Posted on 03/02/2004 11:24:36 PM PST by JohnHuang2
An illegal immigrant pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of intoxicants for the fourth time in four years.
Andres Lopez-Cortes, 31, has been deported at least once to Mexico, but returned to the Seattle area where he slammed into a car driven by a 17-year-old who was stopped at a traffic light Dec. 31, the local King County Journal reported. The teenager, Paul Conley, suffered whiplash.
Lopez-Cortes also pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of hit-and-run driving. A judge in Auburn, Wash., fined him $5,000, but suspended $3,500, and ordered him to pay court costs and restitution for damages to the car and medical bills, the Journal said.
Federal immigration officials have been notified about the case, but Auburn officials said they didn't know what immigration action might be taken.
Illegal immigrants convicted in a U.S. court generally serve their sentences before any deportation action is considered, according to immigration officials.
Marie Sebrechts, a spokeswoman for the new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said she couldn't speculate on whether Lopez-Cortes might be deported again, the Seattle-area paper reported.
When considering deportation, illegal immigrants with multiple illegal entries generally are given highest priority, immigration officials said.
Lopez-Cortes was arrested for driving under the influence in July 1998, April 1999, July 2000 and May 2002, court records show. He received a one-year jail sentence after his May 2002 arrest.
Despite being an illegal immigrant, Lopez-Cortes apparently had a driver's license. In addition to his four arrests, he had been cited four times for driving with a suspended license.
He had no insurance, however, and Conley had no coverage for uninsured drivers.
Conley told the Journal he doubts he will be reimbursed for the more than $2,000 it will cost to repair his customized car.
"Besides the loss of my car, I have back pain now, and I have no idea how long I'll be having back pain,'' he said. "I don't think it's really fair at all."
Conley's mother, Patricia Matthews, said she's mad "the system'' didn't handle Lopez-Cortes properly.
"This is going to be the kind of situation that's going to continue,'' she told the paper. "My concern is that he's going to come back and do it again and kill somebody."
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...they want this guy to be called an undocumented "WORKER"
...hmmm, I guess he is working to kill someone on our roads.
(but if your or I ever exceed 0.08 even ONCE and try to drove home, we'd lose our cars, pay $100K in legal fees, PLUS serve a year in jail!)
fat chance. The guy probably can't keep a job, so he gets a paycheck from taxpayers. His own medical too.
Oh yea, and his kids are no doubt in public schools, except for his oldest ones, taxpayer funded college?
Title says it all - deportation? What deportation?
I hope at least that the Matthews were one of those pro-open borders types. There are some people who really deserve to be rammed into by these kind of guys.
The break into the country illegally ... what makes you think they are going to obey lesser laws like traffic ones ?
Shoot this bastard as an object lesson to the rest.
The drivers license is the document that got him across the border. This is the exact reason we shouldn't be giving illegals drivers licenses.
Jackelope Breeder or Marine Inspector told me that an illegal alien who is caught by the Border Patrol in Arizona gets 10 tries to sneak across the borderbefore s/he is sent to the Judge for deportation.
I think deportation charges require the person be held in confinement until going up before the judge. Too costly!
Yes, & the state of Washington aids & abets the illegals crossing the borders, since they issue illegals licenses.
http://www.visalaw.com/04feb2/14feb204.html
(snip) In Washington State, a lawmaker proposed a bill that would encourage financial institutions and local government to accept the matricular consular. While the state accepts the card to identify those who are applying for driver’s licenses, individuals are also required to show supporting pieces of identification. However, an applicant is not required to show that they are in the country legally.
and giving them drivers licenses would enable them to purchase insurance
in Mexico, a 100 peso handshake resolves any traffic stop for drunk driving - the illegals don't have any idea of the gravity of driving drunk when they come here
Correct.
good point, we have enough people driving drunk here in the US that we don't need to be importing more from México
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