Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf, right, praised Ray Tranchant for trying to counter criticisms against the city while his family is in mourning. L. TODD SPENCER/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Posted on 04/06/2007 9:58:35 AM PDT by doug from upland
Virginia Beach leaders strike back at Fox's Bill O'Reilly
Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf, right, praised Ray Tranchant for trying to counter criticisms against the city while his family is in mourning. L. TODD SPENCER/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
By JON FRANK AND DEIRDRE FERNANDES, The Virginian-Pilot © April 6, 2007
VIRGINIA BEACH - City leaders launched a counterattack against Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly on Thursday, calling him a "TV show gadfly" after he blamed the city in the deaths of two teenagers and accused local leaders of providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants.
Faced with angry e-mails and a potential black eye just before the start of tourist season, city officials called a news conference to defend themselves in a case that is drawing national attention.
City leaders tried to shift the debate about the recent deaths of Alison Kunhardt, 17, and Tessa Tranchant, 16, away from illegal immigration and onto drunken driving. Alfredo Ramos, 22, the man charged with aggravated involuntary manslaughter in their deaths, had a record of three alcohol-related convictions and was in the country illegally.
Ray Tranchant, Tessa's father, urged people not to treat the tragedy like "a political football."
"There's been some politicizing and mudslinging against the city," Tranchant said in a quiet voice. He added that he trusts "justice will be done."
Police Chief Jake Jacocks Jr. said he found it "ironic that had the intoxicated driver been born and raised in Virginia Beach, little notice would have been given to this senseless tragedy by the media or the community at large.
"Unfortunately, most who have been outspoken about this recent and all-too-common tragedy have lost perspective and focus," he said.
Ramos, born in Mexico, has been in the United States for seven years. He is in jail without bond and faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted.
Background: After previous crimes, why wasn't illegal status detected? Video clip: Geraldo Rivera and O'Reilly go at it over the Beach case
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Ramos' case was the lead story on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Wednesday night.
"Ramos was a known scofflaw," O'Reilly told David Kunhardt, Alison's father. "The authorities in your town would not obey the law, defied the law of the land, and somebody has to be held accountable."
O'Reilly added that local authorities, including Mayor Meyera Oberndorf and the Chesapeake judge who heard Ramos' misdemeanor DUI case, are villains.
O'Reilly was castigating a Virginia Beach policy that forbids patrol officers from asking the immigration status of defendants charged with misdemeanors.
Jacocks said the policy is similar to those used by other large cities and is necessary so that illegal immigrants will report crimes and help in the prosecution of crimes without fear of retribution from law enforcement.
Jacocks, along with his leadership command, crafted the policy and put it into practice in September 2005. "As chief of police, it is my policy," he said.
O'Reilly jabbed at Judge Colon Whitehurst for giving Ramos a "lenient" DUI sentence of 90 days suspended, a $250 fine and a one-year suspension of his driver's license. The sentence was within legal guidelines.
"Your town, Virginia Beach, Mayor Oberndorf, sanctuary city, orders the police not to contact the feds," O'Reilly said to Kunhardt.
Oberndorf seemed almost bewildered by the criticism.
"Neither I nor any member of the council have adopted any legislation to make this a sanctuary city," she said.
She has rarely taken a stance on immigration locally, but as a participant in the U.S. conference of mayors, she has urged President Bush to reform the country's immigration policies and called the proposal to build the 300-mile fence along the Mexico border "un-American."
Oberndorf praised Ray Tranchant on Thursday for coming forward to counter the criticism leveled at the city, especially during a time when his family is grieving the loss of Tessa.
"He said he wanted to stand with me to set the record straight about what happened to his daughter," Oberndorf said.
But anger boiled over after the O'Reilly segment.
The city received more than 40 e-mails and half a dozen phone calls in the aftermath of the show.
Some tourists said they were canceling their vacation plans in Virginia Beach because O'Reilly called it a sanctuary city, City Manager Jim Spore said.
Local residents also e-mailed with concerns about how the city was portrayed and wanted to find out more information about immigration laws, Spore said.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Rep. Thelma Drake, R - 2nd District, also have been bombarded with reactions to the show.
"People are outraged," said Tyler Brown, a spokesman for Drake. Publicity about the incident also has sparked a "definite increase" in calls, letters and e-mails to Drake's Virginia Beach office, he said.
