Observations

Protecting Illegal Aliens
at the Expense of American Citizens

It was a Sunday afternoon last June and Anthony Bologna and his sons Michael and Matthew were almost home from their family picnic. Anthony, driving the family car, briefly blocked another car from completing a left turn down a narrow San Francisco street. Angered by this momentary delay in his trip, according to police reports, Edwin Ramos got out of the car and opened fire on the Bologna’s car with an AK-47, shooting all three men. Tony Bologna, 48, and his son Michael, 20, died at the scene, and Matthew, 16, died a few days later in the hospital.

Police arrested Ramos a short time later, believing he was the gunman, although two other men were seen in the car with him. Ramos is an El Salvador native and a reputed member of the notorious gang known as MS-13, one of hundreds or thousands of illegal aliens in San Francisco who have benefited from the city's long-standing practice of protecting illegal immigrant juveniles who have committed felonies from possible deportation, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

Now charged with three murders, the 21 year-old Ramos was previously found guilty of two felonies as a juvenile: attempting to rob a pregnant woman, and as part of a gang-related assault on a city bus passenger. By all accounts, Ramos is a vicious animal who has no business being in the United States, and no business being in San Francisco.

Officials with the city's Juvenile Probation Department failed to alert federal immigration authorities following both of the felony convictions because it was the agency's policy not to consider immigration status when deciding how to deal with an offender. Had city officials investigated, they would have found that Ramos lacked legal status to remain in the United States, and should be deported. Three members of the Bologna family would likely be alive today if that had happened.

This may be the most horrific example of crimes caused by illegal aliens who are not prosecuted or deported under federal law, but it is only one of a long list of deaths and injuries of American citizens caused by illegals sheltered by “sanctuary city” policies. A sanctuary city is one that does not allow its resources to be used to enforce federal immigration laws, usually by prohibiting police or municipal employees from asking people about their immigration status.

Rafael Ramirez Perez was driving at a high speed and passing cars in a reckless manner on State Route 67 near El Cajon, Cal., clipping a few cars and causing an accident that injured three people. Shortly thereafter Perez plowed head-on into twenty-two year-old Amy Kortlang's car, killing her. Perez, who was arrested and convicted four times previously, had been deported in March 2006, only to sneak back into the country and kill the innocent 22 year-old American woman seven months later.

Authorities report Pastor Rios Sanchez, 55, was charged with killing Helen Meghan Hughes, 22, of Summerville, S.C.; Jennifer Carter, 18, of Jacksonville, N.C.; and Hughes' stepbrother, 16-year-old Ben Leonard. Sanchez’ car crossed the center line and collided head on with Hughes' station wagon. Sanchez was held on $75,000 bail on three counts of involuntary manslaughter and also may face charges of carrying fraudulent identification when immigration authorities discovered that his residency card appeared to have been forged.

Alfredo Ramos, an illegal alien from Mexico, was convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2006, but that didn't stop him from being behind the wheel after a night of drinking in Virginia Beach, Va. the following April, and slamming the car he was driving into the rear of a vehicle stopped at a traffic light. Allison Kunhardt, 17, and her best friend Tessa Tranchant, 16, both died as a result. Ramos, charged with manslaughter for the two deaths, was convicted the preceding year of public drunkenness in Virginia Beach and driving under the influence in nearby Chesapeake. Virginia Beach is also one of the more than 100 sanctuary cities in the U.S.

The elected leaders of cities like San Francisco and Virginia Beach bear responsibility for the deaths and injuries caused by illegals for which they provide safe haven, and have committed malfeasance in office for protecting illegal aliens, and putting their constituents at risk. Indeed, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome is so proud of his city’s sanctuary status that he is spending $83,000 of taxpayer money to advertise to illegal aliens that they are welcome there. Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf prefers to shift attention away from the illegal alien issue, and focus on drunk driving, instead.

How many Americans will have to die or suffer at the hands of criminal illegals before the likes of Newsome and Oberndorf will admit that people who are here illegally pose a threat that must be addressed?

The United States became a great nation through the legal immigration of good people from around the world. What will become of our country if we continue utilizing “compassionate” policies that make it easy for illegal aliens to kill and injure innocent citizens?

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