The Deadly Price of Illegal Alien Sanctuary Policies
  (note to Mayor Newberry)
Brutal Murders in Newark Spark Outcry for Repealing Policies that Shield Illegal Aliens

The story is a familiar one. An illegal alien who had previously been apprehended or stopped by a local police officer is released back onto the streets of this country because local policies prohibit cops from acting on suspicion that the individual is here illegally. That illegal alien then goes on to kill or maim some innocent member of the community, while the people who instituted the sanctuary policies in the first place point the finger of blame at someone else. (read entire article)

On the night of August 4, the crime, allegedly committed by an illegal alien who had previously been in police custody, was so brutal that even the most fervent protectors of illegal aliens were forced to reconsider their sanctuary policies.

On that summer evening, four college students were gunned down in cold blood in Newark, New Jersey, killing three of them and leaving the fourth in critical condition. The community’s anger and grief turned to outrage when it was revealed a few days later that the chief suspect in the murders was an illegal alien who had previously been arrested for other heinous crimes, including the sexual abuse of a five-year-old.

Jose Carranza, the prime suspect, is an illegal alien from Peru, who at the time of the murders was facing other serious felony charges, but had been released on bail because no one in the Newark Police Department, or in the Essex County prosecutor’s office, had bothered to look into his immigration status. A second suspect was later revealed to also be an illegal alien.

Newark is a sanctuary city, having formally adopted policies that bar local police from seeking information about a suspect’s immigration status, or reporting illegal aliens to federal authorities. In all likelihood, had Carranza’s immigration status been known, he would have been denied bail as a flight risk, and Terrance Aeriel, Dashon Harvey and Iofemi Hightower would all be alive, and Natasha Aeriel would not be fighting for her life.

The Newark murders also coincided with efforts by state officials to make illegal aliens feel more welcome in New Jersey. In early August, Gov. Jon Corzine announced the formation of a blue ribbon commission tasked with finding ways to help guide illegal aliens on their pathway to citizenship.

As the facts of the case came to light, public anger boiled over as people learned that these crimes could easily have been prevented, but that their local governments had adopted policies that placed the protection of illegal aliens ahead of the protection of law-abiding citizens. That public outrage finally forced local officials to take action. On August 22, state Attorney General Anne Milgram issued a law enforcement directive setting down new guidelines for police in New Jersey.

Under Milgram’s directive, whenever a law enforcement officer “makes an arrest for any indictable crime, or for driving while intoxicated, the arresting officer, or a designated officer, as part of the booking process, shall inquire about the arrestee’s citizenship, nationality and immigration status.” The change in policy, unfortunately, comes too late for the Aeriel, Harvey and Hightower families, but if such policies are adopted and carried out nationwide, other families will be spared the grief that those New Jersey families have been forced to endure.

FAIR has fought vigorously against formal and de facto local policies that grant sanctuary to illegal aliens. In addition to creating an additional magnet for illegal immigration, these policies threaten the safety and security of ordinary citizens. Local police, in the course of carrying out their normal duties, who come across individuals whom they reasonably suspect are in the country illegal aliens, have an obligation to act on that suspicion, just as they would if they came across an individual who was sought by another police department. FAIR’s field staff has worked extensively with local immigration reform activist groups who are seeking to have their communities participate in the 287(g) program, under which local police can receive federal training to help them identify and detain suspected illegal aliens.

In light of the senseless and preventable murders in Newark, all local sanctuary and non-cooperation policies must be repealed. Knowing the danger that these policies pose to innocent citizens, politicians and police chiefs who institute them must be held accountable when they result in avoidable tragedies such as the ones that took place in Newark.

10/07 taken from FAIRUS web site