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:
]]>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.
Sanctuary Suites: Defiant mayor vows to harbor illegals at Boston City Hall, Boston Herald, January 26, 2017
“If [...]]]>
Sanctuary Suites: Defiant mayor vows to harbor illegals at Boston City Hall, Boston Herald, January 26, 2017
“If people want to live here, they’ll live here,” Walsh said yesterday. “They can use my office. They can use any office in this building. Any place they want to use. They’ll be able to use this building as a safe space.”
Why do liberal mayors think immigration to America is a right? Should the billions of poor people on the planet be permitted to move here just because they want to?
The mayors say they want to keep their communities safe, but crime victims of illegal aliens see it differently because sanctuary cities are less safe for American citizens.
Milford, Massachusetts, resident Maureen Maloney objected to the arrogant mayors because she lost her son Matthew Denice when a drunk-driving illegal alien dragged him to death. The Ecuadoran alien, Nikolas Guaman, had a long rap sheet but was protected by Massachusetts’ sanctuary policy, allowing him to remain and eventually kill 23-year-old Matthew.
Below, in 2014 Maureen Maloney gave a victim’s statement at the sentencing of Guaman for manslaughter.
In the current matter of sanctuary, Maloney said her family’s loss will never go away.
Grieving mom calls out pols grandstanding on sanctuary issue, Boston Herald, January 27, 2017
Any grandstanding mayor who actually harbors illegal immigrants should be prosecuted by the feds, said the grieving mother of a Milford man killed by a motorist who faces deportation after his jail sentence is up. . .
“The ripple effect of losing Matthew is not just the pain and suffering of me and his immediate family,” she stressed. “He had a longtime girlfriend. They were planning on getting married. He had a huge circle of friends and extended relatives. The ripple effect just goes on and on and on.
“I hear them saying that we’re separating these (illegal immigrant) families. Well, my family has been permanently separated. And I can’t call heaven and I can’t visit heaven. I have to go visit a grave,” she said. “The illegals do have other options. My son has no options. He had a very promising life, and it’s gone. There’s no other way to put it.”
She recently spoke on a Boston radio show:
Sheriff Thomas Hodgson of Bristol County Massachusetts won’t accept the liberal do-gooder blather about protecting illegal aliens. He was interviewed on Fox News on Sunday and discussed the illegal aspect of sanctuary policy.
]]>ED HENRY: You might call it a Sanctuary City Showdown. Some mayors are speaking out after president Trump’s executive move to strip funding for sanctuary cities.
BOSTON MAYOR MARTIN WALSH: You are safe in Boston. We will do everything lawful in our power to protect you.
SOMERVILLE MASS. MAYOR JOSEPH CURTATONE: Somerville will stand with you regardless of your race, creed, color, gender. . . We know what makes America great.
HENRY: But is it wrong for these mayors to say they will harbor illegal immigrants? The sheriff of Bristol County Massachusetts has vowed to arrest these mayors for breaking federal law. That Sheriff Thomas Hodgson joins us right now. Sheriff, why are you going to arrest the mayors? Will you really go through it?
SHERIFF THOMAS HODGSON: Well I’ve never said that I would arrest them; I’ve said that the federal authorities should absolutely should, based on the fact that Section 8 of the US code clearly states that anyone who harbors or conceals someone they know to be in the country illegally is in violation of a felony under federal law. When the rest of us — you and me, Ed — are required to follow a law, and when we don’t, we have agents knocking on our door arresting us. This is up to five years in prison for each alien that you attempt to harbor or conceal. You and I, if we did this, would certainly have the federal agents knocking on our door and putting us in handcuffs and taking us away for doing this. We could be harboring terrorists or anyone else.
HENRY: I want to get you to react then to what the mayor of Somerville told the Boston Herald. He said “My wife and I will gladly take a person into our home… I’m not going to run away from my responsibility to my fellow man.” What’s your reaction?
HODGSON: Your responsibility is you’ve been elected uphold the laws of this country and of your community. You expect everybody to follow along the ordinances and laws of your community, yet you decide you don’t like a federal law so you’re going to publicly say I’m not going to enforce it and basically push it in the face of of the people, your community and the federal authority. So you better expect a knock on your door — I hope the Trump administration forgets the sanctions on money. We can’t have a special class of people, as is the illegals already, being told that you come here, and then elected officials on top of that wanting to have themselves be considered a special class of people that don’t have to follow the laws, but everybody else does. They need to follow the laws that have the same consequences that the rest of us do if we decide to violate those laws.