"They want to know why the system failed and what can be done to fix it," Brown said.
Kevin Hall, a spokesman for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, said his office received about 20 telephone calls about the issue.
Hall said three callers referred to immigration proposals by Attorney General Bob McDonnell or bills on the topic that had been considered by the General Assembly this year but that most seemed to be generated solely by the television show.
"We're telling callers that immigration is a federal responsibility," Hall said. "We're already undermanned in the State Police and reluctant to order them to do the federal government's job."
Staff writers Dale Eisman and Christina Nuckols contributed to this report.
• Reach Deirdre Fernandes at (757) 222-5121 or at deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com.n Reach Jon Frank at (757) 222-5122 or jon.frank@pilotonline.com.
The fact is simple — had this scumbag not been in our country, two girls would still be alive.
Or if he had not been drunk...
I don’t always agree with O’Reilly, but he’s absolutely right on this one. If this illegal immigrant had been shipped back to Mexico after previous infractions of the law—like coming here illegally in the first place—it’s likely those two girls would still be alive.
Point taken. Nevertheless, he shouldn’t have been here.
The number of Americans killed by illegal aliens is staggering.
The point is he had been involved in several previous alcohol related incidents (to include 1 or two other DUIs) which were adjudicated somewhat differently because of his immigration status...or lack thereof.
Sounds like dad is still in shock. Nothing will bring his kids back.
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
I agree, but the mayor and the police, cannot deport anyone. There should be more pressure put on the employers by the feds. If there are no jobs available to them, then there won’t be any illegals.
AND, he’s had several previous run-ins with the police. They don’t want to report a person’s immigration status to the Feds? What cr@p!
That’s true, but if he had not been drunk that night, the girls would still be alive, whether he was an illegal alien or not.
I do not know all of the circumstances of this case, but it is for a fact another tragedy that could have and should have been prevented God Bless those kids family. That being said, I think the laws we have are sufficient.
Hopefully I don’t get flamed too bad, but here is what I think some possible solutions are;
1- no border fence(reminds me of the Berlin Wall and other walls or fences remember Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall” this seems to fly in the face of that famous statement), let the border agents and DEA do their jobs as best they can at the border.
2- Why do they come here? Because people hire them! it’s where the candy is! We need to go after people who employ illegals, (take away the candy!) and by that I mean anyone who hires them, from the homeowners, farmers, small businesses to Corporations that has them do their yard work, or any other labor in on or around any of their property. When I say go after them I mean when they are caught I would charge them with hiring an illegal, make them pay the prevailing wage (for that area) for whatever work they were performing, pay all taxes that would have been paid everyone else who plays by all the rules, they would also have to pay for their incarceration and deportation!
3- The money collected would go back to the community that was affected be these “traitors” to train welfare “lifers” and folks who do try for gainful employment but cannot afford getting paid less than half of what would normally be paid to do thes jobs. However, there is one thing in this whole illegal alian thing I just cannot seem to grasp, I have turned in illegals to local law enforcement and was told it was not their problem, are they not breaking the law? Isn’t that what law enforcement does? ENFORCE the LAW! I was not aware they could choose which laws they could choose to enforce! I received a speeding ticket on the highway by a sheriff, he is not the highway patrol, this should not have been his problem, right? I now wonder what his response would have been if I would have told him that speeding on the highway is not his problem and I know he understands, so I’ll see ya later bye bye! I have contacted a couple of local unions and they said their is nothing they could do, but their “trying”, they always seem to be having a meeting with county and state representatives about this issue. They all claim possible discrimination, and I told them IT IS! IT DISCIMINATES AGAINST LAW BREAKERS! This is just the beginning, theres more to it, I’m just putting this out as a “feeler” to read what you all think, or not!
Uh....
To be a gadfly is to be somewhat edgy, sometimes a little irresponsible, sometimes getting into the face of your adversary, and perhaps a little bit of insanity. It’s not that difficult to get there.
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FReeper exclusive interview with attorney Matt Burns -- Austin sanctuary lawsuit dismissed
phone conversation | 12-26-06 | dfu
Posted on 04/26/2006 11:39:55 AM PDT by doug from upland
FREEPER THREAD DISCUSSING THE CASE
Some of you may have followed this case:
Lawsuit Challenges Austin's Sanctuary Status [TX] WOAI ^ | 11/7/2005 | Jim Forsyth
Posted on 11/07/2005 6:46:47 PM PST by ncountylee
The family of murdered St. Edwards University freshman Virginia Garcia have filed suit against the city of Austin, claiming Austin's status as a so called 'sanctuary city' led to Garcia's murder, 1200 WOAI news reported today.
