Wilsons' death becomes issue in gov.’s race

[loservillelabor]

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/in...&news_id=50650

Wilsons' death becomes issue in gov.’s race
By John Rodgers, jrodgers@nashvillecitypaper.com
June 27, 2006


State Sen. Jim Bryson listens as Heather Lynn Steffek speaks out about improving laws to deport criminal illegal immigrants. Photo by Josh Anderson.

The recent deaths of a Mt. Juliet couple allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant veered into the governor’s race Monday.

Sen. Jim Bryson, the Republican challenger to Gov. Phil Bredesen, used the example of the Wilsons’ death to draw differences on immigration policy between himself and Bredesen.

Bryson (R-Franklin) held a news conference with Heather Lynn Steffek, the eldest daughter of the Wilsons, who were killed this month in a head-on car wreck allegedly caused by Gustavo Reyes Garcia, an illegal immigrant.

“Part of the shock of the tragedy is learning there is simply no laws in place at the local or state level to aide deportation of a serial criminal who is an illegal alien,” Steffek said. “I’m asking the governor to please support legislation that would remove criminal illegal immigrants from our midst.”

From 1997 on, Metro Police have arrested Garcia 17 times, with at least 13 of those involving driving infractions and five DUIs. The Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped Garcia for speeding in 2001.

Both Bryson and Steffek said they were supportive of legislation that would give the Tennessee Highway Patrol, and local police forces, immigration enforcement authority to allow them to detain illegal immigrants and turn them over to the proper authorities to keep accidents like the Wilsons’ tragedy from happening again.

“We must have a system that allows patrolmen to check an immigrant’s illegal status during routine patrols and decide whether that immigrant should be held,” Bryson said.

Bryson voted for a bill giving the THP the authority to do that earlier this year.

Bredesen was against the bill during the legislative session and remained opposed Monday, saying he doesn’t “think the THP ought to be doing the federal government’s work.”

“I don’t want to turn the highway patrol into an arm of the Immigration and Naturalization Service,” Bredesen said. “That’s just trying to make political hay out of a difficult problem.”

Bryson called Bredesen “irresponsible and indifferent” to dismiss the concerns of “Ms. Steffek and others in her situation with a wave of the hand that it is simply a federal issue.”

In a response, the Bredesen campaign said Bryson was “trying to exploit what is obviously a tragic situation.”

“Ultimately, the answer to illegal immigration is not shifting the cost of federal enforcement to state and local taxpayers,” said Will Pinkston, a Bredesen campaign spokesman. “The answer is for the federal government to do its job.”

But in at least this gubernatorial race, illegal immigration will likely become a state issue as Bryson made it clear Monday that Bredesen should get used to him talking about illegal immigration as the campaign progresses.

Bryson said the issue will be a part of his platform.

“We will have the most stringent illegal immigration policy in America,” Bryson said. “It’s too important an issue to ignore. Lives are literally at stake.”

Part of that platform is Bryson’s push to have state and local authorities enforce illegal immigration. In response, the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police issued a press release to cite funding concerns over the plan.

“Local police must meet their existing policing duties and cannot even begin to consider taking on the added burden of immigration enforcement until federal funding is in place to support it,” said Larry Godwin, the group’s president.

[2ndamendsis]

“We must have a system that allows patrolmen to check an immigrant’s illegal status during routine patrols and decide whether that immigrant should be held,” Bryson said.

Bryson voted for a bill giving the THP the authority to do that earlier this year.

Bredesen was against the bill during the legislative session and remained opposed Monday, saying he doesn’t “think the THP ought to be doing the federal government’s work.”

“I don’t want to turn the highway patrol into an arm of the Immigration and Naturalization Service,” Bredesen said. “That’s just trying to make political hay out of a difficult problem.”

Bryson called Bredesen “irresponsible and indifferent” to dismiss the concerns of “Ms. Steffek and others in her situation with a wave of the hand that it is simply a federal issue.”

It's a STATE PROBLEM when the STATE'S RESIDENTS are affected to the degree that we are affected in so many areas of our lives!

STOP letting these mental midgets PASS THE BUCK to the Fed
How easy is it for them to say it's the Fed's responsibility. These jerks took an oath also to protect the citizens of their respective states.