Blame our leaders for dead residents

Laurie Roberts
Republic columnist

Mar. 7, 2007 12:00 AM

Somewhere in the world, there is a 3-year-old girl named Maya who will grow up without a father.

For this, I blame Sen. Jon Kyl and Rep. Ed Pastor and all our so-called leaders in Congress who have steadfastly refused to fix that standing joke we call federal immigration law.

Maya's father, Micheal Boulden, was chief of staff for the ASU Foundation until last month, when he died while on a Sunday morning bike ride. Meanwhile, Robert Chris Miller was killed early Sunday when a drunken-driving suspect ran a red light in Peoria. He was just 20 years old. advertisement

For this, I blame President Bush and Gov. Janet Napolitano and governors who steadfastly refuse to allow the National Guard at the border to actually guard the border.

These people have blood on their hands. The blood of Jason Okon, an Iraq war veteran who, police say, was stabbed on Feb. 2 by an undocumented immigrant living in his neighborhood. The blood of Laurie Lynn Lorenzen, a Gilbert mother who, police say, was killed Feb. 2 by an undocumented immigrant who ran a red light while fleeing police. And now, the blood of Micheal Boulden and Robert Miller.

Boulden, 37, was riding his bike on the shoulder of Pinnacle Peak Road near 42nd Street just before 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 18 when he was hit from behind. The driver didn't even slow down.

Last week, Phoenix police arrested Yesenia Angulo-Gastelum, 26, who is here illegally. She and her boyfriend were headed to work at the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale when she hit Boulden, police said. Angulo-Gastelum "confessed to the hit and run, saying that she was scared that she was going to be deported, which is why she did not remain at the scene."

Four Seasons General Manager Tom Kelly said his records show Angulo-Gastelum, a hostess in one of the restaurants, is a legal resident. "We take absolute care in making sure that every t is crossed and every i is dotted because we want to absolutely comply with the law," he assured me.

It wouldn't much matter if he didn't. The Legislature refuses to crack down on employers who give jobs to people who aren't supposed to be here. Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement does sweeps of jobsites only when the politicians need a PR boost.

Over in Peoria, Miller was killed just after 2 a.m. Sunday when police say Jocabed Dominguez-Torres, 22, ran a red light at 75th Avenue and Cholla and crashed into the car in which Miller was riding. Police believe she was drunk.

Dominguez-Torres is here illegally and had forged resident and Social Security cards, according to police. Yet Court Commissioner Kathleen Mead set her bond at $150,000. This, despite a new voter-enacted law that denies bail in cases such as this to those here illegally.

It seems she was only following court policy. A spokeswoman for Maricopa County Superior Court said commissioners cannot deny bond on the say-so of police or even the suspect. They must get word from an official immigration source, which is tough given that bail must be set within 24 hours of arrest and ICE takes weekends off.

But, hey, does it really matter? Since when are voters ever listened to anyway? It's as if we're afraid to enforce our own immigration laws yet unwilling to rewrite them.

Maybe someday, somebody can explain it all to a little girl named Maya who I suspect will want to know why her daddy had to die.

Maybe by the time she's old enough to ask, our leaders, the ones who could use some compassion and the ones who could use a backbone, will quit talking, finally, and fix this mess.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8635. Read her blog at robertsblog.azcentral.com.

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