Hard-working, decent, honest people right?

Townhall.com ^ | November 21, 2008 | Mike Gallagher

[Kaslin]

It was just an ordinary Wednesday evening for me. Run to the bank, grab some groceries, and head home. As I approached a busy intersection, I watched as a pick-up truck made a crazy, unexpected left turn directly into the path of an oncoming car.

The crash sent pieces of metal flying in all directions.

Smoke poured from the front of the sedan occupied by a young woman.

The pick-up driver backed up a few feet -- and then, unbelievably, he sped off.

It took my brain a few seconds to comprehend what was happening: in broad daylight, during rush hour traffic with people everywhere, this guy was actually peeling off and trying to escape the accident scene.

I decided to do something of which my wife would have definitely disapproved. I didn't want this jerk to get away with what he did and he obviously was running away for a reason.

So off I went, cellphone pressed to my ear while calling 911.

I wasn't alone. I guess in our post 9/11 world, more Americans are getting involved than ever before. Next to me was a lady driving a big SUV, in front of me was a guy in a little sports car. The three of us were determined to follow this guy and get the police to dispense justice.

As this strange medium-speed chase proceeded, I noticed the guy's pick-up truck was wobbling all over the road. The impact of the accident bent one of his tires dramatically, making his escape pretty unlikely. And that explained why he wasn't driving any faster than he was. He couldn't.

About a mile down the road, he finally pulled over into a parking lot, smoke pouring out of the front of his pick-up. I noticed that there was yard care equipment in the back of the truck.

Both doors opened and four Hispanic men, all covered in dirt from a day spent working outside, poured out of the vehicle.

Suddenly, it seemed pretty obvious why the men were fleeing the scene.

I was a witness to a scenario played out on a regular basis in the USA. The odds were pretty good that these were not legal citizens of our country. Without a drivers license or insurance, they knew that after they had the accident, their best chance was to try and get away as quickly as possible.

Never mind that a young woman minding her own business driving down the street could have been killed. These guys wouldn't dream of taking responsibility for what they did.

They are part of an army of people who is constantly defended by people who like to claim that illegals are just hard-working, decent, honest people.

These guys in the truck might be hard-working, but running from a car accident they caused sure doesn't bring the terms “decent” or “honest” to mind.

And as one of the bystanders said to me, if their tire wasn't bent so badly, wouldn't it be likely that they would have been tearing down the road at a high rate of speed, putting every man, woman and child's life in their path in danger?

This is the dirty little secret about illegal immigration.

While people debate labor costs and the economic aspects of illegals, very few want to focus on the kind of crime I witnessed.

When you sneak into a country and hope to stay off the radar by refusing to pay taxes or be an official part of our society, this is something that is bound to happen, over and over again.

And it does.

In Tempe, Arizona, a beautiful young high school band member was killed by a drunk driving illegal immigrant, a man who was cited two years ago for the very same offense, driving while intoxicated.

It seems to me that if we do anything at all, we can at least deport illegals who drive drunk, beat their wives, or rob someone. When the police arrived at the parking lot where the four men in the pick-up were waiting, they were met with a brick wall of silence. Who was driving? No answer. Do you speak English? Nothing. Why did you guys run? Silence.

Fortunately, the lady in the SUV knew exactly who was driving and pointed him out to the police. Within minutes, he was in handcuffs being led away to jail. One down. How many more to go?

We can't count that high.

[a real Sheila]

It happens EVERY DAY here in Ga.!
A friend and her daughter were rear-ended in their brand new Acura by a truckload of illegals 2 years ago. The illegals tried to flee, but there was a major traffic jam on the interstate and they could not escape.

Later the highway patrol officer was talking to my friend and said, “I advise you to just suck it up, use your uninsured motorist insurance and move on. Pursuing this in court will bring you NOTHING and just cost you more money. I see this every day.”

There was an incident a few years ago here in Macon Ga in which a car load of illegals caused an accident one night (they were all drunk) and they pulled off the road and all ran into the woods. They didn’t know where they were and ended up all falling into a creek and drowning.

[henkster]

I’m a capitalist; this is a capitalist problem. So long as there is a demand for the illegal immigrant that provides low-wage unskilled labor, there will be a supply of them. We have to modify the demand so that the illegal immigrant is eliminated, or raise the cost to the immigrant.

