Illegal immigrant deported 15 times arrested in hit-run crash that hurt 6-year-old
Illegal immigrant deported 15 times arrested in hit-run crash that hurt 6-year-old boy
Published May 10, 2017
Fox News
An illegal immigrant – who had been deported 15 times – is accused of seriously injuring a 6-year-old boy in a Saturday night drunken driving hit-and-run crash, authorities said.
Constantino Banda-Acosta, a 38-year-old Mexican citizen, was kicked out of the U.S. 15 times in the past 15 years, with his most previous deportation coming Jan. 18, federal officials told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Banda-Acosta is accused of running a stop sign in the San Ysidro hit-and-run. He was taken into custody, about a half hour after the crash occurred, along with another man who was also an illegal immigrant.
The injured boy, Lennox Lake, was coming home from Disneyland with his family on Saturday, and the group was about a block from their home when the collision happened.
When he was found in the wrecked vehicle, Lennox was unconscious, bleeding from several head wounds and not breathing. He had a major head injury and, as of Tuesday night, had already undergone two surgeries, The Union-Tribune reported. Lennox’s family expects him to make a full recovery.
"Right now he has a lot of swelling and can’t open either of his eyes so he’s scared about why he can’t see," his father, Ben Lake, told FOX5. "I just really care about bringing him home and making sure he’s happy again."
Banda-Acosta was being held on $100,000 bail and had an arraignment set for Wednesday. He was arrested in 2006 on a DUI charge, had his license suspended three other times and also was accused of a domestic violence incident by his estranged wife, 10 News reported
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/10...r-old-boy.html
15-time Deportee Allegedly Injures Boy in Drunk Driving Incident
Poor little boy. :cry:
~~~
by BOB PRICE
10 May 2017
San Ysidro, CA
Immigration officers deported a Mexican illegal alien 15 times before he allegedly drove drunk and crashed into a car severely injuring a small boy. The suspect in a drunk driving accident that fled the scene over the weekend illegally re-entered the country again after being deported in January. The Mexican national is alleged to have seriously injured a six-year-old boy when the family was coming home from Disneyland.
The Mexican national is alleged to have seriously injured a six-year-old boy returning home with his family from a trip to Disneyland.
The collision occurred in San Ysidro, a district in San Diego, California, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. San Ysidro is north of the U.S.-Mexico border and is an area where illegal immigrants frequently cross the border.
The family was just one block from their home when the crash occurred, the local Fox affiliate reported.
Ben Lake, the young boy’s father told Fox5, “Right now he has a lot of swelling and can’t open either of his eyes so he’s scared about why he can’t see.”
“I just really care about bringing him home and making sure he’s happy again,” he said. The news outlet reported that Lake forced back tears during the interview.
Immigration officers removed the 38-year-old suspect, Constantino Banda-Acosta, most recently in January 2017.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said the illegal alien reported they removed the illegal immigrant 15 times over the last 15 years. They did not say if the prosecutors ever charged the man with illegal reentry after removal, a felony.
The Union-Tribune reported that Banda-Acosta was allegedly speeding when he ran a stop sign and ran into the family’s Honda Accord at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The uncle of Lennox, the little boy who sustained severe head injuries, posted this on a GoFundMe page:
About 1030pm Saturday night, my brother Benjamin, his wife Ingrid and their son Lennox were headed to their home in California. Benjamin was driving, they were a block from their home. A guy driving an extended cab truck came flying around the corner, wheels squealing and slammed into them. They went through a guardrail and stopped facing the opposite direction. The truck smashed into the driver’s side, more fully on the rear passenger door. Unfortunately, this is where Lennox sat in his car seat.
The uncle relayed that the boy sustained an open skull fracture, which necessitated surgery “opening the scalp at the hairline, peeling it off the skull to expose the damage, irrigating the area (which flushed out some small piece of bone but no debris.) They positioned the depressed bond and stitched him back up.”
He said the driver left the scene of the accident, but a Border Patrol agent swiftly arrived at the scene. Not only did the agent get an ambulance quickly, he said, but he summoned other Border Patrol agents to apprehend the suspected driver of the Chevrolet pickup truck. Police arrested the suspected drunk driver.
Agents also arrested a passenger and took him to a Border Patrol station. That illegal alien is being processed for removal proceedings.
The parents of the boy sustained minor injuries.
The GoFundMe page, “Love for Lennox,” has raised over $10,000.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...ving-incident/
Dad on deported illegal immigrant who injured son: 'He keeps coming back'
(video at source link)
By Todd Starnes Published May 11, 2017
Lennox Lake was having the time of his life on Saturday. The six-year-old had tagged along with his mom and dad on a road trip to central California.
Lennox had been such a good boy, his parents decided to treat him to a surprise stop at Disneyland – the happiest place on Earth.
