Thread: The human cost of illegal immigration in painful detail

The human cost of illegal immigration in painful detail
March 30th, 2011 7:35 am ET
Dave Gibson
Immigration Reform Examiner

On March 30, 2007, in Virginia Beach, Va., Allison Kuhnhardt, 17, and Tessa Tranchant, 16, were stopped, while waiting at a red light. They were killed by Alfredo Ramos, 22, who was drunk and traveling at a high rate of speed.

The Mexican national had nearly a .24 blood-alcohol level and could barely see the police officers in front of him. The two high school students had to be cut from their crumpled car and both later died after being taken to the hospital. Ramos suffered only a busted lip.

Ramos had been living in Virginia Beach for quite a while and worked at local a Mexican restaurant known as Mi Casita. Ramos had been previously convicted of three separate charges of public intoxication, identity theft, and even a DUI, but continued to live in the area. He speaks only Spanish and required an interpreter at all of his court proceedings.

When he was arrested, he was carrying a fake drivers’ license and a Mexican ID card he purchased from a company in Florida.

While Ramos had already been convicted of a DUI, Virginia Beach policy dictated that an illegal alien be convicted of three DUI's before police would report them to federal immigration authorities. Virginia Beach police have since taken a more active role in determining the citizenship of those they arrest.

Since that needless tragedy, I have come to know Tessa’s parents, and am proud to call both Ray and Collette Tranchant my friends. Never does a Mother’s or Father’s Day pass that my my heart does not ache for those two. Their strength and grace throughout the loss of their beautiful daughter is an inspiration to all who know them.

Ray recently contacted me with an open letter on his daughter’s tragic death, and the ongnoing travesty that is our current immigration system.

That letter follows:

“MY 16-year-old daughter, Tessa, was killed by an illegal immigrant in Virginia Beach three years ago while sitting at a stop light. Her friend Ali Kunhardt, 17, also perished instantly. Beautiful girls with tons of future plans, they had just stopped at a convenience store for a pack of gum at 10 on a Friday night. I can imagine that they were giggling about something as they waited for the red light to turn green. Tessa was in the passenger seat. I’ll never forget her laugh.

The explosion was so loud that witnesses said it sounded like a bomb going off, hit from behind by a black Mitsubishi going more than 70 mph. They were tiny, skinny little girls stuffed somewhere in the floorboards when the police and EMT crew arrived.

When I got to the hospital in what seemed like a dream sequence, Tessa’s bed was lying next to Ali’s, separated by a privacy curtain. Both girls were perfectly still, skin cold to the touch.

Tess was covered with a hospital blanket, and her clothes lay in a bag by her bedside, cut off by the EMT and the ER doctor who tried to revive her, to no avail. I looked at her large brown eyes, pupils dilated, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. She still had a mask taped to her mouth with a long rubber tube. The center of the tube was filled with bright red blood. Amazingly, she had only a little bruise on her forehead, and her big toe was bleeding. I noticed that she had had a couple of her nails done with glitter, probably had just enough money to do two. She worked at the Golden Corral; Ali worked at The Fresh Market.

I hadn’t seen Tessa in a few days, and I had to laugh at her forearm. Hard to believe you can laugh with such horror around you, but I did. She had previously told me that she suffered from the “Tranchant curseâ€

Totally an outrage that our government chooses to look the other way. TOTALLY an outrage!!!!! God will punish these smug murderers who think it's no big deal to kill innocent people!

An amnesty in a sense would be a surrender to mexico

We would become a hispanic nation , we would be forever a 3rd world country , no more will we be a great nation , we will be a garbage heap of warring tribes and gang infested barrios

Look at mexico, do you see our future very soon ?

Thanks for posting this RB. I have read this before but cannot do so again because it's simply too painful. God bless this family and shame on our govenment for allowing this to happen because they refuse to control that border and deport illegal invaders!

for those who remember the infamous OReilly - Rivera shout down. it was over this accident

Alot of folks don't know what one looks like. They weave in and out of their lane, and they speed up, and slow down alot, because they cannot control their feet too well. They also rub their eyes. The ist time I saw one, I was afraid to call 911, because I didn't want to tie up the operator.