Immigration....Give Us Your Tired, Your Hungry, And Your Killers
John T. Urban



August 18, 2007
In the span of mere hours on August 4th, two horrendous incidents ocurred that rocked the New York City Metropolitan Area.

In Brooklyn, Anthony Senisi, 44 was murdered enroute to the grocery store to buy milk on his wedding anniversary. His assailant, nineteen year old Mejia Cinto, an illegal from Mexico with gang ties was subsequently arrested in Pennsylvania. The victim was mistaken for someone with whom Cinto had a previous altercation.

Not far away, in a schoolyard in Jersey City, New Jersey, four Delaware State University students: Terry and Natasha Aerial, 18 and 19 respectively, Dashon Harvey and Idfemi Hightower both 20, were forced to their knees and shot in the head. Their assailants included Jose Carranza, an illegal alien from Peru. Natasha was the sole survivor. Outrage grew within the community when it was learned that this perpetrator had recently been released on bail on two pending matters. One involved an assault on a man, and the other a repeated rape of a child under five.

If these two cases were attributed to nothing greater than a terrible coincidence we could possibly accept it as a function of the "law of averages". But the truth is, far from being an aberration, attacks on American citizens by immigrants, specifically illegal ones is not only on the rise but chronicled nationwide in a website (http://immigrationshumancost.org).

Advocate organizations such as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) have not only taken up the cause of legal immigrants, but make no distinction in representing the undocumented as well. When I emailed them, citing the Brooklyn and Jersey City killings and telling them I believed they were indirectly complicit in these deaths there response was, "Thank you for supporting PRLDEF." The rubber stamp response did not even address my inquiry.

Cities, my hometown included, have become Sanctuary Cities not only refusing to cooperate with the Federal Government on the matter but prohibiting the police and other agencies from inquiring into a persons immigration status. Despite these two tragic incidents, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently defended their presence here and when confronted by Mitt Romney as protecting illegals he said, "Boy, let 'em come."


There are a number of arguments that can be presented in favor of a strict immigration policy, but as a retired criminal justice professional, I believe none are more pressing than the issue of illegal aliens and criminality. I can recall my days as a Parole Officer the failures of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Prior to the mid 90's instead of being held on detainers, undocumented criminals were released to the street if INS failed to pick them up. Fortunately, this practice was eventually curtailed in New York.

I recently was in contact with Professor Kris Kobach, a constitutional law scholar and immigration law specialist at the University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Law. His revelation shocked me.

There is a federal law, 8USC 1373(a) that PROHIBITS SANCTUARY CITIES! It reads as follows:

"Notwithstanding any other provision of federal, state, or local law, a federal, state, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual." Every Sanctuary City in America is in violation of this law, and yet I am not aware of any Federal challenge to these violations.

While the illegal immigrant issue may be complex, a solution need not be. First, any person that has contact with a law enforcement official, i.e., a police officer, etc., on a potential law violation of any degree, must produce I.D., that's standard protocol. Going further, drivers licenses should indicate citizenship status, additionally, legal aliens should be issued immigration identification with a photo that must be carried at all times. Second, Upon arrest for a misdemeanor, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of one year, the case of a person known to be here illegally gets "fast-tracked" to court and disposed of quickly so the person can be turned over to the Feds for immediate deportation. Since felony convictions are of a more serious nature and require terms of imprisonment, the issue becomes more complex as deportation without serving a prison sentence would become a "Get out of jail" card. Perhaps treaties could be encouraged so these offenders can serve their sentence in their native country.

The time has come for this immigration debacle to be addressed. How many criminals are crossing our boarders daily. Worse yet, when will terrorists do likewise?

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