On the way drive back home to San Ysidro, the Lakes treated their good little boy with one final treat - a frosty milkshake from In-N-Out. They were just a block from their home. But they never made it.
Police say the Lakes were hit by an alleged drunk driver – a man identified as a Mexican national – a man living in our country illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells Fox 5 in San Diego the suspect had been deported 15 times over the past 15 years.
Constantino Banda-Acosta is accused of slamming his pickup truck into the passenger’s side of the Lake family’s Honda Accord. And then, he fled the scene.
Benjamin and Ingrid Lake suffered minor injuries, but Lennox was gravely injured. He was bleeding from his nostrils and his ears.
The San Diego Tribune reported that the child was unconscious, not breathing.
Benjamin Lake tells me his son has had two surgeries and doctors are cautiously optimistic the child will fully recover.
“He’s a fighter,” Ben said. “Really – my strength comes from Lennox and seeing him fight so hard. I want to do everything possible for him.”
Ben and Ingrid have been taking turns sleeping on a couch in the hospital room – 24 hours a day.
“We don’t want to leave his side,” Ben told me.
In the meantime, family members have launched a GoFundMe page to help cover medical bills and other expenses.
The San Diego Tribune reports the suspect is being held on $100,000 bail. Banda-Acosta faces a number of charges including felony hit and run, drunken driving and driving without a valid license.
“It’s hard not to be angry – the fact that this is like the 15th time he’s had a run-in with the police,” Ben told me. “It’s angering. There is something wrong with the system where this guy can keep coming back.”
The Lake family has every right to be angry – furious.
“He’s hurting people and somehow he keeps coming back – it doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
San Diego’s mayor says they are not a sanctuary city – but the Lake family feels otherwise.
“It’s hard not to feel that way after this happened,” Ben said. “Before all of this I was indifferent, but I definitely don’t support sanctuary cities.”
I hope you will pray for Lennox and his family and I hope you will support their GoFundMe page. They could use a helping hand.
But I also urge you to call your elected leaders – and demand they take immediate action to secure the border and rid our nation of the scourge of illegals.
How many more six-year-old children must be injured by illegal aliens before Washington, D.C. takes action? How many more families must be terrorized by the invaders?
California lawmakers are considering legislation to become a “sanctuary state.” The legislation would, in effect, provide refuge for illegals like the one who nearly killed Lennox Lake.
Let me be clear: sanctuary cities may provide a safe haven for illegals, but they create a living hell for the rest of us.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/...ming-back.html
Previously deported DUI suspect criminally charged with federal immigration violation
May 12, 2017
Kristina Davis and David Hernandez
(video may be viewed at the source link of the father speaking)
Federal criminal immigration charges were filed Friday against a Mexican man suspected of injuring a 6-year-old San Ysidro boy in a DUI hit-and-run crash last weekend.
Authorities have said that Constantino Banda-Acosta, 38, has been removed from the U.S. at least 15 times since 2002 for being in the country illegally.
Based on federal court records, this appears to be the first time he has been criminally charged.
The complaint, filed in San Diego federal court, charges Banda-Acosta with being a deported unauthorized immigrant found in the United States.
According to the complaint, Banda-Acosta was first removed from the U.S. to Mexico via the Tecate Port of Entry on Nov. 12, 2002. He was most recently removed on Jan. 17 at the San Luis Port of Entry in Arizona.
The injured boy’s father, Benjamin Lake, spoke to reporters Friday outside Rady Children’s Hospital where his son Lennox is recovering. He said the background of the case is “upsetting.”
“We’re just really focused on Lennox right now,” he said. “We’re praying that the justice system does what they need to do.”
Banda-Acosta is currently in a San Diego County jail on felony charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.08 percent and hit-and-run, plus a misdemeanor charge of driving without a license. If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of seven years and eight months in prison.
If convicted of the federal immigration charge, Banda-Acosta could face additional time in custody.
On May 6, Banda-Acosta is suspected of speeding through a stop sign on Camino de la Plaza at Dairy Mart Road in San Ysidro and striking a Honda Accord.
The Lake family had been returning home from a trip to Disneyland. Lennox suffered a skull fracture and other injuries and is recovering well enough to be moved out of the hospital’s intensive care unit, his father said.
Banda-Acosta was arrested about a mile away by Border Patrol in his damaged pickup. He has pleaded not guilty.
He has been arrested in San Diego County before — on charges of domestic violence, DUI and driving on a suspended license, according to court records. They resulted in misdemeanor convictions.
Further details about Banda-Acosta’s deportations cannot be released due to privacy rules, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack.
