Thread: Dragging Death Enters Immigration Policy Debate

http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_264180409.html

Sep 21, 2006 4:02 pm US/Mountain

Dragging Death Enters Immigration Policy Debate

Terry Jessup
Reporting

(CBS4) WASHINGTON The dragging death of a woman in Douglas County became part of the national debate on immigration reform.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, cited the arrest of suspect Jose Luis Nava-Rubi as a reason to increase border security on the House floor Thursday.

Nava-Rubi is being held without bond on a first degree murder charge and an immigration hold because officials believe he is in the nation illegally.

Tancredo, in whose district the grisly murder occurred, is a strong proponent of much stricter laws for immigration.

In a House debate on a proposal to make it easier to detain and deport illegal immigrants, Tancredo said Rubi-Nava should've been out of the country in April after he was pulled over by Denver police.

"He was driving without a license, he was driving with a forged identifier," Tancredo said. "Something that was observable to the policeman. He was taken in and let go, no contact was made with ICE whatsoever.

Tancredo repeated his claim that Denver is a so-called "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants.

"If the local police had been able to do their job expect for their sanctuary city provisions that stopped them, he would have been off the streets in April and not been able to commit this horrible crime," Tancredo said.

Denver's mayor John Hickenlooper refuted the Congressman's charges.

"Denver has been a sanctuary city, however many times he calls Denver a sanctuary city, it's not," Hickenlooper told CBS4.

The mayor said police are not told to go easy on illegal immigrants to help the economy.

"We do not arrest people because they don't have their driver's licenses and put them in jail and turn them over to ICE," Hickenlooper said. "We'd need a jail five times bigger than the one we're building now if we were going to consider that."

Hickenlooper did say if there was a mistake made in handling the stop involving Rubi-Nava in April, it had to do with the system.

"The bottom line is the way should work, that individual back in April should have been arrested and that magistrate should have referred him to ICE," Hickenlooper said.

Tancredo said he was particularly interested in the State and Local Enforcement Cooperate Act which deals with the identification and transfer of illegal immigrations who have been arrested.

Tancredo said if the laws worked correctly, horrible crimes like the dragging death wouldn't happen.

"We need to engage the local communities in this effort to help us and the federal government must take on a responsibility here to secure our borders," Tancredo said. "It is our true and one single responsibility."

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/99 ... etail.html

Critics Say Tougher Immigration Enforcement May Have Prevented Recent Murders
Recent Murders Bring Up Immigration Law Enforcement Issues

POSTED: 6:06 pm MDT September 21, 2006
UPDATED: 7:13 pm MDT September 21, 2006

DENVER -- Douglas County authorities are still working to identify the female victim who was dragged to death behind a car in the Surrey Ridge neighborhood early Monday morning.

An autopsy showed the woman was alive at the time she was dragged and she died as a result of her injuries. Police said her injuries were so severe, she has not yet been identified.

The suspect, Jose Luis Rubi-Nava, was arrested Wednesday, and 7NEWS has learned that he is in the United States illegally.

Denver police had arrested Rubi-Nava earlier this year, and he was suspected at that time to be an illegal immigrant.

This is the latest crime that critics said could have been prevented with tougher enforcement of immigration laws.

In this case, the debate ended up on the floor of Congress.

"We are not even sure yet who this other person is because there is not much left of the body, but he dragged her under the truck," said U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado.

As Congress took up the debate on immigration Thursday morning, Tancredo cited this week's murder in Douglas County as a failure of the system. He said he believes the suspect should have been deported to Mexico months ago.

However, that murder is not the only case that was addressed.

Raul Gomez-Garcia was in the United States illegally when he shot and killed Denver police Officer Donny Young in May 2005.

Police had previously contacted Gomez-Garcia earlier on traffic stops.

Parker police said Ricardo Jaime Sanchez, who was arrested Wednesday in Albuquerque in connection with the murder of a construction worker, was a Mexican National. Police said they are checking to see if he was here illegally and if he had any previous contacts with police.

With elections coming up in November, the U.S. House passed legislation reaffirming the authority of state and local police to investigate and apprehend people in the country illegally.

"Local law enforcement agencies do have the responsibility and ability to help us in the endeavor of controlling illegal immigration," said Tancredo.

However, many police agencies said even if they have the authority, they don't have the time or the money to handle the problem.

Tancredo said he thinks the bill will also pass in the Senate and that the president will sign it.

Critics said it is all politics ahead of the general election.

On Thursday, the U.S. government signed a contract to spend more than $60 million to build a virtual fence along the Arizona-Mexico border.

Denver police had arrested Rubi-Nava earlier this year, and he was suspected at that time to be an illegal immigrant

THAT is the whole problem right there. HE WAS SUSPECTED AT THE TIME TO BE AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT.

AND THEN HE WAS LET GO........RELEASED INTO SOCIETY TO KILL SOMEONE............DOESN'T MATTER IF IT WAS ANOTHER ILLEGAL ALIEN OR NOT WHO HE KILLED.......HE HAD NO RIGHT TO KILL ANYONE......MUCH LESS IN THE HORRENDOUS WAY HE KILLED THAT WOMAN.
NOBODY DESERVES TO DIE LIKE THAT.

Dragging some with a vehicle to the point they aren't recognizable is really disguisting. Deport them as it costs taxpayers too much money to have him on death row and appealling for the next 10 to 20 years. Secure the border and we won't have him come back or any others like him come here. This is one thing we have said all along; there are also violent offenders among the illegals.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4377866
a related story

Denver's mayor John Hickenlooper refuted the Congressman's charges.

"Denver has been a sanctuary city, however many times he calls Denver a sanctuary city, it's not," Hickenlooper told CBS4.

Huh?

The mayor said police are not told to go easy on illegal immigrants to help the economy.

That's it right there. Another wh*re willing to sell America for a dollar!

"If the local police had been able to do their job expect for their sanctuary city provisions that stopped them, he would have been off the streets in April and not been able to commit this horrible crime," Tancredo said.

Critics said it is all politics ahead of the general election.

So the critics really don't give a darn about you or me. Thank you Mr. Tancredo!

The mayor said police are not told to go easy on illegal immigrants to help the economy.

Hickenlooper is such a hypocrite. The illegal that was just convicted of murder in the death of the off duty Denver policeman worked as a dishwasher at Hickenlooper's restaurant.

"He was driving without a license, he was driving with a forged identifier," Tancredo said. "Something that was observable to the policeman.

Clearly this illegal should have been charged with criminal impersonation, a felony, yet they simply let him go. This is just another glaring example of how illegals seem to be above many of our laws.

Any violation of the following provisions of the Colorado statutes or any criminal act committed in any jurisdiction of the United States which, if committed in this state, would be a crime under the following provisions of the Colorado statutes:

(IV) Offenses involving fraud, as defined in sections 18-5-102 (forgery), 18-5-104 (second degree forgery), 18-5-105 (criminal possession of forged instrument), 18-5-109 (criminal possession of forgery devices), 18-5-110.5 (trademark counterfeiting), 6-16-111, C.R.S., (felony charitable fraud), 18-5-206 (defrauding a secured creditor or debtor), 18-5-403 (bribery in sports), 18-5-113 (criminal impersonation - identity theft), and 18-5-114 (offering a false document for recording), and 18-5-702 (unauthorized use of a financial transaction device);