Who Do We Hold Responsible?

A 2005 U.S. Government Accountability Office study looked at 55,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records and found that they had been arrested an average of eight times. Forty-five percent of the arrests were on immigration and drug charges; 12 percent were for violent crimes. Let me repeat part of that, arrested an AVERAGE of EIGHT times!! Let that sink in for a minute. That was almost three years ago. I would like to see the numbers on that study today.

On Monday, September 17th, 2007, Phoenix Police Officer Nick Erlie was gunned down by Erik Jonani Martinez of Mexico. After the killing, it was learned that Martinez, an illegal immigrant, had been arrested twice before. In Feb. of 2005, Martinez was arrested on a probation violation stemming from a stolen car charge. Eight hours after that arrest, he was turned over to the Maricopa County Sheriffs office. In 2006, Martinez was arrested on a domestic violence charge.

On September 17th, Martinez was being pulled over by Officer Erlie on a jaywalking charge . It was then that Martinez shot and killed Officer Erlie. Martinez then carjacked a man before police ran him down, shooting and killing Jonani Martinez.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordan blames the incident on the U.S. Government for failure to secure its borders, even though Phoenix has declared itself as a "sanctuary city".

One year prior to this incident, almost to the very day, Houston Texas Officer Rodney Johnson was shot and killed in September of 2006 by illegal immigrant Juan Leonardo Quintero. Officer Johnson was shot four times in the head by Quintero. When Officer Johnson arrested Quintero and placed Quintero in his patrol car, Johnson failed to find a gun during a routine "pat-down" that Quintero was carrying. Even though Quintero was cuffed and detained, he still managed to get the gun that he was carrying and kill Officer Johnson execution style.

After the shooting, it was learned that Quintero was deported in 2004 after an indecency with a child charge. Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt blamed the U.S. Government by saying, "The subject was deported, and yet he came back, so if the government fulfilled their responsibility of protecting the border we would probably not be standing here today". Houston Texas has declared itself a "sanctuary city".

Not only does the lack of border control put average American citizens and law enforcers lives at risk, illegal immigrants lives are at stake as well. Case in point: two illegal immigrants, while burglarizing a neighbors house, were shot and killed by Pasadena Texas resident, Joe Horn. Joe had been asked to watch over his next door neighbors house while they were away on vacation.

Miguel Dejesus and Diego Ortiz, both from Colombia, were inside Horn's neighbors house when Horn spotted the two men in the house with a bag of loot that they were planning on taking from the home. Horn called 911 and reported the burglary that was in progress at the time. While on the phone with the 911 operator, the two alleged burglars were attempting to get away when Mr. Horn shot and killed both men.

After the shooting, it was learned that Dejesus spent six years in a Texas prison for drug dealing and then was deported. Ortiz was arrested by Houston police on a drug charge as well but not much more is know about Ortiz due to the fact Houston is a "sanctuary city" and does not cooperate with Homeland Security on issues involving illegal aliens.

Some would say that Horn is a hero. I will let you decide for yourself if you want to put that label on him. It is very clear, however, that this has become a "blame game" issue. Nobody wants to take responsibility for our lack of border control or the illegal immigrants that our open borders have brought to this country. The U.S. Government wants to put issues of illegal immigration in the hands of local and city governments. Yet, when tragedy strikes, the local officials want to blame the U.S. Government for not sealing up our borders.

Let me end with this thought. If I own a dog, there are leash laws in place that say that I have to have my dog on a leash in public. If I don't and my dog harms or injures another citizen, I am responsible. If I have my dog in a fenced yard and I put up a "beware of dog" sign up, and someone comes onto my property and gets bit by my dog, I am admitting that my dog may harm you by placing the "beware of dog" sign up on my property. If I loan you my car, and you run a red light and a traffic cam takes a picture of my vehicle running the red light you ran while driving my car, I am responsible for paying the fine for that ticket. Better yet, I am responsible for any injuries resulting from a wreck due to you running a red light and I am susceptible to getting sued as well by the injured. So, off of those two scenarios, is the U.S. Government responsible for any harm done to you and me by an illegal immigrant for the governments lack of securing our borders? Do you know any lawyers willing to test this theory?

KP