Thread: Deadly crash renews illegal immigration debate

August 3, 2010 - 4:31pm


WASHINGTON - The Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney says immigration officials had their chances to deport a man charged in the death of a local nun.

Now, Paul Ebert plans to handle 23-year-old Carlos Montano's case his way.

"If he is deported, it won't be for many years," says Ebert, who'll prosecute Montano for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Catholic nun Sister Denise Mosier.

"Once he serves his time - which could be as much as 15 years - then the immigration people can do as they wish."

Ebert says immigration officials "followed their procedures to a T" in Montano's case, which Ebert suggests is the problem.

Despite previous drunken driving convictions, and short stays in jail, Montano was awaiting his deportation hearing at the time of the crash, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement worked its way through a backlog of cases.

"The system may be overwhelmed, but we as a society can't continue to operate like that," Ebert says.

"These people either need to be out of the country or in prison when they commit a crime."

Ebert says Montano "thumbed his nose at Virginia" by continuing to drive after his license was revoked.

"He came to this country. He enjoyed this country, and refused to abide by the laws and rules," Ebert says.

"One of the reasons we have a criminal justice system is to keep people like that off the street and behind bars."

Prince William County Police say Montano was driving under the influence when he crossed the median near Bristow Road and Wright Lane and collided head-on with another car around 8:15 a.m. Sunday.

Mosier, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other women in the car, 75-year-old Sister Charlotte Lange and 70-year-old Sister Connie Ann Lupton, were flown to an area hospital with severe injuries.

Meanwhile, the accident has refueled some of the debate over illegal immigration and federal immigration reform.

"I wish I could say I'm surprised or shocked", says Carol Taber, president of Family Security Matters, a group that opposes illegal immigration.

"This sort of thing happens a lot more than anyone basically in the country knows."

Taber says the illegal immigrant population in this country is under reported and the crimes they commit are not tracked. This case proves there is a need to speed up deportation proceedings and for reform in federal law, Taber says.

But Chris Konschak of Mothers Against Drunk Driving says the incident is really about drunk driving - not immigration.

"There are a lot of people out there that are repeating their offense over and over again and for whatever reason, it is not being identified that they have a serious issue with alcohol," Konschak says.

"There are a lot of people who are driving on a suspended license. That's pretty common for drunk drivers to be people without a license."

(Copyright 2010 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

Neal Augenstein, wtop.com
Hank Silverberg, wtop.com

WASHINGTON - The Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney says immigration officials had their chances to deport a man charged in the death of a local nun.

Now, Paul Ebert plans to handle 23-year-old Carlos Montano's case his way.

"If he is deported, it won't be for many years," says Ebert, who'll prosecute Montano for involuntary manslaughter in the death of Catholic nun Sister Denise Mosier.

"Once he serves his time - which could be as much as 15 years - then the immigration people can do as they wish."

Ebert says immigration officials "followed their procedures to a T" in Montano's case, which Ebert suggests is the problem.

Despite previous drunken driving convictions, and short stays in jail, Montano was awaiting his deportation hearing at the time of the crash, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement worked its way through a backlog of cases.

"The system may be overwhelmed, but we as a society can't continue to operate like that," Ebert says.

"These people either need to be out of the country or in prison when they commit a crime."

Ebert says Montano "thumbed his nose at Virginia" by continuing to drive after his license was revoked.

"He came to this country. He enjoyed this country, and refused to abide by the laws and rules," Ebert says.

"One of the reasons we have a criminal justice system is to keep people like that off the street and behind bars."

Prince William County Police say Montano was driving under the influence when he crossed the median near Bristow Road and Wright Lane and collided head-on with another car around 8:15 a.m. Sunday.

Mosier, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other women in the car, 75-year-old Sister Charlotte Lange and 70-year-old Sister Connie Ann Lupton, were flown to an area hospital with severe injuries.

Meanwhile, the accident has refueled some of the debate over illegal immigration and federal immigration reform.

"I wish I could say I'm surprised or shocked", says Carol Taber, president of Family Security Matters, a group that opposes illegal immigration.

"This sort of thing happens a lot more than anyone basically in the country knows."

Taber says the illegal immigrant population in this country is under reported and the crimes they commit are not tracked. This case proves there is a need to speed up deportation proceedings and for reform in federal law, Taber says.

But Chris Konschak of Mothers Against Drunk Driving says the incident is really about drunk driving - not immigration.

"There are a lot of people out there that are repeating their offense over and over again and for whatever reason, it is not being identified that they have a serious issue with alcohol," Konschak says.

"There are a lot of people who are driving on a suspended license. That's pretty common for drunk drivers to be people without a license."
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=2018335

Stories like this can go on and on in this country and still our own government REFUSES TO SECURE THE BORDERS and in turn ENFORCE OUR LAWS! This will keep happening.

And as I said many times. We have our own criminals in this country so we DO NOT need to more of the same to cross over the borders and get on our streets and highways ILLEGALLY!