Thread: Editorial: N.J.'s Illegal Immigrant Problem (Pro-CIR View)

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Law & Order, Race & Immigration

N.J.'s illegal immigrant problem

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board/The Star-Led...
October 26, 2009, 5:22AM

Star-Ledger file photo
Guatemalan immigrant Lazaro Tista was killed in Plainfield last week. Photo provided by the Latin American Coalition.

Two stories about illegal immigrants ran back-to-back in the newspaper edition of the Star-Ledger last week.

The first was about Lazaro Tista, 45, robbed and beaten to death by a group of thugs — aged 17 to 21 — in Plainfield. Prosecutors say the men deliberately targeted Tista because he was Hispanic; the suspects now face charges of murder, bias intimidation and robbery. Tista was a landscaper, supporting a wife and eight children in Guatamala.

The second story involved Manuel Fajardo-Santos, 31, who pleaded guilty to the 2008 sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl in Wharton. The Morris County prosecutor successfully argued in state Supreme Court for higher bail for Fajardo-Santos to ensure he would not post bond, not turn himself over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and not get a one-way ticket to his home country. That’s how another illegal immigrant charged with a similar crime skipped out on justice. Fajardo-Santos will be sentenced in January and could get as much as seven years, time he will have to serve in U.S. prisons before he’s turned over to ICE.

Meanwhile, the Tista family is seeking civil damages. Their lawyer said there’s no expectation of a windfall. Instead, the hope is that it will draw attention to violence against Hispanics in the state.

"New Jersey residents should be incensed to find out this behavior still goes on, right beneath their noses," said attorney Todd Drayton.

The campaign against illegal immigrants makes no distinction between Tista and Fajardo-Santos. The overheated, hateful rhetoric obscures the truth, does nothing to protect men like Tista and puts the lives of anyone who looks Hispanic, including American citizens, at risk.

Efforts to deal with the problem at the local level — deputizing police to turn over suspects to ICE — fall short, trampling rights and antagonizing legal immigrant communities that have broken no laws. These misguided policies fail to take into account that illegal immigration has been flat since the U.S. economy tanked as word has gotten out that there are no jobs here.

Still, legislators are not waiting for the economy and the flood of illegal immigrants to return.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, chairman of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has outlined "core principles" for an immigration reform bill, including effective border enforcement, humane treatment of illegals in prison, keeping families intact and more even-handed community policing that doesn’t alienate immigrants and keep them from reporting crime. He’s also calling for improvements in the government system of confirming a job applicant’s legal status.

"We need a bill that says if you come here to hurt our communities, we will not support you," he said at an immigration rally in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, "But if you are here to work hard and to make a better life for your family, you will have the opportunity to earn your citizenship."

That seems a fair place to start. The fates of Tista and Fajardo-Santos illustrate the human cost of further delay, and the complexity of the discussion that awaits us.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2 ... oblem.html

What about all the crimes illegals perpetrate on Americans every day?

Call me crazy, but NJ citizens should be incensed that 4 college students, none of whom who had ever been in trouble and were honor students, were victims of a Hispanic gang initiation. Three died and the fourth had her face cut off with a machete but survived. The perpetrators were illegal.

The victims were exemplary citizens in this case, even though they grew up in tough neighborhoods of Newark. And, even after this horrific event, the Newark Mayor defended his sanctuary policies.

And, who cares if a child molester, an 8 year old for crying out loud, has a high bail to prevent him from commiting more crimes and escaping? Guiteirrez has lost his mind.

Why such hateful rhetoric against poor innocent little girls?

Every paper in the NY, NJ, CT tristate area puts out articles like this one but just try to find an article advocating enforcement of our immigration laws.

"New Jersey residents should be incensed to find out this behavior still goes on, right beneath their noses," said attorney Todd Drayton.

NJ taxpayers are certainly aware of hate-mongering, race-baiting swill like this and they are sick and tired of it. NJ protects illegal aliens to the detriment of all its residents.