into her 80s.
In 2013, after 93 years of life, Louise was brutally raped and beaten to death by an illegal alien. To make matters even more horrific, Louise’s daughter found her bleeding, battered and dying mother with a naked illegal alien passed out on top of her.[1]
In 2010 in Houston, Texas, 14-year-old Shatavia Anderson, was shot in the chest and killed by two illegal aliens. Shatavia loved her family and loved talking on the phone. She proclaimed that one day she was [quote] “gonna be somebody.”[2] [end quote] Shatavia was robbed of that dream by illegal aliens.
In July 2018 in my home town of Huntsville, Alabama, two drug cartel related illegal aliens took Oralia Mendoza and her 13-year-old granddaughter, Mariah Lopez, from their home in the dark of night. Oralia was stabbed to death while her teenage granddaughter, Mariah, was forced to watch. Later, and in order to eliminate a witness, the illegal alien drug cartel members then beheaded Mariah and abandoned her body in the woods. Mariah’s decaying body was not found for weeks. Mariah was a special needs student at Challenger Middle School. Her teachers described her as a [quote] “sweet little girl” who “had a lot of friends.” [3] [end quote]
I have a Washington staff member, Michaila Lindow, who well-remembers being baby-sat as a young child by family friend Tad Mattle.
In 2009 in Huntsville, Alabama, then 19-year-old Tad Mattle was driving home with his girlfriend from a church social. While stopped at a red light, an illegal alien who was fleeing the scene of yet another crime, and whose blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit, rear-ended Tad Mattle’s car. This illegal alien had three prior DUIs. Tad Mattle’s car exploded on impact, tragically killing Tad Mattle and his girlfriend.
Tad, the oldest of 3 children, enjoyed making music and served as percussion leader in the Grissom High School Marching Band. Three days before he was killed, Tad was awarded a full scholarship to the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he planned to pursue an engineering degree.[4]
Mr. Speaker, each of these horrific deaths have one thing in common. None of these lives would have been stolen from us but for illegal aliens aided and abetted by Democrats who protect, promote and prefer the lives of illegal aliens to the lives of American citizens.
Mr. Speaker, these killings on American soil will continue if America does not secure our porous southern border.
As for those who support amnesty and open borders: how many American lives and dreams must be snuffed out by illegal aliens before Washington has the guts and integrity to secure our porous southern border?
How many dead Americans does it take before you will start saving lives rather than aiding and abetting those illegal aliens who take them?
###
[1] https://www.omaha.com/news/man-to-be-charged-with-first-degree-murder-in-connection/article_c2a0e8de-f143-5e28-b279-bf349fc8ff17.html
[2] https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-family-reeling-from-slaying-of-14-year-old-1698537.php
[3] https://whnt.com/2018/06/14/authorities-identify-body-of-13-year-old-girl-homicide-investigation-underway/
[4] http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/08/for_huntsville_couple_still_gr.html
The appalling case was reported here in [...]]]>
The appalling case was reported here in April 2016: Drunk Driving Illegal Alien Kills Woman, Is Bailed Out and Disappears.
Below, illegal alien Edwin Mejia (left) killed Sarah Root (right), yet was allowed to post bond from jail and escape.
The organization America First Policies produced the video; its Youtube page is here.
Here’s a report on the video from The Hill:
]]>Pro-Trump group to debut latest ad in $1M push for border wall, The Hill, November 23, 2018
A political nonprofit aiming to boost President Trump’s policies is set to debut a new ad on Monday calling on lawmakers to fund his long-promised wall along the U.S. southern border.
The $500,000 ad buy is the second from America First Policies this month, seeking to put pressure on Congress to get behind the border wall project. Together, the ads have cost the group $1 million so far.
The latest spot features Michelle Root, whose daughter was killed in 2016 in a car crash allegedly caused by an immigrant in the country without legal status. In the ad, Root suggests that building the border wall would prevent future tragedies, while alluding to the administration’s controversial former policy of separating migrant families at the border.
“My separation is permanent,” she says in the 30-second spot. “I want to see that wall built. I want to see stronger immigration laws. Make your voice heard. Call your congressman and your senators.”
The ad comes nearly three weeks after Democrats recaptured the House in the midterm elections, giving them a majority in the chamber for at least the next two years.
