Posted on 04/03/2009 4:12:18 AM PDT by Man50D
In emotional testimony before a House joint panel this week, a Virginia man recalled the death of his teenage daughter in 2007 – a death caused by an illegal immigrant who was driving drunk and who had been arrested twice before the crime, but was not deported.
“Two years ago this week, my 16-year-old daughter, Tessa, and her best friend Allison were killed as they were sitting at in intersection waiting for a red light to change,” Ray Tranchant said, as friends placed a photograph of Tessa Tranchant on an easel behind him.
Since his daughter’s death, Tranchant, a professor from VIrginia Beach, has become an advocate for the enforcement of immigration law.
On Thursday, as Tranchant applauded local law enforcement in Virginia for its increased efforts to work with federal immigration authorities since his daughter’s death, he referred to individuals listed on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s database of illegal aliens with criminal backgrounds as “banditos.”
That comment drew a rebuff from Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.).
“Mr. Tranchant, can I share with you as the father of two daughters, I thank you for bringing your testimony here, but I suggest to you that if we refer to people as banditos, as you referred to them in your testimony, it does not help to solve the problem,” Gutierrez said.
Witnesses on the first panel were called to testify about ICE’s ACCESS program, the 287(g) law passed by Congress in 1996 that allows state and local law enforcement agencies to voluntarily sign up for training to enforce federal immigration law in their jurisdictions.
Some on the subcommittee charged that the law has led to widespread racial profiling and other abuses.
In other testimony before a joint hearing of subcommittees on immigration, border security, the Constitution, and civil rights, Julio Cesar Mora, a 19-year-old American citizen who lives in Maricopa County, Arizona, told the committee that he and his father, who is a legal resident, were detained and harassed by sheriff officers while driving to his father’s workplace.
Antonia Ramirez, a community activist from Frederick, Maryland, said that even though he and many of his fellow Hispanics are citizens, they are often the victims of discrimination. He said illegal aliens often refuse to report crimes and even suffer abuse because they fear their families will be separated by deportation.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said he was surprised by the contrast of the witnesses’ testimony.
“I think I’m seeing the embodiment of a great big problem we have in this country and the result of it is the loss of lives, the loss of innocent human lives,” King said. “And I listen to professor Tranchant’s testimony. You have to know that he’s here to tell you today that if we had enforced local immigration law, his daughter would still be alive. Tessa and Ali would still be alive. And that’s true for hundreds, perhaps thousands of Americans who go about their lives every day, seeking to make the world a better place.”
Rep. King said the testimony by Ramirez and Mora seemed designed to persuade lawmakers that enforcing immigration laws is not a good policy.
“The message I get from you is that we shouldn’t enforce local immigration law because there are some examples of discrimination,” King said. “I don’t argue that it never happens. But I ask you, can you look at this on balance? Can you see the difference between the plea that you have made to this committee and the plea that Mr. Tranchant has made to this committee? Can you look him in the eye and say we should pass everybody over?”
“The comparison to what looks like an inconvenience to either one of you compared to the very sacred life of this man’s daughter,” King said.
Tranchant, whose mother immigrated to the United States from Ireland, told the committee he was shocked to learn the facts about the man who killed his daughter when the man was tried for vehicular manslaughter.
“I heard at the trial that Alfredo Ramos should have been and could have been deported long before he killed my daughter,” Tranchant said. “In fact, this wasn’t the first time he’d been involved in this kind of an incident. It wasn’t even the second time. Ramos had been arrested twice before.”
“Instead of being deported to his home country, he stayed on the streets of Virginia Beach to drink, drive, and kill these two beautiful girls in a way that showed wanton disrespect for the laws of our land,” he said.
Ramos, whose blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit, was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
But Rep. Gutierrez said he thought the committee was “missing the point.”
“I think we’re missing the point of the testimony here this morning and just so we have it very clear, no one ever has debated, promoted law that does not deport drunks, that does not deport rapists and murderers,” Gutierrez said. “Part of the problem is, it’s been said here by some of my colleagues on the other side -- enforce the law.”
“This Congress and the government of the United States has not shown the political will nor committed the requisite resources to enforce the immigration law,” he said. “The only way to really do that is to have comprehensive immigration reform. You either sweep millions and millions of people off the streets of the United States of America, which no one is going to propose. So it’s always a little disingenuous to me when people say only enforce the law.”
“What I have seen, unfortunately, is the will to target and to victimize and to scapegoat a community of people,” Gutierrez said. “I have seen that readily here. It makes for great political points but it doesn’t solve the problem and would not have saved your daughter’s life."
Gutierrez said anti-immigrant sentiment is not new in this country.
“The Irish [were] the dirty, filthy element that was coming here to undermine America. Well, it gave us a President Kennedy,” he said.
Rep. Gutierrez recently embarked on a five-week tour, visiting 16 American cities, to “document the harm” caused by the lack of “comprehensive immigration reform.” As part of his Family Unity Immigration Outreach Tour, Gutierrez held community meetings for U.S. citizens whose families are at risk of “being torn apart by a broken immigration system.”
Gutierrez’ critics, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform, say he is “promoting amnesty for millions of illegal aliens and the dismantling of immigration law enforcement programs.”
IMHO, the good Congresscritter’s attitude toward his constituent, and toward his job, that is the problem here...
Laws for thee but not for me (or those I decide can skate).
Day by day and in every way our congress is moving the people in this country more toward vigilante justice to right wrongs. If they won’t enforce the laws, who will?
People like this asshole congressman don’t get it, people are not against immigration or legal immigrants, they are dead set against immigrant criminals being given a pass by making excuses for their conduct and worse condoning it. The best recent example is the Zero’s aunt who has thumbed her nose at two deportation orders and is now awaiting another “hearing” set for NEXT YEAR all the while living in subsidized housing at the taxpayers expense.
Vince
With all the Bull crap going on right now with the Comrade Obama, and Post, I’m starting to know how the folks felt at Lexington and Concord.
Apparently no one explained to Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) that Immigration Enforcement has a Positive Effect for both Legal Latinos and US Citizens of all colors. Without so many ILLEGAL Aliens driving cars all over the place and killing or maiming people, the Police would not be “profiling” Latino (or Middle Eastern looking) people. The Police could try to prevent or solve crimes and catch criminals.
Someone from IL please write Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and tell him he’s confused about the Laws of the Land.
IF every burglar were behind bars, the Police wouldn’t be looking for burglars. If EVERY Illegal Alien were sent back to his/her home Country (WITH spouse and children as there’s NO LAW that says US born babies have to stay in the USofA, but can go back to their parents’ home country), the Police could concentrate on other law breakers.
Enforced Immigration is a Win-Win Proposition for Legal Immigrants AND US Citizens.
Rep. Gutierrez is from Chicago. Need I say more?
Ping!
Our world truly is upside down
If anyone talks to this dumb a$$, let him know I have, I do, and I will continue to propose it.
Gutierrez - ENEMY.
“The Irish [were] the dirty, filthy element that was coming here to undermine America. Well, it gave us a President Kennedy,” he said.
Gutierrez is a total dumbass with this argument. For the record, JFK's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was a third generation American of Irish ancestry whose grandfather entered the country legally.
His mother, Rose Fitzgerald, was an ninth generation American of English ancestry who were here before the revolution.
The issue isn't even how long anyone's ancestors have been here, it is whether they have gone through a fairly simple and straightforward process to come here legally.
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