Thread: KS: Alleged drunk driver was illegal immigrant

Alleged drunk driver was illegal immigrant
By Dana Hertneky

Story Created: Dec 19, 2008 at 9:46 PM CST

Story Updated: Dec 19, 2008 at 11:06 PM CST

WICHITA, KS -- A frustrated family is speaking out after their mother was killed by an alleged drunk driver. They say they've learned the man was an illegal immigrant and has been in trouble with the law before.

It’s all leaving them with questions about why he was allowed to stay in the country, in the first place.

Seventy-five-year-old Lola Jayne was a vibrant mother of eight, married for 58 years. She loved life but understood its dangers.

"My mom and dad would avoid going out on New Year's Eve, you know, because that's the time that everyone drinks and drives," said her daughter, Shelia Reaser.

Yet at 6:30 on a Saturday evening, as she was driving on 21st Street to bingo, the driver of an oncoming car crossed the center line and hit her. She died the next day.

"This should never have happened, never have happened," said Reaser.

The driver of that oncoming car was 25-year-old Baltazar Marquez, who police say was drunk.

"We’re all devastated and very disappointed in the system," said another daughter, Linda Stilwell.

Jayne's family has since learned Marquez was in this country illegally. He didn't have a driver's license or insurance. And he's been pulled over before.

"Our feelings are why was he not deported at that point," said Stilwell.

ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, tells KSN it relies on and encourages individual law enforcement agencies to inform them when they run across immigrants in this country illegally.

The Wichita Police Department, however, says it only notifies ICE if illegal immigrants are involved in felony cases where the suspect poses a severe danger to the community.

According to Jayne’s family, after the first stop Marquez was charged with four misdemeanors.

"He was stopped back in September. Why couldn't they have taken him in then and my mom would still be alive?" said Stilwell

Alive to enjoy a big family Christmas and to see her granddaughter, who was stricken with bacterial spinal meningitis, enjoy a full recovery.

Instead, the family is left with grief and anger-- at the man who allegedly killed their mother and what they say is the breakdown in the system that allowed it to happen.

"We've never been one of those families that don't feel that people shouldn't be here and enjoy America if you follow the rules."

Marquez is currently facing manslaughter charges in the crime.

http://www.ksn.com/news/local/36481294.html

Another American killed by the hate group LaRaza. Where is the outrage? Where are the press conferences denouncing this hate?