The party needed to gain at least 23 seats to recapture control of the House. So far, Democrats have picked up 38 seats.
The ad from America First Policies also comes as a deadline for lawmakers to fund the government is just two weeks away.
Trump wants Congress to approve at least $5 billion in funding for his border wall, while Senate Democrats have said that they will offer no more than $1.6 billion. (Continues)
On Tuesday, the paper used its front page to inform readers that the drunk driver was a twice-deported [...]]]>
On Tuesday, the paper used its front page to inform readers that the drunk driver was a twice-deported illegal alien from Guatemala, Manuel Orrego-Savala.
Of course there are thousands of ordinary Americans who have been killed, robbed, raped, kidnapped, stolen from and otherwise harmed by illegal aliens with much less attention. Friends of public safety were therefore grateful for the spotlight on these crime victims by candidate Trump during his campaign and also during his State of the Union speech.
In the current case, the Guatemalan now under arrest for the double death was deported twice, yet he returned again. According to the law, illegal re-entry is a felony, but that crime rarely receives the maximum punishment, namely prison. Candidate Trump promised to propose legislation establishing mandatory, minimum federal prison sentences for people who illegally re-enter the country which would certainly chill that crime.
It is tragic to see another young person die at the hands of a drunk-driving illegal alien, but hopefully there will be more attention paid to this continuing and preventable problem.
Suspect in Colts’ Edwin Jackson, Uber driver deaths previously convicted for drunk driving in California, Indianapolis Star, February 5, 2018
The man suspected of driving drunk and fatally striking an Indianapolis Colts player and his Uber driver early Sunday had twice been deported and was in the country illegally, police confirmed Monday.
Police say Manuel Orrego-Savala, 37, had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit when he hit and killed Edwin Jackson, a 26-year-old Colts linebacker, and 54-year-old Jeffrey Monroe, Jackson’s Uber driver, around 4 a.m. Sunday.
Orrego-Savala is from Guatemala, according to Indiana State Police. He was first deported in 2007 and again in 2009 following arrests in San Francisco, according to a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE officials say Orrego-Savala has a prior conviction in California for driving under the influence.
The circumstances of his Sunday arrest emerged as the latest case to draw in politicians and activists, particularly as President Donald Trump and Congress debate immigration changes as another budget deadline looms this week.
(Continues)
The video report below provides a good description of the crime:
]]>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.
Grandfather David Kriehn, 66, graduated from Northwestern University, received a Masters of Divinity from Wisconsin [...]]]>
Grandfather David Kriehn, 66, graduated from Northwestern University, received a Masters of Divinity from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and had worked as a missionary.
The Mexican, Elizabeth Vargas-Hernandez, is a resident of Indianapolis and has never had a license to drive.
She exactly the sort of arrogant foreigner President Trump wants out of the country so American citizens won’t die in preventable crimes. And drunk driving illegal aliens have been very deadly.
Remember that in Mexico, drunk driving has a positive value in the national culture.
David Kriehn’s killer sounds like she was blotto drunk in a car with several drunk pals. Hopefully Indiana will throw the book at her.
]]>Noblesville man killed in I-465 crash caused by suspected drunk driver, WTHR, February 13, 2017
INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) – An Indianapolis woman believed to be in the country illegally is accused of driving drunk this morning and killing a Noblesville man.
The crash occurred on the city’s northwest side on Interstate 465 near Michigan Road.
The victim is a former missionary. The suspect, state police investigators believe, entered the country illegally.
The high-speed collision happened around 2:30 a.m. Monday, sending David Kriehn’s car careening off the interstate and into a ditch. Investigators say it rolled over several times, killing the 66-year-old father and grandfather.
Co-workers were shocked and tearful.
“Dave was a gentle, caring man,” Harry Straut said. “A good person. The guy you liked to hang out with as well as work with.”
As a manager at famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que, Kriehn earned a reputation as a leader who put others ahead of himself. According to the company’s operation manager, Kriehn closed the restaurant Sunday night, then worked into the early morning, completing an inventory, before heading to his home in Noblesville.
“Dave was an inspirational leader,” Straut explained. “He spend much of his life before entering the restaurant industry being a missionary.”
State police believe Elizabeth Vargas-Hernandez was traveling at a high rate of speed when her SUV rammed into Kriehn’s car. Investigators say Hernandez smelled of alcohol and failed a field sobriety test.
