Sarah Root's mother urges tougher immigration policies at Washington rally
By Joseph Morton
BH News Service 4 hrs ago
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Iowan Michelle Root was among the “angel families” on stage with the president an event Friday in Washington, D.C. She held a large photo of her daughter, Sarah, who was killed in an Omaha wreck authorities say was caused by a man in the country illegally.
BH News Service photo/Matt Miller
WASHINGTON — Iowan Michelle Root and others gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday to demand that policymakers get tough on illegal immigration.
Root co-founded an organization representing those who have lost loved ones to criminals in the country illegally. She has described it as part support group, part advocacy operation.
Her own daughter Sarah Root had just graduated from Bellevue University in January 2016 when she was killed in an Omaha car crash. Authorities say Eswin Mejia, who was in the country illegally, was intoxicated when he caused the crash.
Mejia was arrested but disappeared after being released on bail a few days later.
“Sarah’s life matters,” Michelle Root said when she took the microphone Friday.
Those around her held signs in support of President Donald Trump and his immigration policies, such as building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Most immigrants in America are in the country legally, and advocacy groups point to studies that have demonstrated no link between immigrants — in the country legally or not — and higher crime rates.
“The consensus is there is a century’s worth of studies showing that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born Americans,” said Nebraska Appleseed spokesman Jeff Sheldon.
In spite of that, Trump has pointed to Sarah Root’s death and similar cases repeatedly as he makes the case for a tougher approach to immigration.
Dozens participated in Friday’s three-hour event, which landed on a brutally sunny and muggy Washington day. A bank of cameras captured the speeches, which also were streamed online.
Speakers said lawmakers need to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions, saying they offer safe harbor to criminals.
Defenders of those policies argue that they foster trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement — and that cooperation helps officials track down and apprehend violent offenders.
White House aide Kellyanne Conway and former White House aide Sebastian Gorka both spoke at Friday’s event, reiterating that Trump stands with the families there.
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told the group that the issue is personal for him, having met the grieving families.
“My jackets have been soaked with the tears of their parents,” King said.
A longtime hard-liner on illegal immigration, King has called for Trump to insist on border wall funding even if that contributes to a government shutdown.
Among the names of victims King mentioned during his speech was Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts.
Officials have said the man charged in her abduction and killing was in the country illegally.
But members of her family have objected to politicians and others bringing her death into the immigration fight to advance their own agendas.
“The person who is accused of taking Mollie’s life is no more a reflection of the Hispanic community as white supremacists are of all white people,” her father wrote in an opinion piece for the Des Moines Register.
After his speech, King told The Omaha World-Herald that he wants to be respectful to the Tibbetts family but that he must also think about millions of other Americans.
“If this Congress had joined with me when I came to this town, I believe Mollie would be alive today,” King said. “And having that conviction says to me that I can’t just step back and not speak at this time.”
And while she didn’t mention Tibbetts by name, Michelle Root said the case deserves public attention.
“Illegal immigration is a political issue, and it’s a safety issue,” she said.
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Angel Families', Trump aides rally against illegal immigrant crime
3 days ago
By Alex Pappas | Fox News
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White House counselor Kellyanne Conway speaks on illegal immigrant crime Friday outside the Capitol with "Angel Families." (Alex Pappas/Fox News)
In the continued fallout over the murder of an Iowa college student, allegedly at the hands of a Mexican man, advisers to President Trump joined “Angel Families” at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday to draw attention to crime committed by illegal immigrants.
“You will never be silenced, and your loved ones will never be forgotten,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told families. “Here’s the truth: open borders leads to massive crime. And massive crime that is totally avoidable.”
Others at the rally included former White House deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who recently lost his Republican bid for the U.S. Senate in Arizona.
“I also will never forget the names of these individuals, whether it’s Mollie Tibbetts or it's Kate Steinle,” Gorka said.
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Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who recently lost his Republican bid for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, poses for photos at a rally outside the Capitol on Friday. (Alex Pappas/Fox News)
Tibbetts went missing after going for a jog in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18. Police in August arrested a 24-year old illegal immigrant from Mexico and charged him with her murder.
Steinle was shot to death on Pier 14 in San Francisco by an illegal immigrant in July 2015. Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, who had had been deported five times, was acquitted of Steinle’s murder in 2017 after arguing he shot her by accident.
Trump has highlighted both cases, as he pushes for tougher measures to prevent illegal immigration. Democrats, some of whom are pushing to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, accuse Trump of exploiting isolated incidents.
More than 10 “Angel Families” - those whose family members were killed by illegal immigrants - were among the dozens in attendance at the rally.
Several speakers recounted stories of how their family members were killed, and spoke of the danger of sanctuary cities, arguing illegal immigrant crime can be prevented by securing the border.
“My daughter Sarah Root was killed less than 24 hours after graduating from Bellevue University,” said Michelle Root, one of the founders of the “Angel Families” organization.
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Former White House deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka said he will never "forget the names of these individuals, whether it’s Mollie Tibbetts or it's Kate Steinle." (Alex Pappas/Fox News)
Root said her 21-year-old daughter was on her way home after celebrating her graduation with friends on Jan 31, 2016. Sarah was stopped at a light in Omaha, Nebraska when an illegal immigrant rear-ended her car at a high speed, killing her. Root said the suspect posted bond, but fled before trial.
“He is still on the loose,” Root said. “We are still trying to find him to get justice for our daughter, and to prevent him from killing somebody else’s family.”
Mary Ann Mendoza of Arizona told the story of how her son, Brandon, a police officer who was killed by an illegal immigrant in a head-on collision in May 2014 in Phoenix.
“It’s important that our fellow Americans know the magnitude of crimes that are being committed,” Mendoza said.
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A man holds a "secure the border" sign outside a Washington D.C. rally Friday protesting illegal immigrant crime. (Alex Pappas/Fox News)
Mendoza issued a warning to those watching, saying it’s a real “problem.”
“You are going to know somebody – a friend, a family member who is going to be affected by illegal [immigrant] crime in the future,” she said. “It’s inevitable.”
Neither the Tibbetts nor Steinle families attended the rally. Tibbetts father, Rob Tibbetts, recently pleaded with politicians to “leave us out of your debate,” saying, “I’m imploring you to stop.”
“Allow us to grieve in privacy and with dignity,” Tibbetts wrote last week in the Des Moines Register.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...ant-crime.html