Mack could not speak specifically about this case, but said, “On a regular basis ICE files charges against people who’ve illegally entered the U.S. after being deported. We have also increased our efforts to seek criminal prosecution against egregious immigration violators.”
http://www.trbimg.com/img-5913d25d/t...10/400/400x225
Banda-Acosta’s federal case can proceed a few ways. He will be notified of the federal charge and be given an opportunity to decide whether to give up his right to a speedy trial. If he doesn’t want to give up that right, his case must be tried within 180 days, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
If he decides to waive that right, then federal prosecutors can wait to try his case once his DUI case is finished, or, if convicted, even wait until he has completed a prison sentence on the state case, officials said.
Standing outside the hospital, Lake thanked the public for their support and well wishes, and the hospital staff for their commitment to Lennox’s recovery.
Lake also praised his wife for rushing to Lennox’s car seat after the crash and giving authorities a description of the hit-and-run driver’s pickup.
“She’s my better half,” Lake said of his wife, who has not left her son’s side at the hospital.
Upon regaining consciousness, Lennox’s first question was “if mom was OK,” Lake said. The boy didn’t remember the crash, but his parents were honest about about what had happened.
As days at the hospital go by, Lake said, Lennox misses his dog, older brothers and video games.
Lake declined to address Banda’s immigration legal troubles. He did, however, speak out against driving under the influence of alcohol, calling it irresponsible in this day and age, given that ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft exist as alternatives.
“It seems senseless to me,” he said.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...512-story.html
Immigration records detail DUI crash suspect’s many deportations
May 24, 2017
Kristina Davis
An unauthorized immigrant charged with DUI and hit and run in a crash that seriously injured a 6-year-old San Ysidro boy was deported or allowed to voluntarily return to Mexico 17 times over the past 14 years without facing criminal charges, according to Department of Homeland Security immigration records released Wednesday.
The timeline of Constantino Banda Acosta’s run-ins with immigration and border authorities, beginning in 2002 and ending with the May 6 crash, suggest a person who is highly motivated to be in the U.S., at times crossing within days of being removed to Mexico. Records show Banda, 38, has repeatedly tried to enter the U.S. illegally with counterfeit documents, by crossing the border fence and at least once in the trunk of a car.
He was last deported in January by Border Patrol agents patrolling Tecate, and it is unknown when and how he entered the U.S. to be arrested near the scene of the crash that put Lennox Lake in the hospital for 18 days. Lennox was released from Rady Children’s Hospital on Tuesday and is recovering at home in “delicate condition” with deep skull fractures and also battling infections, rash and fever, his aunt said.
Banda’s records show that three of the deportations occurred after he was arrested on state charges, including domestic violence and DUI, and was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from local jails.
It wasn’t until his arrest after the crash that he was charged criminally with violating federal immigration law.
Border Patrol Agent Terry Shigg, president of the San Diego chapter of the National Border Patrol Council, said criminal prosecutions and the threat of prison sentences aren’t being used enough to deter repeat offenders like Banda. That is expected to change under President Donald Trump’s administration, which has promised more prosecutions as part of its crackdown on illegal immigration.
“It’s one of those things you get so used to that it becomes the norm, to know that multiple times throughout my career I’ve returned the same group of people (to Mexico) multiple times on the same day,” Shigg said. “It’s frustrating. It’s almost as if there’s a loophole, a fault in the system and no one wants to fix it. Recidivists come through and there’s laws on the books to stop them. … After about the 10th time, a flag should go up that in about three months this guy is going to be back, because that’s what happened in the past.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego has historically prosecuted unauthorized immigrants with serious criminal backgrounds who have crossed multiple times or under aggravated circumstances. Banda possibly didn’t appear a major threat because he had misdemeanor convictions, not felonies, and because his deportation record was spread out over several years, said San Diego immigration attorney Andrew Nietor, who is not involved in the case.
It is unknown if law enforcement referred any of Banda’s cases to prosecutors.
“It’s unclear where the decision was made,” Nietor said. It could have been the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Justice, he said. The caseload, resources and priorities of both agencies could have played a role, the lawyer added.
People who aren’t prosecuted criminally — as in Banda’s case — are handled through administrative immigration court or returned to Mexico under various methods.
One of those options is an expedited removal order issued by law enforcement authorities, often after catching someone attempting to enter illegally. The immigrant is returned quickly to Mexico without seeing an immigration judge. Such orders can be reinstated if the person is found illegally in the country again.
A civil immigration judge issues formal removal orders after a determination has been made on an immigrant’s legal status.
Unauthorized immigrants are also sometimes allowed to voluntarily return to their home country quickly by signing a waiver. Or, if immigrants are at a port of entry trying to get in, they might be allowed to withdraw the request for admission and just turn around.