They suspect the 35-year-old and her three passengers had just left a bar. Hernandez is preliminarily charged with operating while intoxicated causing death. The state police investigation also uncovered evidence that the woman entered the country illegally and has never held a driver’s license.
It is not clear how that may affect her criminal case or ability to obtain a bond and be released from jail. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office does not routinely notify federal authorities when suspected undocumented immigrants are arrested and jailed for serious, unrelated crimes.
In an email, a sheriff’s spokesperson said, “Arrests are public record. ICE has access to the arrest records. MCSO does not address immigration status/issues.”
In the meantime, Kriehn’s co-workers have established a go fund me page to help his family. Click here to help.
DE BLASIO: So, we differentiate. Anyone who is violent, anyone who [...]]]>
DE BLASIO: So, we differentiate. Anyone who is violent, anyone who is a serious threat to society, we agree we will work with the federal partners and they get deported. But we are not going to see, with a half-a-million undocumented people here — this would be true for 11 to 12 million undocumented folks in this country, the vast majority of whom are law- abiding — we are not going to see families torn apart over a very minor offense.
TAPPER: But is grand larceny or drunk driving a very minor offense?
DE BLASIO: Drunk driving that does not lead to any other negative outcome, I could define as that.
The CNN show transcript is here.
The problem is that habitual drunk drivers don’t kill anyone — until they do. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) reports that the average drunk driver has driven drunk 80 times before the first arrest. In 2015, 10,265 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes, up by nearly 300 from the year before.
Of the Americans killed by illegal aliens, probably the largest group is the category of citizens killed by drunk-driving illegal aliens. Here are just a handful:
Below, 21-year-old Sarah Root was killed in Omaha just a day after her college graduation by one of Obama’s protected DREAMers, reported here: ”Drunk Driving Illegal Alien Kills Woman, Is Bailed Out and Disappears.”
Mesa, Arizona, Police Sergeant Brandon Mendoza was killed by a head-on collision with a previously arrested but not deported drunk-driving illegal alien with a blood alcohol level of .24 percent.
Young Alabama couple Tad Mattle and Leigh Anna Jimmerso were killed by a drunk-driving illegal alien with a blood-alcohol content more than three times the legal limit and who had at least four previous DUIs.
Houston Officer Kevin Will died when a drunk Mexican crashed through a police barrier at 90 mph and hit Will as he was standing on the roadside investigating an accident.
Three-year-old Marten Kudlis was run down in a Colorado ice cream shop by a 16-times-arrested drunk-driving illegal alien. Two adult women were also killed when the truck smashed into the building.
Best friends Tessa Tranchant, 16, left, and Allison Kunhardt, 17, died when their car, stopped at a light, was hit by a blotto-drunk illegal alien, who had three previous alcohol-related convictions but was not deported.
There are many more stories of preventable drunk-driving deaths caused by illegal aliens, but I’ll stop.
]]>Below, 21-year-old Sarah Root was killed in [...]]]>
Below, 21-year-old Sarah Root was killed in Omaha just a day after her college graduation by one of Obama’s protected DREAMers, reported here: ”Drunk Driving Illegal Alien Kills Woman, Is Bailed Out and Disappears.”.
Candidate Donald Trump made a point of remembering crime victims of illegal aliens during his campaign, sometimes inviting parents onstage with him to speak. He remarked at the GOP convention in his acceptance speech, “Of all my travels in this country, nothing has affected me more deeply than the time I have spent with the mothers and fathers who have lost their children to violence spilling across our border.”
So crime victim families will soon have a friend in the White House, unlike now. The Roots work to keep Sarah’s killer in the news in hopes of his eventual apprehension, and they are confident the Trump administration will initiate policies that will help prevent other illegal aliens from murdering innocent Americans.
]]>Iowa family set for ‘empty’ Christmas despite Trump’s help, Washington Times, December 22, 2016
Daughter killed by illegal alien in tragedy without justice
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — There was a time when Scott Root and Michelle Wilson-Root looked forward to Christmas, but not this year.
Their 21-year-old daughter, Sarah Root, was killed Jan. 31 by Eswin Mejia, an illegal immigrant from Honduras accused of plowing into the back of her vehicle as he street-raced while drunk in Omaha, Nebraska. He skipped bail. Nearly a year later, he remains a fugitive.