HENRY: And now that President Trump has taken this executive action, we’ll see whether or not the federal government actually does its job and follows through.
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.
Officer Brandon Mendoza (pictured) was on his way home from work when his car was hit head-on by a blotto drunk Mexican who had driven 35 miles the wrong way on the highway. The Mexican had been previously arrested for burglary and assaulting a policeman in Colorado, but was not deported.
So Mary Ann Mendoza was angry at the preventable death of her 32-year-old son and wrote a letter to the President:
“President Obama,
“I am writing this letter to you regarding illegal immigrants.
“As a tax paying, law abiding citizen of the United States, I WANT my voice heard on this issue. My son, Sergeant Brandon Mendoza, an officer who was with the City of Mesa, Arizona police department, was killed in a tragic head on collision on May 12, 2014 by a wrong way driver on our freeways. This man happened to be an illegal immigrant, was in this country illegally, convicted of previous crimes, no Social Security number, no valid driver’s license BUT he had purchased a vehicle and registered it to drive in Maricopa County Arizona.
“I had my son’s life STOLEN from me by a man who didn’t value his life, was 3X the legal limit drunk, was high on Meth, drove for over 35 miles THE WRONG WAY on 4 different freeways and had NO BUSINESS BEING IN THIS COUNTRY!!! [. . .]
The whole letter and Mary Ann’s interview with Bill O’Reilly are published in my July blog, Arizona Officer Killed by Drunk-Driving Illegal Alien Is Remembered.
Here’s the article from Judicial Watch, revealing the government memo that shows this administration cares nothing about public safety:
]]>Border Patrol Ordered to Release Drunk Drivers, “Allow Them to Go On Their Way”, Judicial Watch, February 13, 2015
The Obama administration has ordered federal agents responsible for protecting one of the nation’s busiest and most crime-infested regions near Mexico to stop apprehending drunk drivers, according to an internal government memo that also concedes an officer that elects to detain them is “acting within the course and scope of his employment.”
Obtained by Judicial Watch this week, the notice is titled “Enforcement Options With Alcohol-Impaired Drivers” and directs the 4,000-plus U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Tucson, Arizona sector to “release” individuals under the influence and “allow them to go on their way.” The document acknowledges that this feels counter-intuitive for Border Patrol agents, but eases concerns by answering a hypothetical question for the officers who have sworn to uphold the law: “If you allow this driver to continue down the road and they kill someone, aren’t you liable?” The answer is no, according to the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo. “There is no legal requirement for a Border Patrol agent to intervene in a state crime, including DUI,” the order says, adding that “therefore there is generally no liability that will attach to the agent or agency for failing to act in this situation.”
The directive offers another scenario—detaining the impaired individual at the request of state or local law enforcement officers (LEO). “There is no duty to detain the alcohol-impaired individual,” the memo says, “but if you do this option can raise potential liability for the agent and the agency.” The document goes on to say that Border Patrol policy is to cooperate with local and state law enforcement officers who alert of suspected violations under state law. That means the agent would be considered to have been acting within the course and scope of his employment while detaining a drunk driver at the request of local law enforcement officers under Arizona law, the document confirms.
The last scenario offered in the recently issued decree has a Border Patrol agent detaining a drunk driver in Arizona without a request from a state or local law enforcement officer. “This option poses the greatest liability for both the agent and the agency,” according to the order. After revealing that private citizens in Arizona can make felony and misdemeanor arrests, it nevertheless prompts Border Patrol agents to stay away from drunk drivers. “Be advised, this option poses the greatest threat to an agent for a civil lawsuit,” the memo warns.
This preposterous order has not been well received by agents, according to Judicial Watch’s sources inside the agency. The Border Patrol Tucson Sector covers 262 miles along the Mexican border and is one of the country’s busiest in both illegal immigrant apprehensions and marijuana seizures, according to the agency website. During fiscal year 2014 the Tucson Sector Border Patrol recorded 87,915 apprehensions that included members of notorious international gangs and felons convicted of serious crimes such homicide, rape and child molestation. Agents also seized 971,180 pounds of marijuana as well as large quantities of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.
