Thread: MI:On IA who killed off duty Flint police officer

PUBLISHED: Sunday, May 18, 2008
Illegal immigration: aspiration vs. imposition


By SHAUN BYRON
Of The Oakland Press

It was a group of Oakland County jurors who found Ramon Felix Pineda guilty of second-degree murder in the death of an off-duty Flint police officer.

Also here in Oakland County, Jose Carcamo was convicted of being involved in a 2002 drunk driving accident that cost Clarkston resident Tricia Taylor her legs.

In the view of many people who did not serve on those juries, however, both Pineda and Carcamo were already guilty of committing another crime: Living illegally in the United States.

Michigan's illegal immigrant population was about 124,000 in 2005, ranking the state 16th nationally according to estimates by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, also called FAIR.

Undocumented residents coming to Oakland County are joining an already diverse community. Nearly 10 percent of the county's population is made up of legal immigrants, according to the 2000 census, This population saw a 57.2 percent-increase from the 1997 census.

But the migration does not come without social challenges. The cost associated with educating the children of illegal residents, emergency medical care and incarceration is estimated to be possibly be more than $300 million, FAIR estimated in 2005.

At the same time, undocumented workers remain an integral part of the national and state economy.

According to the Michigan Farm Bureau, not including guest worker provisions in immigration reform could cost the state's agricultural industry $270 million in production losses and $150 million in net farm income losses annually.

Immigrants involved in the agricultural workforce in Michigan, along with other industries, also pay millions of dollars in taxes. The Immigration Policy Center has reported that between one-half and three-quarters of undocumented immigrants pay federal and state income taxes, Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes.

The center estimates they provide $7 billion a year alone to the Social Security Trust Fund.

For almost every statistic pointing toward the negative impact undocumented residents have on the United States, a positive one can be established.

Reforming immigration laws has sparked a nationwide debate, with passionate arguments on both sides.

It's an issue with legal and ethical implications that sometimes get lost in the emotional arguments between lawmakers and citizens.

American dream?

Pineda, a 26-year-old Mexican immigrant, had worked as a cook at a Clarkston restaurant and lived in Ortonville with his wife and their small child, according to court testimony.

That was before he was found guilty earlier this month of second-degree murder, operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death, failure to stop at the scene of an injury accident, driving with a suspended license and false certification of personal information for assuming another man's name to get a driver's license.

The charges stemmed from a traffic accident that happened Aug. 26, 2007 in Independence Township and lead to the death of Vincent D'Anna.

Pineda was behind the wheel of a 1992 Chevrolet Camaro, heading south on Sashabaw Road. Ahead of him was D'Anna, who had stopped or slowed his motorcycle because of traffic associated with a concert at DTE Energy Music Theatre.

The Camaro struck D'Anna before it accelerated more than once. It climbed over the motorcycle and D'Anna. He died a short time after that.

Pineda's blood alcohol level was .16, twice the legal limit. He now awaits sentencing on the charges and could face life in prison.

His defense attorney, Elias Escobedo Jr., had argued his client was attempting to get the car off of D'Anna. He also stated the charges were excessive, as Pineda only ran off after the accident because he was scared by the passers-by who gathered at the scene and were yelling.

Initial reports of the case by The Oakland Press sparked several e-mails from across the country, all of which responded mainly to Pineda's citizenship status.

Pineda admitted during the trial to coming illegally from Mexico at age 14.

Escobedo filed a motion at the beginning of the case to suppress statements about his client's citizenship status.

The judge denied his request, but did suppress statements that D'Anna was a Flint police officer.

While Escobedo says he feels confident in their selection of jurors for the case, he does question, in general, how much of a negative impact the words "illegal alien" can have.

The issue of illegal immigration carries a lot of emotion on both sides, and is very rarely looked at without those sentiments, he said.

The legal dynamics involved in immigration cases shouldn't be trampled on because of the fears surrounding undocumented citizens, Escobedo added.

"With what is happening now, if we erode the rights of noncitizens, we could very possibly be in danger of eroding the rights of citizens," he said.

Other illegals' crimes

During the 2002 Arts, Beats and East festival in Pontiac, Carcamo was reported to be speeding more than 25 miles per hour over the posted speed limit when his car jumped a curb at Huron and Mill streets and ran into both Taylor and her friend, Noah Menard.

Menard Was pinned under the car, fracturing his skull and collarbone, and his elbow was mangled.

Taylor's legs were pinned against the exterior of the Ameritech building. She had multiple surgeries, including amputations.

Just as tragic is the story of Nelson Oswaldo Mendoza and Miguel Angel Servando.

The two Salvadoran natives had been living in Texas and are accused of driving to Troy in March to kill legal immigrants Brij Mohan Chhabra and his wife Aasha Chhabra.

Servando is an illegal resident with a history of being arrested for drugs and "alien smuggling."

Mendoza's citizenship status hasn't yet been determined, according to Oakland County prosecutors.

During court proceedings, it was revealed they had been promised $100,000 each to kill the couple over an ongoing lawsuit with Narayan Thadani of Texas.

The men are currently awaiting trial for the murders, along with Thadani and gardener Douglas Enor Tobar.

Tobar is accused of introducing Thadani to Servando and Mendoza.

Immigrating legally

While it could be argued these are isolated instances, others point to these as reasons why the government needs a strict immigration policy.

Clarkston resident Rick Beall was just 3 years old in 1964 when he, his sister and mother became legal citizens of the United States after coming from then Western Germany, where his mother had married a U.S. soldier stationed there.

Beall is one of many people who feel strongly about immigration reform and is frustrated by what he sees as a lack of strong immigration enforcement.