For the Roots, this is the first Christmas without her, their first since the tragedy put them on a path with President-elect Donald Trump, who brought national attention to the case as part of his call during the election campaign for a crackdown on illegal immigration.
The Roots and their 25-year-old son, Scott Jr., met with and campaigned for Mr. Trump in Iowa. His Nov. 8 victory was their victory, too. That doesn’t make Christmas any easier.
“It’s going to suck,” said Mr. Root, his blank face a contrast to the cheerful green and red decorations at the local Starbucks. “Just like Thanksgiving sucked. Empty.”
It’s not hard to see why Sarah Root’s death resonated with Mr. Trump. The day before she was killed, Sarah graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Bellevue University, where she carried a 4.0 GPA while working full time at Walgreens.
The 19-year-old driver, also known as Edwin Mejia, had a blood alcohol content of 0.241, three times the legal limit, when his truck rear-ended her Oldsmobile Bravada SUV. Despite Mejia’s history of missing court dates, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement refused to put a hold on him.
Charged with vehicular homicide, Mejia posted the required $5,000 of the $50,000 bond set by a Nebraska judge and fled. He has been added to ICE’s most-wanted list, although there is no word on his whereabouts.
The case soon came to symbolize a perfect storm of judicial and bureaucratic indifference. Even ICE Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale acknowledged in a letter to Iowa and Nebraska Senate Republicans that “Edwin Mejia should be in custody.”
“The killer of our child is gone,” said Mr. Root. “The judge has no accountability. The federal government, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he wasn’t an enforcement priority. Now he’s on the top 10 of the ICE list, so he is a priority, but there’s no federal money to catch him. Zero.”
From a political standpoint, the Roots were in the right place at the right time — Iowa, in the middle of a Republican presidential primary.
They connected with Mr. Trump in February and threw their support behind him as he bashed the Obama administration for allowing Mejia to slip through the cracks, first after he entered country as an unaccompanied minor in 2013 and then for refusing to detain him.
“I’ve met Sarah’s beautiful family. But to this administration, their amazing daughter was just one more American life that wasn’t worth protecting,” Mr. Trump said in his July 21 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. “One more child to sacrifice on the altar of open borders.”
The facts of the Root case were never in dispute even as Democrats and others challenged some of Mr. Trump’s statements against illegal immigration.
For example, PolitiFact rated as “half true” his Oct. 27 declaration: “Thousands of Americans have been killed by illegal aliens.”
“In reality, there is no solid data for homicides committed by people here illegally,” PolitiFact said in a Nov. 3 analysis. “His implicit suggestion is that people should fear illegal immigrants more than citizens, and we don’t see evidence for that.”
From Democrats to Republicans
Deciding to back Mr. Trump wasn’t automatic for the Roots. They are pro-union Democrats who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.Before her daughter was killed, Michelle Wilson-Root said she planned to sit out the election.
“I wasn’t voting. I told my kids a week before Sarah passed, ‘I don’t care for any of them, and I’m not going to vote this year,’” she said. “I said, ‘Even though I like what Mr. Trump is saying, he needs to soften it up a little bit.’ And I’ve never been a Hillary supporter.”
She changed her mind after meeting Mr. Trump in May. “He’s an amazing man. I wish everybody could see it,” she said.
As she told him about Sarah, he teared up.
“I judged him from what I had seen on TV, but without getting to know him. And getting to know him, I found out he’s no different than we are,” said Ms. Wilson-Root. “He has a heart of gold. He does so many things to help people behind the scenes, and he never wants the recognition for it.”
The Roots‘ son, Scott, talked to them about switching parties after taking a Western civilization course at Bellevue, called the Kirkpatrick Signature Series, required for graduation.
“He told me, ‘Mom, all your beliefs are Republican beliefs, not Democratic beliefs,’” she said.
Doing their part to elect Mr. Trump was only the beginning for the Roots. They have made it their mission to keep Sarah’s case before law enforcement authorities and to fight for the rights of those who have lost loved ones to people living in the country illegally.
They are frustrated by the trend toward describing undocumented aliens as “immigrants” without the “illegal” modifier.
