In the course of 48 hours the immigration debate in Virginia has become even more intense following the tragic death of a nun and two passengers after being his by an illegal immigrant who was allegedly driving drunk and with a revoked license due to two previous DWI convictions. This case is further aggravated by the fact the the illegal alien was released from ICE custody while his deportation case proceeds through the system. As someone who advocates a strong enforcement approach to combating illegal immigration and believes that Virginia should serve as a model for all other states and localities who want to combat illegal immigration I know that this case is not as easy as those on the right are making it out to be. I write this article after I saw in the Washington Post this afternoon that Del. Bob Marshall wants Governor Bob McDonnell to issue an executive order that is in line with Attorney General Cuccinelli’s recent opinion regarding police inquiring about immigration statuses. As someone who supports strong enforcement I can tell you that an Arizona style law would not have prevented the tragedy that occurred in Prince William County. To preface, I will only be going to reported new articles published thus far.
I have repeatedly argued that in order to combat illegal immigration there must be a working partnership between state and local law enforcement and ICE authorities. Virginia participated in the Secure Communities Program which identifies illegal immigrants taken into custody and it is up to ICE officials to determine if they will initiate deportation proceedings and place a detainer on the alien to take them into custody after they are released from state/local custody. From all accounts, this happened perfectly in this case. As Corey Stewart notes himself:
“The despicable thing is that this criminal was … handed over to ICE twice, and released by ICE twice. He’s gone out an killed a nun. That’s a perfect example of what’s wrong with immigration enforcement in this country.”
The joint partnership between Prince William County and ICE worked exactly the way it should have. He was arrested for a criminal offense (Drunk Driving), identified as an illegal alien and placed in removal proceedings. He was then turned over to ICE following his sentence which is how it works since he had a detainer placed on him. After he is taken into custody by ICE officials it is no longer the responsibility of local officials to deal with their case as the overall task of deporting illegal aliens falls onto the shoulders of the federal government. Once they are turned over to ICE officials their case is reviewed to determine if they should be released on some sort of recognizance pending their future hearings. For as much as this bothers people it is not much different than our currently criminal justice system where defendants have a right to bond if they are eligible. ICE does not have the ability to hold every illegal alien they come into contact with in custody for however long their deportation process occurs which can be several months. Those bed spaces are usually reserved for those aliens who are deemed a flight risk, previously deported felons and others who have had previous contact with ICE officials such as voluntary returns and those who refused a judge’s order to self deport. In this case it is safe to assume that Montano (the alien charged) was not deemed a flight risk or threat and therefore eligible for release pending his future hearings. We do not know officially what factors ICE used in releasing him from custody but for sake of this discussion we’ll believe that this was the case.
Since this aspect of the case is now hopefully better understood this should be a clear indicator that if Virgina had in place an “Arizona style” immigration law that it would not have prevented the tragedy that occurred in Prince William County. We can apply this reasoning to the present case. Montano would have been stopped and arrested for drunk driving and eventually turned over to immigration authorities which is exactly what happened in this case and more than likely released on bond pending his future hearings. None of this would have changed if Virginia had a law that identically mirrors that of Arizona prior to the injunction. Arresting and identifying illegal aliens is not as complicated as everyone makes it out to be just like determining if someone is a criminal or has committed a criminal offense. It involves investigating, something local law enforcement is very good at. Remember, they are on the front lines protecting our community from the wolves of our society. Bob Marshall wanting Governor McDonnell to implement an executive order following Cuccinelli’s opinion will do nothing more than Virginia already does in combating illegal immigration. Many local officers and deputies know who is an illegal alien but unless ICE is willing to act on that and issue a detainer against the alien or who are actively wanted by ICE through an NCIC warrant then local authorities cannot take them into custody since being an illegal alien is not a state offense in Virginia. Local jails hold illegal aliens through detainers ICE place on them after their local sentences are served. They are not held on state charges of be in the country illegally.
Any basic research via the internet about the Secure Communities Program will provide anyone with an excellent understanding of how the program works and why it is probably the most effective program state and local officials can implement to assist ICE in combating illegal immigration. While the extreme position of groups who oppose this program it is hard to argue when illegal immigrants are identified through fingerprints. Prints don’t lie. Even immigration lawyers agree that this program that Virginia participates in 100% will deport more illegal aliens than any law Arizona or any other state writes. Since there are nearly 13 million illegal immigrants in this country ICE must prioritize who they go after and put into removal proceedings and I think even the most hard line, enforcement only advocate will agree that going after deported felons and violent criminal aliens should take a higher priority than the local drunk who is repeated arrested for nothing more than being intoxicated in public.
In the coming days we will hopefully have a better understanding as to why Montano was released from ICE custody pending his deportation hearings but in all actually it will show that ICE detention facilities are under funded and lacking the bed space to hold every illegal alien taken into federal custody. Unfortunately, in this case it appears that the joint partnership between Prince William County and ICE worked perfectly in identifying and placing him into deportation proceedings. Instead of local politicians advocating for stricter laws at the state levels they should be pushing their federal representatives to to hire more judges and officials to reduce the overloaded system that has appeared to stymied Montano’s deportation hearings. There is no doubt that Montano would have been deportation given his criminal history if the hearing had occurred earlier and I doubt anyone can advocate he should be allowed to remain in the country even prior to this tragedy.
Sadly, this is a tragedy that could not have been prevented given the current system of the federal immigration system. This is in no way a failure of local law enforcement officials and ICE who work with local authorities in identifying and placing illegal aliens into removal proceedings as that segment of the process appears to have worked perfectly. The failure falls in the backlogged and underfunded immigration system we currently have in our country. There is no need to fix something in Virginia that is effectively working every day local law enforcement goes into work. They need to continue to do what they are doing and hope that those at the federal level can step up and provide those on the front lines with the support they desperately need.