As a whole, the Border Patrol is the critical frontline Homeland Security agency charged with preventing terrorists and weapons—including those of mass destruction—from entering the United States. Its primary mission is to protect the nation by reducing the likelihood that dangerous people and capabilities slip into the country through our many ports of entry. It’s beyond belief that the Obama administration has asked the federal officers tasked with this important duty to turn the other way when they encounter a drunk driver.
The driver, 17-year-old Luis Enrique Landin, reportedly lost control of his pick-up [...]]]>
In San Antonio, a six-year-old boy was hit by a drunk-driving illegal alien on Thursday evening and died en route to the hospital. First-grader Brandon Abrams (pictured) was struck as he rode his bike on the sidewalk while waiting for an ice-cream truck.
The driver, 17-year-old Luis Enrique Landin, reportedly lost control of his pick-up when he reached for the cell phone he had dropped.
Landin faces the charge of intoxication manslaughter and was driving without a license. Authorities placed an immigration hold on him, yet bail was set at $100,000. Go figure. Plenty of illegal alien criminals have used bail to depart for the dear homeland.
]]>Grief grips neighborhood, San Antonio Express-News, January 26, 2013
A day after watching a 6-year-old neighborhood boy fly through the air when he was fatally struck by a teenage driver suspected of being intoxicated, Jane Withers refused to leave the spot where the boy’s mother tried in vain to save him.
Overcome by the magnitude of the tragedy that left Brandon Abrams’ family grieving and a 17-year-old jailed on intoxication manslaughter charges, Withers helped set up a makeshift memorial soon after the incident at 6 p.m. Thursday in her Northwest Side neighborhood.
Brandon was waiting on the sidewalk for an ice cream truck when he was struck. According to a police report, the driver involved, Luis Enrique Landin, told officers he’d dropped a cellphone and was reaching to pick it up when he lost control of his Ford Ranger in the 9300 block of Autumn Sunrise.
Withers saw it all from her garage.
“I saw (Brandon) fly in the air and hit the ground,” she said, pausing to hold back tears. “I’ve never seen anyone fly through the air so much. … He was doing the right thing, riding on the sidewalk.”
She said Landin told her he had just looked down to get his phone when he hit the boy.
As she spoke, Brandon’s bright red bike lay crumpled on the grass. The impact had knocked him out of his little black shoes, marked as evidence on the roadside.
She maintained a constant vigil at the site throughout the day Friday, as friends, family and neighbors dropped off stuffed animals, candles and flowers for Brandon.
By Friday evening, about 100 mourners gathered at the site to remember the Nichols Elementary school student who had just won first place at his Cub Scout pack’s Pinewood Derby.
Landin was arrested on a charge of intoxication manslaughter Thursday and bail was set at $100,000. Police said he was driving without a license.
On Friday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed a hold on his release, meaning the agency intends to take custody of him because it believes he’s is in the country illegally.
Family friend Erica Edwards and Brandon’s two big sisters answered the family’s door Friday and said Brandon’s mother was too devastated to talk to reporters.
“He was just a really bright light,” Edwards said. “He was really energetic. We’re all really going to miss him.”
Brandon’s grandfather Steve Abrams spoke angrily about the boy’s admission to police that he was distracted while driving.
“That stuff has to stop. The cellphone is ridiculous, the drinking,” he said, in reference to the intoxication manslaughter charges. He questioned why a 17-year-old would be “drinking at 5 o’clock in the afternoon.”
Police said Brandon’s mother was among the first on the scene and attempted CPR. Withers said the boy faded in and out of consciousness as she and others tried first aid.
The boy was taken by helicopter to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Friday evening, at a vigil at the site of the crash, friends and family members spoke fondly of the boy who most said loved to smile. Members of his Cub Scout Pack 352 turned out as a unit to light candles in memory of their fallen friend.
Pictures and written words of condolences were tacked to a fence. Donations were dropped in a bucket beside the memorial to help the family defray the cost of burying the child.
Briana Linstad, 7, and her 10-year-old brother, Ricky, who live next door to the Abramses, would ride their bikes with Brandon according to their mother, Adriana Linstad.
