The Human Cost of Not Enforcing Immigration Law

Hans von Spakovsky / August 03, 2010

Yesterday we wrote about the real consequences of the failure of the federal government to enforce our immigration laws by referring to the two teenagers in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Allison Kunhardt and Tessa Tranchant, who were killed by a drunken illegal alien in 2007. The culprit had been previously arrested and convicted for public drunkenness and DUI. If his immigration status had been checked and he had been deported after the first arrest, those two girls would likely be alive today.

Sadly, we already have another example in Virginia of the consequences of this kind of neglectful enforcement of our immigration laws. Over the weekend, an illegal alien suspected of drunken driving killed a Catholic nun and seriously injured two others when he crossed the center line and struck the nuns’ car head on in Prince William County. What is so infuriating about this tragedy is it need never have occurred – the illegal alien charged with vehicular manslaughter had a long history of driving convictions, including two DUIs. Not only that, but local police had contacted federal immigration authorities about him last year when they discovered he was an illegal alien. (more…)