Posted on 10/27/2016 5:40:23 AM PDT by TigerClaws
On Nov. 1, 2006, I found my wife, Adrienne Shelly, dead in her West Village office. Adrienne, an actor and filmmaker, had been brutally murdered by a 19-year-old undocumented Ecuadorean construction worker; he later said they were having an argument and, fearing she would report him and have him deported, he killed her and staged her death so it would appear to be a suicide. Our daughter was just 2 years old at the time.
Given the anger and grief I still feel, I could easily be seduced by Donald J. Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric that is the cornerstone of his presidential run. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,” he said as he began his campaign in 2015. And in these final weeks before the election, rather than tacking to the middle, he seems to be doubling down. “We’ve got some bad hombres,” he said in last week’s debate, referring to immigrants who commit crimes. And it’s not just Mr. Trump. In the years since Adrienne’s murder I’ve received several offers from prominent members of the conservative media, including Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly, to speak out on this issue and give legitimacy to right-wing anti-immigrant sentiment. Who better than a Democrat to attack an entire segment of our population, right? But Adrienne was not murdered by an illegal immigrant, per se. She fell victim to a depraved killer who simply happened to be an undocumented immigrant. It is an obvious distinction, almost too obvious, but it’s an important one to consider as the country goes further down the dangerous path of demonizing those not born here.
At his rallies and during the debates, Mr. Trump has painted a dark picture of an America overrun by foreign criminals who come here to rape, pillage and murder our innocent civilians. He opposes any form of amnesty for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, taking a hard-line law-and-order stand that has brought millions of voters to his camp. He uses murders like Adrienne’s — though never hers specifically, fortunately — as political props. His “solution” includes a deportation force that would separate people from their families and “send them back to wherever they came from.”
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Adrienne’s killer, Diego Pillco, plea-bargained a murder conviction that sentenced him to 25 years with no parole and no ability to appeal. It was a tough case. He had no clear motive, and there were no witnesses to the crime. The district attorney’s office advised me to accept the deal rather than go to trial. It was an agonizing decision: roll the dice for a life sentence or possibly end up with a manslaughter conviction, with her killer receiving a meager three to five years in prison. We took the deal. It was, simply, a business decision, albeit one with a hefty emotional price tag. Her killer will be deported upon his release, walking this earth a free man at 44 years old, while Adrienne’s vibrant life was snuffed out at 40.
His reason for killing Adrienne, and the relatively lenient sentence he received, certainly feeds Mr. Trump’s xenophobic, fear-mongering narrative. But beyond the rhetoric, there’s no clear cause and effect. His rationale was no different from that of an American citizen who in the act of a crime kills his “witness” to avoid prosecution and imprisonment. Attributing his heinous act to his immigration status dilutes the more relevant truth that he lacked the ability to know right from wrong and had zero respect for human life. Yes, we have an immigration problem that is in desperate need of reform. Yes, some illegal immigrants commit crimes, some of them violent. But so do blacks, whites, Asians, Christians and Jews. Mr. Trump often claims that two million undocumented immigrants have been convicted of crimes, but in fact the figure is actually 176,000, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The reality is, Americans have appreciably more to fear from their fellow citizens than from undocumented immigrants. It’s politically expedient for xenophobic agitators like Mr. Trump to scapegoat the millions of foreigners who have come to the United States in search of a better life. But his malevolence toward immigrants runs counter to the principles on which our great nation was founded. It’s disheartening to see so many people being swept out to sea in a riptide of ignorance and hate.
America was created by, is governed by and — with the exception of Native Americans — is inhabited by immigrants and their descendants, generations of whom came here to escape religious and ethnic persecution. That millions of people face a similar fate on our soil is deplorable. We should be thanking them, as America’s greatness is attributed to their blood, sweat, vision, perseverance, dedication and brilliance. While I believe that the country must do more to secure its borders, deport noncitizen criminals and protect Americans from foreign terrorists, I also believe we must find a realistic, humane path to citizenship for the millions of decent, hard-working immigrants who love this country as much as I do, regardless of whether they are documented or not. We need the kind of compassionate reform that Democrats have been advocating for decades in the face of persistent Republican obstructionism. That is what Adrienne would want.
My question then is this: If we have so many homegrown murderers, rapists, criminals, drunks, WTH do we need to import more?!
That was an exercise in denial of reality.
The killer was an illegal immigrant but he wasn’t an “illegal immigrant”.
Brilliant.
And for this damned fool, it's terminal.
First clue: Liberal do-gooder ahead
No offense to the dead but why did she have to be with a man that has his head up his ass, she made a bad choice.
This “man” is a souless douchebag.
My Wife’s Killer Was Not an ‘Illegal Immigrant’ …Yes he was, Mr. Ostroy. And until you admit that, IMO you are accessory to your wife’s murder; might be a cruel thing to say, but the only way to stop a problem is at its cause.
He was an immigrant living in the US illegally. That makes him an illegal immigrant.
The mind of a liberal is very bizarre indeed.
I would now guess that the wife paid the guy to kill her.
Who could live with this idiot?
What a despicable coward.
Yet the writer misses the point, if laws were enforced, his wife would not have been attacked and killed by this individual. How many other unvetted illegal immigrants share this individual's "lack of ability?" We will never know without a working immigration system that validates the acceptability of people wanting to join our populace.
Looks like he may have killed the wrong one.
Yes, he was.
We need the kind of compassionate reform that Democrats have been advocating for decades in the face of persistent Republican obstructionism. That is what Adrienne would want.
I'm pretty sure what your wife wanted in the last moments of her life was not being strangled to death. Of course, she's not around to ask so why don't you ask your daughter if she wishes Mr. Diego Pillco had never been allowed into this country.
It’s impossible to deal rationally with self hatred.
He’s beyond diseased. He’s irredeemably stupid.
If my wife was killed by some scumball illegal, the rest of my life would be spent shouting the message that illegals need to be driven from the very dirt of our nation, not making excuses for them.
Repulsive. I feel sorry for his daughter that she has to grow up with such a pansy for a father.
And yet, the author states clearly in the first paragraph that the killer’s illegal immigration status was the motivation for the murder.
America has morphed into a country where almost half cannot see right from wrong, or good from evil.
Hillary Clinton? Am I in a surreal world? Newt is right, there is a parallel universe out there.
Clinton accumulates millions of dollars to bribe and swindle her way to the nomination, and now to the WH. If she wins, does she in any way think she will be allowed to govern? She’s a criminal.
I cannot believe that God, will forsake us now, after all this country has been through. I cannot believe that he will allow this despicable person to be president of the America.
It will not happen. It cannot happen.
more liberal touchy feely horsepoop and what makes it worse ..he emotes his “feelings” when this murdering piece of trash, responsible for his wife’s death, gets a pass and is used as a reason to attack Trump...mental disorder or absolute insanity
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