“He was always outside on his bike,” Linstad said. “He was always climbing trees. He was a boy’s boy.”
Derek Sweet, 19, said he drove to the neighborhood because Brandon’s death made him think about his own little brother.
“There are people coming from all over,” Sweet said Friday afternoon.
When neighbors urged Withers, who maintained a constant vigil at the memorial she helped create, to go home to rest and eat, she declined.
“I can’t eat. … Not after seeing what I did last night,” she said.
Sadly, two construction workers — Larry Scuteri, 49, of West Islip, and carrying passenger Daniel Gambardella — were killed last spring in Suffolk County New York on their way to jobs in Manhattan by an intoxicated illegal unlicensed Guatemalan.
On Monday, [...]]]>
Sadly, two construction workers — Larry Scuteri, 49, of West Islip, and carrying passenger Daniel Gambardella — were killed last spring in Suffolk County New York on their way to jobs in Manhattan by an intoxicated illegal unlicensed Guatemalan.
On Monday, Oscar Ramirez was given a disappointingly short sentence as the result of a plea deal made in June.
Below is a video report shortly after the deadly crash in which family members of victim Daniel Cambardella (pictured above) spoke of the loss:
]]>Illegal Immigrant Sentenced in Deadly DWI Crash, West Islip Patch, July 30, 2012
West Islip’s Larry Scuteri died in crash last year; Oscar Ramirez is sentenced to five to 15 years in prison.
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Monday that a Brentwood man has been sentenced to five to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to driving drunk and killing two men, including West Islip’s Larry Scuteri, in an April 2011 crash on the Wantagh State Parkway.
Oscar Ramirez, 30, pleaded guilty in June to aggravated vehicular homicide, two counts of manslaughter in the second degree and driving while intoxicated. He was sentenced by Judge William Donnino.
Rice said that at approximately 4:50 a.m. on April 30, 2011, Ramirez was driving a Ford Windstar minivan northbound on the Wantagh State Parkway when he side-swiped a Kia sedan just south of Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow.
The Kia, containing driver Scuteri, 49, and passenger Daniel Gambardella, 46, of North Babylon, was pushed onto the east shoulder of the parkway and across the grass. The Kia then became airborne and struck a tree, killing Scuteri and Gambardella instantly, Rice said.
Ramirez, who is in the country illegally and has no driver’s license, admitted that he drank nine beers that night and had a blood-alcohol content of .10 percent more than two hours after the crash, according to Rice. Ramirez will be deported to Guatemala upon his release from prison, Rice said.
Scuteri and Gambardella were on their way to Manhattan where both men worked as members of the Carpenter’s Union.
Interestingly, the Obama administration recently [...]]]>
Interestingly, the Obama administration recently removed traffic violations from Secure Communities, even though illegal alien drivers, drunk and otherwise, are a major cause of foreigner-caused death among Americans. The new directive supposedly does not cover drunk driving illegal aliens — yet. When memories fade about shocking cases like the death of the nun Denise Mosier at the hands of a drunk-driving Bolivian, inebriated drivers will likely be quietly included among Obama’s protected class.
But today, the news is good. Despite Governor Deval Patrick’s stubborn defense of foreign criminals, the feds finally implemented Secure Communities in the Bay State.
Even the Boston Herald‘s editorial board concurred that government protecting public safety is a good idea:
]]>State now more secure, Boston Herald, May 11, 2012
To the bitter end the Patrick administration wanted it made clear that deploying the federal Secure Communities program in Massachusetts was absolutely not its idea. It simply defies logic that a team largely responsible for the safety of 6 million citizens would so vigorously resist a program that targets a small number of illegal aliens who have committed a crime.
Finally, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has gotten around to including Massachusetts on the list of states where sharing information on local arrests with federal immigration authorities will now be automatic and mandatory.
Local law enforcement agencies have of course always run fingerprints on suspects through FBI criminal databases. But that information now will be shared automatically with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will determine how to proceed if a suspect is not a legal resident.
It’s not as if there has been a lack of evidence that action is needed. Just ask the family of Matthew Denice. Nicolas Guaman, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador with a record of prior arrests, stands accused of being behind the wheel of a pickup truck that struck and killed Denice last year. Had Secure Communities been in place when Guaman was arrested back in 2008 for assaulting a cop, it is no exaggeration to say Denice might still be alive.