He's written numerous lawmakers who have supported amnesty for undocumented citizens and voiced his opinion about why they are wrong.

Beall asserts that politicians who refuse to take a strong stand on the issue and the North American Free Trade Agreement are chief among the reasons why undocumented citizens reside in the country.

If anything, he says there is no need to reform immigration laws, but just enforce those already on the books.

Beall, who makes his living in skilled trades, said employers are using undocumented workers because they are work at a much lower wage.

This, he says, has decimated their industry and left many people out of a job.

A person working in skilled trades could at one time afford to buy a house, he said, adding that is no longer the case.

"It's a passionate subject for me and a lot of Americans," he said. "Go to anyone who has been laid off, any construction site or restaurant and they'll tell you."

Enforcement or reformation?

As immigration reform promises to be part of the upcoming presidential debates, it also splinters down to lower levels of government.

Jessica Vaughan, senior policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies, says state and local governments are struggling to determine what can be done about the issue of illegal immigration.

According to a study conducted in 2001 by the CIS, most of the legal immigrants living in Oakland County were from Iraq, with the former Soviet Union and India shortly behind.

While there has been no evidence to link continuing criminal behavior to illegal immigration, Vaughan said more needs to be done to enhance cooperation and identify people who are living illegally in the U.S. and pose a threat to public safety.

"When you have a number of illegal aliens who are not supposed to be in the country to begin with, who are breaking the law and endangering lives, it needs to be addressed," Vaughan said.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, sits under the umbrella of the federal Department of Homeland Security.

Vaughan said the department is underfunded and has been unable to properly identify people who are living illegally in the United States and have eluded capture.

While in court, Pineda's wife testified he had been arrested prior to the accident and was identified as a noncitizen.

Officers had contacted ICE agents, who never took him into custody. He was released a few hours later.

How many are here?

Only in the last year has enforcement been made a priority, Vaughan said, because there has been so much controversy surrounding the issue of immigration reform.

"There are some jails in Virginia that are 30 percent illegal aliens," she explained. "It just depends on the area."

While he wouldn't go into specifics, Greg Palmore, spokesman for ICE in Michigan and Ohio, said there is no way of knowing how many people are living illegally across the nation.

People who are suspected of being illegal immigrants and are arrested are afforded an opportunity to go before an immigration judge to plead their case, he said.

ICE agents then carry out whatever judgment is given in the case.

Anyone suspected of being an illegal resident is usually identified by local law enforcement and that information is then provided to them.

The decision of whether a person serves a sentence in prison for a crime other than being an illegal resident or is immediately deported is up to the immigration judge, Palmore said.

If a person does serve a sentence, he said ICE agents will place a detainer on the individual so they are immediately taken into custody upon release.

"Each case is different," he said.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said people his office takes into custody and suspected of being undocumented residents are not from just one particular place.

"People are literally coming from all over the world," he said, adding that it is a concern to make certain the borders are secure.

Deputies arrested 141 undocumented residents between 2005 and 2006, although sheriff's officials believe the number could be higher because of their inability to always properly identify someone as a noncitizen.

The federal government does reimburse local law enforcement and municipalities for incarcerating undocumented residents.

However, those are only on the occasions an individual has been positively identified.

And of those taken into custody, between 30 to 40 percent have prior criminal records, Bouchard said.

"They wouldn't be walking through that back door unless they committed a crime," he said.

What has made their efforts in identifying illegal immigrants even more difficult has been their inability to access federal databases to determine a suspect's citizenship status.

Opening up those databases and issuing tamper-proof identification cards for people seeking employment while abiding by immigration laws are two initiatives he supports.

Regardless of a person's reasons for entering the country illegally, Bouchard said they are still breaking the law.

"People are coming from all over the globe, sometimes with noble purposes, but sometimes with some bad intentions," he said. "I think the federal government has a duty to screen that appropriately."

And what should become if a person remains undetected while abiding by the law?

Staying here

Some say they deserve a chance to remain here.

Existing policies have continued to undermine human dignity, resulting in death and separated families, according to the Michigan Catholic Conference, which serves at the official voice of the Catholic Church in Michigan in matters of public policy.

It's their assertion that many people who enter the United States as undocumented residents do so to seek a better life for themselves and their families.

"Immigrants are human beings and they deserve to be treated with the same amount of dignity any human being is afforded," said Dave Maluchnik, spokesman for the Michigan Catholic Conference.

While the Catholic Church does not support illegal immigration into the United States, they do support efforts to ensure people's rights and basic human needs are being met.

The breaking apart of families to deport someone who is determined to be an illegal citizen is scarcely taken into consideration by law enforcement and lawmakers, Maluchnik said.

There is also the issue of politicians using illegal immigration as a way to stir up public fear while garnering support during election years.

This includes developing unrealistic enforcement methods and using the word "amnesty" as a scare tactic, he said.

Some politicians are using these unsavory methods as opposed to having open discussions about viable options and repairing public policies that are doing more harm than good, Maluchnik said.

"The nation's immigration policy has been broke for years," he said.

"We are encouraging the federal government to draft a new policy to deal with it as a whole and make sure to help facilitate those families that have been separated by bad policy. It can be fixed to ensure that families are reunited."

Contact staff writer Shaun Byron at (24 745-4685 or shaun.byron@oakpress.com.
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/ ... 7351.shtml

Escobedo filed a motion at the beginning of the case to suppress statements about his client's citizenship status.

True justice cannot be dispensed without the court knowing the immigration/citizenship status of the accused.

Move to NEW Section for "Americans Killed by Illegals."