I don’t know how much national attention it got, but earlier this year there were a spate of attacks in Northern Virginia where a man would slash a young woman’s buttocks in a department store or mall and then run off. The injuries were superficial but the randomness (not to mention weirdness) of it caused a lot of concern, kind of like a farcical replay of the Beltway Sniper shootings in 2002.
Anyway, we learn today from the Washington Post that the suspect has fled to his native Peru. Now, this doesn’t tell us anything about immigration in general, because there are perverts and criminals in any large population. But while the WaPo seems to have studiously avoided reporting on his immigration status, it looks like he was an illegal alien, from this September report when he was named as the suspect: “Guillen Pimentel, a former Fairfax resident, came to the United States from Peru eight or nine years ago, has worked as a day laborer.” Obviously, if we did a better job at keeping out illegals, he wouldn’t have been able to commit these attacks, but that’s a pretty diffuse point.
The matter that specifically relates to policy is this, from the same September story: “Court records show that Guillen Pimentel has had a minor run-in with police. In 2007, he was convicted of a noise violation, according to court records.”
Maybe they checked his immigration status then and found he was legal — if you’re able to find evidence of that, let me know. But I suspect what happened was that they didn’t check him for immigration status (Fairfax County only started Secure Communities in 2009). This was a lost opportunity, because pretty much all serious criminals start their careers with a “minor run-in with the police.” If you can identify those who are illegal aliens, you can expel them before they start attacking women with razor blades.
This is why all people in all jurisdictions who are arrested and fingerprinted need to be checked not only against the FBI’s records but also against immigration. The Obama administration is, in fact, continuing to expand the Bush-era program to do just that. But just as important, DHS needs to build the capacity to deport all the illegals reported to them by the police; that is something the current administration has said it will not do under any circumstances, openly announcing that only a small share of illegal aliens arrested by local police will face deportation. Note that these are people who have been arrested who are exempt from deportation, not some hapless schmoe who made an illegal left turn. Even assaulting a police officer, breaker and entering, and resisting arrest “aren’t necessarily serious enough to warrant deportation under current policy” according to an ICE spokesman earlier this year commenting on another case. But if we wait til they graduate to rape or murder before deporting them, we are unnecessarily endangering our own people. But then maybe this crowd doesn’t consider public safety to be the first responsibility of government.
I thought you meant he started with smaller butts, and was working his way up. When he had to flee the country, then he would have yelled, "I only wish I could have stayed long enough to get to the Iowa women!"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat positive step can be taken?
Do we give Peru any money?
(don't be ridiculous - we give everybody money)
Stop.
Tell them why.
They'll fix it.
Wow, I wonder if the same thing would work with Mexico?
See, children - this is how we know that Congress has absolutely no interest in controlling immigration.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBoston Mayor Thomas Menino claimed that stealing a car is not a "serious crime", and illegal aliens should not be reported to ICE if guilty of committing it. He later backed down after that statement caused a firestorm, but it was one of those unfortunately all too common insights into the true thinking of modern Democratic appartchiks. (It would be a grevious mistake to imbue Tommy Menino with anything resembling a coherent political philosophy, like "liberalism"; he is the worst kind of hack and improviser.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"If you can identify those who are illegal aliens, you can expel them before they start attacking women with razor blades."
What on earth does being an illegal alien have to do with this type of crime? Are illegal aliens more likely to commit such attacks? One can find 20 such bizarre stories daily involving citizens.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou could make the same argument about more vigorous code enforcement for restaurants and unsightly lawns. Maybe if government inspectors were far more aggressive about fining restaurants, stores and businesses, then the occasional business tort or food poisoning incident would be avoided. Maybe if we had huge sweeps of nuisance inspectors looking for unkempt lawns and non-standard mailboxes, then they'd periodically come across criminals with outstanding warrants and get them arrested. In fact, every once in a while such a policy might even capture or divert a would-be serial killer.
It's true that greater interaction with police agents will result in greater numbers of criminals captured. And if the government is able to shut down businesses or evict residents based on minor civil offenses, then invariably a small number of more serious incidents might be avoided. But this line of argumentation would also justify an ever-higher level of government intrusion - agents, inspectors, regulators, security cameras, GPS trackers, and snitch networks - but most people would say that at some point small government is more important than safety.
Such a policy also ignores the costs such a policy imposes while overemphasizing the benefits. For every serious criminal found or deterred, you'll have far more disrupted businesses, affected families, and people who are prevented from living the lives they wish to live.
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