“The Democrats like to twist those words, and so does the media, and say ‘immigrants.’ That’s not what we’re talking about,” said Ms. Wilson-Root. “We’re talking about illegal immigrants.”
They keep in regular contact with Senate and House members in Iowa and Nebraska, who have championed their cause. The family has built a $10,000 reward for information on the case by holding fundraisers such as the Sarah Root Bounty Run in August.
The Roots campaigned against Douglas County Judge Jeffrey Marcuzzo, who set the $50,000 bond and was up for a retention vote in November. He was retained, but with less than 58 percent of the vote, the lowest of the 55 judges on the Nebraska ballot.
In April, Mr. Root testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at a hearing titled “Criminal Aliens Released by the Department of Homeland Security.”
The Roots later joined four Republican senators — Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa, and Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse of Nebraska — to introduce Sarah’s Law, a bill that would place a mandatory hold on any undocumented alien who commits motor vehicle homicide or serious injury.
The bill, which the senators plan to reintroduce next year, also would require ICE to inform victims’ families about the custody status of suspects.
Under President Obama’s 2014 executive orders on immigration, which were aimed at shifting the focus to deporting dangerous criminals, the number of detainers, arrests and removals have been down about 40 percent, the House committee reported.
Since Sarah’s death, the Roots have been in contact with other members of the club nobody wants to join, such as Mary Ann Mendoza, whose son Brandon was killed in a 2014 car collision with an intoxicated illegal immigrant.
“We’ve told everybody, ‘Our daughter wasn’t the first one this has happened to.’ Why hasn’t something been done in all the years that people have been speaking out against it?” said Ms. Wilson-Root. “It’s because we didn’t have anyone ballsy enough to be our voice, to stand up and say, ‘No, we’re not doing this anymore.’ And fortunately, now we do with Mr. Trump.”
As much as the Roots want Mejia brought to justice, they don’t necessarily see that as Mr. Trump’s
responsibility.“I don’t think the administration’s job is to get him caught. I think their job is to make sure it doesn’t happen to another family,” said Sarah’s brother, Scott. “I don’t have a doubt in my mind that he’ll be caught and that time will come when it’s supposed to. For the new administration, just put the pieces in place. Make sure it doesn’t happen to someone else.”
Below, illegal alien Edwin Mejia (left) killed Sarah Root, yet was allowed to post bond from jail and disappear.
A Monday report on Fox News provided a quick summary of a very disturbing case:
ABBY HUNTSMAN: We’re looking at this story of an illegal immigrant on the run, accused of killing a young woman in a drunken street-racing accident. Edwin Mejia was arrested and posted bail — you can see him here in Nebraska — but immigration officials never detained him — why? Well they say his crimes didn’t meet ICE’s quote “enforcement priorities.” William La Jeunesse is live for us from our West Coast newsroom. William, walk us through what happened here and why they let this guy go.
WILLIAM LA JEUNESSE: The big question is why would the administration let this illegal immigrant out of jail just days after killing a woman, despite a plea from cops and a previous warrant. So 21-year-old Sarah Root had just graduated from college when police say Edwin Mejia plowed into her car drunk without a license. Omaha police put him in jail, asked ICE to detain him while prosecutors prepared their homicide case. ICE refused, saying Mejia’s arrest did not meet their enforcement priorities as outlined by the president and Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson.
Outraged Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse tried but failed to get a straight answer from ICE Director Sara Saldana:
SASSE: If an illegal alien kills an American citizen, should ICE let that person go free?
SALDANA: There will be criminal consequences.
SASSE: We don’t know where the man is.
LA JEUNESSE: So Saldana said they couldn’t hold Mejia because Root wasn’t dead; that wasn’t true. She also claimed that ICE didn’t have time to hold him. Well police called four times starting at 7:30 in the morning for ICE to issue that detainer, they were refused. Twelve hours later they let him go.
HUNTSMAN: That begs the question: if this guy wasn’t an enforcement priority, then who is?
LA JEUNESSE: DHS policy says they will only hold the suspect if he has a prior felony conviction, saying last week quote “Based on the totality of circumstances involved when arrested, ICE decided not to issue a detainer at the time. Now, however, he’s ON ICE’s Ten Most Wanted list. That’s little consolation to Sarah’s father.
SCOTT ROOT: I don’t know what else I can say, they can’t bring her back. Somebody’s gotta be held accountable, you know, apparently he isn’t.
