Sunday, August 12, 2007

Get This Evil Out Of My City

Newark Mayor Cory Booker uttered those words yesterday in the course of attending three funerals for the murdered trio of college students.
“Get this evil out of my city,” Mayor Cory A. Booker told nearly 1,000 mourners at the funeral for the youngest of the three victims, Terrance Aeriel, 18.

Mr. Booker stood at a lectern inside New Hope Baptist Church, waving his arms and not so much speaking as preaching, his words a mix of anger, praise and a personal appeal for forgiveness.

In the days before the killings, Mr. Booker had been criticized by many who said he was disconnected from residents of his adopted city, and a video had surfaced in which Mr. Booker described a colorful Newark activist using words that, while intended as affectionate, angered the activist’s family and even the mayor’s supporters.

“I want to repent to this church,” Mr. Booker said at Mr. Aeriel’s funeral. “In the days leading into Saturday, I was saying things that hurt this city. But I broke down. I was broken down, but in the pit of my despair I heard the Lord speak.”

As the crowd rose and cheered, he added: “How dare I or any other Newarker crumble to the ground? How dare we give in to fear? How dare people turn on their brothers and attack them, blame them?”

Mr. Booker, like many other mourners, including Gov. Jon S. Corzine and United States Senator Robert Menendez, attended all three funerals.

Standing near the silver coffin of Mr. Aeriel, who was ordained as a minister a few years ago and was known to relatives as T. J., Mr. Corzine said: “T. J.’s life has not been in vain. He has inspired so many of you, and he inspires me.”

About 11:30 p.m. last Saturday the three victims — Dashon Harvey, 20; Iofemi Hightower, 20; and Mr. Aeriel — were hanging out at the Mount Vernon School in the Ivy Hill neighborhood. With them was Natasha Aeriel, 19, Mr. Aeriel’s sister.
Somewhere in all the discussion over why this crime happened must be someone to stand up and demand action taken against illegal aliens, one of whom was involved in this heinous act. Not only was Jose Lachira Carranza an illegal alien, but he had already been indicted on two other crimes - a rape of a 5-year old over a period of weeks and on which he was released on $150,000 bail, and a barroom brawl.

There are two minors involved and in custody, two other minors are being sought, and another illegal alien is being sought. The press is calling this guy a Peruvian national, but he is an illegal alien. It was a crime just for him to be in the country. Then, there's another guy who probably shouldn't have been in the country either and appears involved as well:
Rodolfo Godinez: An arrest warrant was issued yesterday for the 24-year-old Nicaraguan national, whom authorities are calling a "principal player" in the crime. He is expected to be charged with three counts of murder and felony murder, plus weapons charges.

Godinez, also known as Rodolfo Gomez, lives on Midland Avenue in Newark, but at one time lived in the Ivy Hill Park Apartments.

According to neighbors in Newark's Ivy Hill section, Godinez was often seen with Carranza, the two juveniles now in custody and a juvenile who was at large yesterday. Authorities said Godinez has been arrested several times on robbery and weapons-possession charges since he was 19.
Is he an illegal alien too? From the way the article is written, dollars to donuts I'd say that he is. It is a crime just for him to be in the country, and that he's alleged to be involved in this murder only should bring even more attention to the problem of lax border control enforcement.

If Booker truly wants to get crime under control, demanding that the federal government assist in cracking down on the illegal aliens in his city would be a good place to start. Demanding that cities cease attempting to circumvent federal immigration law and calling for sanctuary cities is another step.

These illegal aliens have no business being in the US. If they want to enter the US and make a better life for themselves, they can do so legally as millions of other legal residents and naturalized citizens have done before.

What is especially galling is that Carranza had already been in police custody twice and was not held on the immigration charges. Had they done so, this criminal act could have been avoided. The failure to enforce the immigration law has real repercussions.

Just ask the families of Dashon Harvey, Iofemi Hightower, and Terrance Aeriel.

UPDATE:
Gothamist has a posting chock full of interesting tidbits about those standing accused of the triple murder. Godinez wasn't supposed to be in the country (aka being an illegal alien), but was apparently deported in 1993 and no one knows whether that came to pass. Apparently, Godinez and the other thugs apparently had links to the violent gang MS-13.
Carranza ran with another tough character in Rodolfo Godinez, 24, who had amassed arrests for robbery and weapons possession. Yesterday, police issued a warrant for Godinez's arrest in the schoolyard killings. He remained at large last night.

Like Carranza, Godinez was a former resident. He lived nearby, in an apartment on Midland Avenue. And like Carranza, Godinez was believed to be associated with MS-13, considered one of the most violent gangs in America.

Rooted in the Salvadoran civil war of the 1980s, MS-13, also known as La Mara Salvatrucha, spread to the United States with immigration. Though smaller than other national gangs such as the Bloods and Crips, it is known to have a strong presence in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Michelle Malkin has written extensively on that subject.

UPDATE:
Patterico has a guest poster who discusses the nexus between immigration law and criminal justice - the immigration courts.
Sorry to burst the bubble of those of you who had a hard time believing that an alient without the right to remain in the US actually is allowed to remain in the US until such time as an Immigration Judge decides they are not allowed to remain in the US, and then for some added time after that.

What you should understand, however, is that Immigration Courts are operated by the Executive Branch, not the Judicial Branch. Immigration Judges are appointed by the Dept. of Justice, and ICE staffs the “prosecutors” offices of the Immigration Courts. The Immigration Judge is actually exercising the discretion conferred upon the Attorney General by Congress with respect to detaining aliens pending deportation hearings, or to release them on bail.

The issue before Immigration Courts is simply whether the person before the court has a right to remain in the US. That is NOT a criminal charge, and they are not held as suspected “criminals” pending trial.

Here’s an article that is a little outdated, but sets for some interesting numbers from around 2000 time frame on this question.

For instance — in FY 2000, immigration courts conducted approximately 216,000 deportation hearings.

Approximately 144,000 of the individuals subject to those hearings were on bail at the time.

Of those released on bail, approximately 44,000 failed to appear at their hearing, and were ordered deported in absentia.

ICE estimated that at any given time, approximately 315,000 people remain in the US who are subject to an order of removal issued by an immigration court.
44,000 of 144,000 failed to show. That works out to 30%. If you're playing Russian Roulette you have better odds - of not being shot.

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