The 18 year old Garcia, who was known as Jenny, was stabbed to death insider her northwest Austin home, and police arrested an illegal alien, David Diaz Morales, 20, whom they said was 'infatuated' with Garcia. Morales was also charged with burglarizing Garcia's home.
Attorney Matt Burns said Austin's very controversial policy of prohibiting police and other local officials from referring cases to federal authorities for immigration law violations and deportation led to Garcia's murder, and is also in violation of federal law.
"The Austin police department has both informal and written procedures which actually prohibit police officers from cooperating with federal immigration authorities," Burns said.
Burns said the fact that Morales re-entered the United States after being deported, and the fact that he had previously been charged in the sexual assault of a child, would have qualified him for immediate deportation, meaning that he would not have been in Austin to murder Jenny Garcia, but that didn't happen because of Austin's 'sanctuary' law.
"He had been deported from this country once and re-entered, which is a felony offense," Burns said. "And prior to the murder of Ms. Garcia, Mr. Morales had also been arrested in the alleged sexual assault of a 12 year old."
Morales is held in the Travis County jail without bond on a capital murder charge.
There are more than a dozen so called 'sanctuary cities' across the United States, from Portland Oregon to Chicago to Houston. The Sanctuary City policy generally forbids local law enforcement officers from checking on, or reporting, a person's immigration status.
---end excerpt---
I just spoke with the attorney who filed the case, Matt Burns. Unfortunately, a federal court judge dismissed the federal case, ruling that there was no federal jurisdiction. The time to refile has almost expired, and it looks as if the circumstances will not allow it to be refiled.
Matt is a lurker on FreeRepublic.
He is trying to find a police officer who is willing to take on his boss, the department, the city, and the unions that are sympathetic to the illegal invasion. There may be a 1st Amendment issue that has merit relative to reporting criminals to the INS.
It should be the 1st Amendment right of a police officer to report a criminal illegal alien to the INS. The government should not be able to interfere with that right and threaten his job or cause him grief on the job. Matt is looking to bring the case in Houston. If any of you know a really, really tough cop who wants to take on the challenge, please spread the word to him.
There has been at least one good thing to come out of the tragedy. State and district judges now inform the INS of convicted felons. That is at least a step forward. But the challenge remains to stop this nonsense of sanctuary in which government officials are thumbing the nose at the law and helping to destroy this country.
I think you have to start as a gadegg. Then you hatch into a gadmaggot, then a gadpupa, and finally you break out into a gadfly.
Mizz Mayor’s right up to a point. Yeah, the issue is that Senor Yahoo was loaded and behind the wheel and killed two girls. But good grief, maybe Virginia Beach needs to go sort through their DUI stats for the past few years and see how many of the drunk drivers are illegals. Mexican and Central American emigres, ESPECIALLY illegals, have a DUI rate that’s far higher than the average. That’s not racism, that’s FACT.
}:-)4
If he'd have been on the other side of the border where he was supposed to be, it doesn't matter how drunk he was; the girls would still be alive. The fact of the matter is, this character came to the attention of law enforcement at least 2-3 times before this incident, and no efforts were made to deport him....the local authorities as I understand it, were operating under a policy that prohibited them from contact the feds, and are therefore culpable. Frankly, if the guy chooses to drink himself into a stupor every night, and drive a car in that condition, I'm perfectly fine with it, as long as he does so in Juarez, Mexico City, or whatever hole he climbed out of.
Had this guy been an American Citizen, repeat offender, that's bad enough, and in a sense, I agree with the father in that he doesn't want his daughter's death to become a political football. But, our governments at the local, state, and federal level have a duty to our citizenry, and all of which failed miserably in this and far too numerous near-identical incidents.
“The number of Americans killed by illegal aliens is staggering.”
More here
http://www.immigrationshumancost.org/
...so we have an illegal alien who had been found guilty *twice* before of driving drunk who’s just killed two innocent people and Bill O’Reilly is the bad guy for reporting it?
So in Virginia Beach if someone gets shot we need to ban guns, but if someone gets run over by an illegal alien with a history of DUI we need to ban Fox News?
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