Using Homeland Security immigration records and San Diego County Superior Court records, a timeline of Banda’s encounters with law enforcement emerges:
• Nov. 12, 2002: Deported to Mexico at the Tecate Port of Entry based on an expedited removal order issued after he attempted to illegally enter the U.S. by presenting a counterfeit alien registration card.
• Feb. 9, 2003: Deported to Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry based on an expedited removal order after Banda attempted to illegally enter the U.S. using counterfeit documents.
• Jan. 8, 2004: Deported to Mexico at the Calexico Port of Entry based on an expedited removal order issued after Banda attempted to illegally enter the U.S. by presenting a counterfeit alien registration card.
• July 19, 2004: Deported to Mexico at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry based on the reinstatement of a prior removal order following his arrest by the Border Patrol, which encountered him in the mountains west of Tecate.
• Dec. 29, 2004: Deported to Mexico via a port of entry in Nogales, Ariz., based on an expedited removal order issued after Banda attempted to illegally enter the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry concealed in the trunk of a vehicle.
• Feb. 26, 2006: Arrested on a DUI charge and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to five years’ probation, a $1,925 fine and allowed to participate in a first-conviction program.
• April 8, 2007: Deported to Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry based on an expedited removal order issued after Banda attempted to illegally enter the U.S. by falsely telling authorities he was a U.S. citizen. Banda also presented a Washington state identification card bearing his name.
• Aug. 24, 2007: Pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery two days after the offense and was sentenced to 60 days in jail. It appears he didn’t serve that sentence. Banda was transferred to ICE custody by the Chula Vista Police Department based on an immigration detainer, then deported at the San Ysidro Port of Entry following the reinstatement of a prior removal order.
• March 12, 2008: Deported to Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry following the reinstatement of a prior removal order. Banda was transferred to ICE custody based on an immigration detainer lodged with Chula Vista police.
• Feb. 16, 2009: Voluntarily returned to Mexico by Border Patrol agents.
• June 23, 2009: Voluntarily returned to Mexico by Border Patrol agents in Yuma, Ariz.
• Jan. 12, 2011: Pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving with a suspended license. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, three years’ probation and a $1,400 fine.
• Jan. 18, 2011: Deported to Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry following the reinstatement of a prior removal order by ICE after Banda was transferred from the George Bailey Detention Facility to ICE custody.
• Jan. 22, 2011: Returned to Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry after being allowed to withdraw his application for admission when he attempted to enter the U.S. using an entry document belonging to someone else.
• Feb. 9, 2011: Returned to Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry being allowed to withdraw his application for admission.
• March 4, 2011: Deported to Mexico via the San Ysidro Port of Entry based on an expedited removal order issued after Banda attempted to illegally enter the U.S. by presenting a counterfeit Mexican passport.
• March 27, 2011: Voluntarily returned to Mexico via Harlingen, Texas. Banda was arrested by Border Patrol agents after he illegally entered the U.S. on foot near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
• Jan. 13, 2012: Charged with driving with a suspended license with a prior DUI. He was sentenced to three years probation and $660 fine.
• Jan. 10, 2017: Deported to Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry based on the reinstatement of a prior removal order. Banda was picked up by ICE officers in the San Diego Central Jail.
• Jan. 17, 2017: Deported to Mexico via San Luis, Ariz., based on an expedited removal order Border Patrol issued. Agents patrolling the border near Tecate apprehended Banda.
In Banda’s most recent involvement with law enforcement, Border Patrol agents found him on May 6 about a mile from the wreckage of the Lake family’s Honda Accord. Authorities say Banda sped through a stop sign in San Ysidro and broadsided the car, as the family was returning from Disneyland.
The driver of the damaged pickup kept going. Agents found the truck and arrested Banda and an unnamed passenger.
Banda’s public defender said in court last week that she intends to show Banda was not the driver and requested immigration authorities not deport the passenger pending further investigation.
Nietor, the immigration attorney, said while he has heard of unauthorized immigrants with extremely long immigration records, Banda’s case shouldn’t be used as a typical example.
“I think this is the sort of case the Trump administration tries to politicize and tries to portray as typical, but it’s not typical. One of the reasons this case is noteworthy is because of the extreme circumstances,” Nietor said. “Every study shows that the non-citizen population, including the undocumented, is more law abiding than the U.S. citizen population.”
For Lennox’s family, the immigration debate is far from their thoughts.
“I can't afford to be angry and/or dwell on why or how this could have happened,” Lennox’s mother, Ingrid Lake, said in a text to the Union-Tribune. “‘What is happening and what do I need to do?’ has been the only question that's mattered since the second we were hit by that truck,” she said.
She said the family is grateful for the support it has received. “Thousands of people are pulling for Lennox to get well, and the love and support we've received makes it almost impossible for me to think about anything other than how appreciative I feel and relieved that Lennox is still here with us.”
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...524-story.html