LA JEUNESSE: Mejia, who came to the border in 2013 as a minor was allowed to stay as a refugee; jumped bail. Police believe he is now back in Honduras.
In a related item about the drastically reduced public safety in this country caused by Obama administration policies, the video below notes that the Migration Policy Institute has found that 820,000 illegal immigrants in the US have been convicted of crime. Manhattan Institute scholar Heather MacDonald remarked about the Root killing, “The ultimate agenda is to delegitimize deportation entirely as a response to illegal immigration. We cannot even deport illegal alien criminals. And once we lose deportation as a response to illegal entry, we have basically ceded the borders completely.”
This story provides details about Senator Sasse’s attempt to get some response out of the useless Sarah Saldana:
]]>Vehicular homicide not enough to detain illegal immigrants: DHS, By Stephen Dinan, Washington Times, April 4, 2016
Even being convicted of homicide isn’t enough to ensure illegal immigrants are detained by federal agents, the government’s top deportation official said in a letter to Congress released Monday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldana said neither Obama administration policy nor federal law required her agency to detain Edwin Mejia, who arrived in the U.S. illegally as part of the surge of unaccompanied children from Central America, after he was charged with vehicular homicide in Nebraska.
Still, she said her officers should have taken the initiative to detain him of their own volition and that she has notified all of her bureaus nationwide to do a better job of evaluating people they’re called to detain.
Mr. Mejia stands accused of a drunken-driving accident this year that killed a young Iowa woman in Omaha — but federal immigration agents never showed up to collect him. After he posted bond with local authorities, he absconded.
“After further review, we believe that further enforcement action would have served an important federal interest in this case,” Ms. Saldana said in a letter to Sen. Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican, which the senator released Monday.
ICE said it first encountered Mr. Mejia, who also goes by the first name Eswin, at the border in Arizona in May 2013. He was a 16-year-old at the time. The Border Patrol, acting under President Obama’s interpretation of the law, admitted Mr. Mejia and turned him over to social services, then eventually sent him to live with his brother in the U.S.
Ms. Saldana did not say whether the brother was in the U.S. legally.
In January, police say, Mr. Mejia was street racing while drunk when he struck the vehicle driven by Sarah Root, 21. She died as a result of her injuries.
Mr. Mejia posted bond on the homicide charge, and ICE officers did not come pick him up for detention, allowing him to disappear into the shadows.
Now ICE is scrambling to try to find him. Ms. Saldana said her agency has asked Honduran officials to see if he shows up back there.
Mr. Sasse was not satisfied. He called Ms. Saldana’s response “an embarrassment” to her agency and elevated the issue to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, demanding to know who specifically was responsible for deciding not to send officers to pick up Mr. Mejia.
“Why did ICE decline to detain Mr. Mejia, despite several requests to do so by the Douglas County Police Department? Were each of these requests denied on a case-by-case basis?” Mr. Sasse said in his letter to Mr. Johnson.
Ms. Saldana, in her letter to Mr. Sasse, said being charged with vehicular homicide wasn’t enough to make Mr. Mejia a priority under standards set by Mr. Obama and Mr. Johnson in 2014.
In fact, even if he were convicted of the charge, ICE still wouldn’t have to hold him, Ms. Saldana said.
“Even if he were convicted of the offense, motor vehicle homicide — driving under the influence, the conviction would not constitute a crime of violence under the immigration laws, and consequently, would not constitute an aggravated felony,” she wrote. “The conviction would not render him subject to mandatory detention, nor would it significantly impact his eligibility to apply for relief or protection from removal.”
At a Senate hearing last month, Ms. Saldana had said her officers didn’t come to collect Mr. Mejia because Ms. Root was still alive, so the case didn’t rise to their priorities. Her letter Monday, however, says that even though she later died, her agents wouldn’t have necessarily considered Mr. Mejia a priority.
Under pressure from activists who said the number of deportations was too high, Mr. Obama and Mr. Johnson in 2014 announced a policy of deporting only those with the most serious criminal records.
Those policies mean that more than 9 million of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. have little fear of being kicked out.
Mr. Mejia, however, was already facing deportation under his unaccompanied minor case, though that proceeding has dragged on. His court appearance was slated for later this month — nearly three years after he first entered the U.S.