Patrick has long insisted he couldn’t unilaterally “join” Secure Communities. And he’s right. But he certainly could have lobbied his friends at the White House to include Massachusetts among the active states sooner, which he refused to do.
In a recent speech the governor decried immigration laws in other states that establish “an environment of fear.” But what of the very legitimate fears of those who choose to abide by the rules of this commonwealth and this country? As the state’s chief executive Patrick should put their needs first.
Say, what’s wrong with one DUI being the deportation marker? The Grassley change would not have saved Sister Denise Mosier from drunk Bolivian Carlos Montano, who [...]]]>
Say, what’s wrong with one DUI being the deportation marker? The Grassley change would not have saved Sister Denise Mosier from drunk Bolivian Carlos Montano, who had two previous DUI arrests before the third one which killed the Virginia nun.
The Grassley amendment would not have saved young Matthew Denice (pictured) from being dragged to death by a drunk illegal alien from Ecuador. Nicolas Guaman had several previous arrests, including the assault of a police officer, but there were no earlier DUIs, and he was not deported.
A better idea would be the Scott Gardner Act first introduced by Rep Sue Myrick (R-NC) in 2005: the upshot of which is “You’re drunk, you’re driving, you’re illegal, you’re deported, period.”
She continues to re-introduce the bill in every session of Congress.
For some reason, the Human Events report emphasized Obama’s illegal alien Uncle Omar. At least he didn’t kill anyone, unlike many other drunk-driving illegal aliens; you can say that in his favor.
]]>‘Uncle Omar’ amendment would send drunk driving aliens home, Human Events, February 3, 2012
America’s favorite drunk-driving illegal alien uncle could be on his way home if he continues his drunk driving ways. At its Feb. 2 meeting, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 18-0 to pass an amendment by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R.-Iowa), which would change current statutes to make habitual drunk driving cause for deportation, but Democrats voted to strike language that would have made the provision retroactive. Habitual drunk driving is defined as having three DUI convictions. If it was retroactive, it would mean bittersweet homecomings for many out-of-status visitors to our shores.
It would also mean a difficult situation for “sanctuary” cities and towns that do not report illegal aliens they encounter to federal authorities. If each new drunk driving conviction equals one third of a guaranteed deportation, immigration law nullifiers may start charging drunk driving illegals with something else.
When he was arrested Aug. 31 in Framingham, Mass., after he nearly crashed his SUV into a police cruiser, Onyango Obama, better known as “Uncle Omar,” the 67-year-old liquor store clerk with a presidential nephew, told police he would use his one phone call to call the White House.
The current charge for driving under the influence is Obama’s first offense. Currently a guest of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts awaiting trial, if Uncle Omar is convicted after the new law takes effect; he will already be down his first strike. In offering his amendment, Grassley said, “Every day more people are getting killed by drunk drivers, who get behind the wheel after drinking alcohol or exercising poor judgment.” The Iowa senator said non-citizen resident drunk drivers certainly are not demonstrating the good moral character required by many benefits and by the Immigration and Nationality Act. In the Washington-area, this tragic truth was brought back to the fore by the Feb. 3 sentencing of illegal alien Carlos Martinelly Montano to 20 years of incarceration for his Aug. 1, 2010 drunk driving accident when Benedictine Sister Denise Mosier was killed.
In another Massachusetts case, Eduardo Alementa Torres, an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested Sept. 21, while driving with an open beer bottle, racking up his sixth DUI charge. Because Democrats blocked the retroactive language, Torres, and those like him, got a back door amnesty and will start with a new slate. In the case of Torres, he would not face deportation until after his ninth DUI.
Leading the opposition to the retroactive provision, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D.-Vt.), said, “I am always worried about making something retroactive.” Leahy is the committee’s chairman. ”Changing the rules goes against the sense of fair play Americans have,” he said. After refusing to consent to striking the retroactive language, which was included in his 2006 effort to deport habitual drunk drivers, Grassley, the committee’s senior Republican, forced Leahy to have a roll call vote, which was resolved by party line, with both Grassley and Leahy voting for absent colleagues, who had pledged their support in advance of the hearing. This is the practice of “proxy voting.”