First the immigrant needs to be supplanted by a domestic worker. Best way to do this is to cut off and eliminate all government support for the unskilled American labor force. They work or they starve. Second, eliminate the “minimum wage” so that American citizens can compete. The illegal immigrant gets along just fine without a minimum wage. So can Americans. Third, militarize the border, making it physically more difficult for the immigrant to get here. Fourth, amend the constitution to only state that the protections of the 14th Amendment only apply to those lawfully within the United States.

Not gonna happen, but it’s what needs to happen.

[stevie_d_64]

And they let 3500 walk out the door at the Harris County lockup this last week because the federal government can’t keep up with the process...

Or lack thereof...

And these were not just your run of the mill (dooing the jobs that Americans won’t do) illegal aliens...

Most were hard criminals with a history of rape, and other serious crimes...

So we now have more criminals on the streets in Houston who should have been put on a bus driven to the border and cattle-prodded back across the bridge...At the very least...

But hey, (insert excuses here)...

It is only going to get worse...

[Roses0508]

Same kind of thing in NC - I had front row seat to an accident where a van driven by a latino ran a red light and took out two other vehicles. Several people chased him down and I hung around to give particulars to the police. He totalled the other two cars. I was directly behind the second and thankful to have been no more than a witness.

My observation was that the guy didn’t have a license and very little English - or he was being careful not to use his English.

[bcsco]

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[dforest]

Here in Indianapolis, on the Southside, a 15 year old boy was hit by a car and died earlier this week on his way to school.

The driver was a Hispanic man driving without a license.

Indiana, and Governor Daniels, have a rotten record of cracking down on illegals.

They need to be sued for failure to protect citizens from illegals.

Sad story.

[jwparkerjr]

I heard this being described on his show yesterday. He completely failed to notice that he and the other two drivers were adding an awful lot to the danger of the situation. Three drivers, probably none of whom is qualified to conduct a traffic pursuit, and in any event none of the required equipment for those who are authorized to pursue, chasing a fleeing car in Atlanta traffic is a recipe for disaster.

[DiogenesLaertius]

Well with the economic downturn, the demand for illegals and unskilled labor in general is way down. Hopefully they go back to where they came from and stay there. Good riddance.

[Monsieur Poirot]

One went to jail. And the other three?

[Kaslin]

I don’t see anything in the editorial about anyone going to jail, but then it was probably the driver for fleeing the scene of an accident.

[Carley]

Within minutes the handcuffed man would be released back into society.

[stevie_d_64]

You’re kidding, right???

An economic downturn here, is a lot better to weather out than going home to their homebase, even on a good day...

I wouldn’t...

[grey_whiskers]

Hey Jorge Arbusta,

How's that amnesty idea working out?

Pretty good for YOU.

Sucks for the US.

Bush swallows.

[Kozak]

Don’t worry. Won’t be a problem much longer. The new administration will just legalize the lot of them. With help from across the aisle by Senator McCain and his friends.
This is what America voted for after all. In a democracy, you get the government you deserve....

[agere_contra]

Thanks to those three, one(1) bad driver was taken off the streets.

The mealy-mouthed insistence that American citizens should not try to uphold the law, but leave it to the useless tits who can't uphold the law even though that's their fragging job trained professionals is part of what's wrong here.

[Taichi]

Saw the same thing last June here in Powder Springs GA. A white van (why are they always white vans?) crashed into a car in the Kroger parking lot right in front of me, peeled out and went the wrong way on a one way entrance crossed two lanes and jumped a median. My wife,bless her got the tag number and a policeman we know happen to be in the store. When a patrol officer arrived he said the tag was stolen from a Toyota and he didn’t have a clue where to look for them.
He essentially told the owner of the car there was nothing he could do.

[Mad Dawg]

On the money, uh, so to speak.

Our tax dollars, converted into transfer payments, make the difference between unemployment and stoop labor so small that many prefer unemployment.

We thus make the market for illegal labor.

[Slump Tester]

"Within minutes, he was in handcuffs being led away to jail."

Within a few hours, he was probably back out on the street again.

If he was injured, guess who would be paying his hospital tab?

[Taichi]

Follow up on previous post: Forgot to say it was of course a van filled with Hispanics.