Thread: A look back at the immigration debate in NC

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A look back at the immigration debate
12/29/2005 2:15 PM
By: Lisa Reyes, News 14 Carolina


CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Thousands of immigrants call North Carolina home. And while some go through years of paperwork to make their status legal, others do not.

In 2005, a series of traffic accidents involving illegal immigrants accused of driving drunk prompted some – including a North Carolina congresswoman – to ask for stiffer immigration laws.

Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., says there are loopholes in the system that were brought to the forefront earlier this year.

In July, Mount Holly resident Scott Gardner was on his way to the beach with his family when his car collided with another. That car was driven by Ramiro Gallegos, an illegal immigrant who was found to be drunk.

Gardner died, his wife was critically injured and it was revealed that Gallegos had three prior convictions for driving while impaired.

A month later, Amy Milligan, a 15-year-old from Richmond County, was involved in a near-deadly crash. The other driver, Marin Gomez, ran a red light. His blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit and police could not find proof that he was in the country legally.

Milligan survived and eventually emerged from a coma with severe brain damage.

Myrick had enough. She introduced the Scott Gardner Act which would require local law-enforcement groups to file every immigration matter into an FBI database.

The law is still in the works, and in November, another life was lost

Min Soon Chang, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, was killed when an SUV traveling in excess of 100 mph on the wrong side of the interstate collided with his car.

Jorge Hernandez Soto, the driver of the SUV, now faces DWI and murder charges. Officials say he had been deported 17 times and has prior DWI convictions.

In December, Republicans on the Mecklenburg County Commission proposed cutting government services to illegal immigrants but that measure was shot down.

In response to growing animosity, the Latino community became proactive and launched a campaign to stop drunken driving. They hope to educate the community by targeting media outlets, places of worship and supermarkets.

All three drunken driving suspects are awaiting trial.

This is progress. That's the first time all three are in the same story that I know of. I will contact the reporter tomorrow.

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

This is progress. That's the first time all three are in the same story that I know of. I will contact the reporter tomorrow.

W

W, when you contact her, see if you can talk her into checking on a couple of other recent accidents in NC that might involve illegal immigrants. One is the the three Goldsboro kids run over in a crosswalk on the way to school. The other is the two teenage brothers killed by a hit and run driver near Greenville, NC, this past summer.

Lisa,

Thank you so much for your coverage about the illegal aliens in NC that have killed or maimed Scott and Tina Gardner, Amy Milligan, and Min Chang. To our knowledge, this is one of the first times that these three incidents have been mentioned together in the same news report outside of our Internet news and talk radio shows.

Since the story is new, if you could please consider upgrading the report to include three other important elements.

1. The story does not mention Robert Yates Dewey who was killed by a drunk driving illegal alien in the Hickory area.

2. The story does not mention Ignacio Benitez' daughter. He killed her driving drunk near Winston Salem. They were charging him with murder but he was deported before facing trial and is now a free man in Mexico.

3. The story does not mention Gilberto Cruz Hernandez who is facing at least 9 counts related to home invasion and serial rape in Winston Salem. It was discovered that Hernandez had a fresh and valid NC license, a 44k a year job, and a 124k home mortgage backed by taxpayers through the FHA!

We have had a terrible time with the NC AP Wire preventing this information from reaching the public at all or in the same story.

Here is a report with all of the background information you would need.

Why is the NC Associated Press Censoring information about illegal immigration?
http://www.alipac.us/article-910-thread-1-0.html

and

NC Associated Press Wire Censorship Proven. Immigration News blocked.
http://www.alipac.us/article-927-thread-1-0.html

It would be a great victory for the citizens of North Carolina if you could include these missing stories in your report and pump it out across the state through News 14.

Thank you again for your reporting on these important matters.

William Gheen
President, Americans for Legal Immigration PAC
www.alipac.us
Post Office Box 30966, Raleigh, NC 27622-0966
Tel: (919) 787-6009 Toll Free: (866) 329-3999
FEC ID: C00405878