Stafford killings focus attention on illegal aliens, death penalty
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/8/06
In reading the Press story about the funeral of the two Stafford children who police say were killed with a hammer by an illegal alien, I found myself confronted with many emotions. I was profoundly sad as a father of three small children that any child should suffer such an act of savagery. My anger turned to rage as I struggled with the reality that the foreign invasion of the United States by illegal immigrants continues with the obvious result that some are violent criminals.
While the advocates of breaking U.S. immigration laws paint the illegal immigrant as the super-worker, the truth is the unskilled, illegal immigrants who come here are not some monolithic group of noble, economic refugees seeking opportunity and willing to work harder than the average American. All are criminals, and some are violent criminals.

The Press continues, as it did in its Jan. 23 news story, to refer to illegal immigrants as "undocumented aliens." A very small subgroup of aliens is merely undocumented. They came here legally, usually on a work or student visa, and simply overstayed their right to be a U.S. guest. Those immigrants are guilty of civil violation of immigration law. They are not criminals by definition. They have not broken criminal law and are not subject to criminal penalties.

The rest of the aliens, those who knowingly entered the United States without permission and with the intention of breaking U.S. immigration laws, are criminals. That is why they are called "illegal" aliens. They have broken the law, and their entrance into the country is a violation of criminal law. Absent some showing that the killer of the Stafford boys overstayed his visa here, the Press wrongfully identifies him as "undocumented," when he is really an "illegal."

Another reason I am angry is that this killer committed this crime in New Jersey. That means he will not receive the death penalty he deserves, a penalty one of the dead boys advocated for in a classroom presentation the day of his death. This killer broke the law in New Jersey. Instead of being punished appropriately, he will beat the rap for capital punishment. Since New Jersey reinstituted the death penalty, it has never found one criminal it believes to have received a fair trial, and thus earned the penalty. That disgraceful statistic makes the New Jersey Supreme Court a national mockery and a judicial branch that openly thwarts the will of the people.

While it is too late for this country to protect these children from foreign invasion and violent crime by illegal immigrants, New Jersey can finally step up and execute someone who has earned it. And, if the Press wants to run a headline saying, "Undocumented alien is New Jersey's first documented execution in decades," that use of the term "undocumented" will be fine with me.

Richard Kelsey

ASHBURN, VA.

FORMERLY FREEHOLD

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