Crime Victim Highlights Need for Illegal Immigration Laws

Updated: Dec 3, 2007 04:44 PM PST

The victim of a horrifying crime, a Millbrook woman is now hoping to educate the public about the problem of illegal immigration. Lee McIver awoke one morning to the sound of intruders, breaking through her back door. It turns out, the criminals were here illegally.

It was 1:30 a.m. in the morning when McIver says she heard the group of men, speaking in Spanish. She went to hide in her bedroom closet.

"I grabbed my cell phone, tried to grab my pistol, but by that time they were already in the house. I heard my back door collapse," she recalls.

She says the intruders seemed high on drugs or alcohol. They beat holes in the walls with their fists. In photos she took, McIver also showed us blood throughout the townhouse.

One of the intruders was arrested. McIver thought, surely the man would be deported. But as is usually the case, local law enforcement couldn't convince the INS to get involved.

"That infuriates me," McIver said.

State Representative Micky Hammon says the 250,000 illegal immigrants in Alabama are a burden to government because they don't pay taxes.

So he's proposing a package of bills that would allow police to impound the vehicles of illegal immigrants and force them to forfeit their property if accused of a crime. Another bill would deny state incentives to businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

"My bills are designed to assist law enforcement," Hammon said.

Hammon admits, the state has no authority over deportation. But he says, if more states reform their immigration laws, the federal government will follow suit.

"That is the real problem and that is the real goal," he said.

Meanwhile, McIver is asking neighbors to contact their own representatives and demand that Hammon's bills be considered. She knows first hand, there is a problem.

"There's not a system in place to deal with these people," she said.

At the same time, she says she respects those who have immigrated to this country legally.

"America is a great melting pot," McIver said. "They just need to go about it the proper way."

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