Is reckless driving, often under the influence of alcohol, a job that illegal aliens do better than Americans? A lot of people think so, and one of them is Don Rosenberg whose son was run over and killed by an unlicensed illegal driver who drove away from the scene. This perpetrator evidently was not under the influence, but the tragic incident led Rosenberg to do intensive research on driving offenses by illegal aliens.
He found that hard figures are difficult to come by because many jurisdictions don’t record citizenship status. But with painstaking analysis of statistics, he concluded that illegal aliens, usually unlicensed, are much more likely than the general public to cause fatal accidents and be intoxicated when they do so.
These findings are food for thought, especially in light of a report by the Center for Immigration Studies which reveals that the Obama Administration last year released 19,723 illegal aliens from custody who had been convicted of a total 61,133 crimes not related to the violation of immigration law. A total of 22,118 of these convictions came under the heading of “traffic offenses,” 12,307 of which involved drunk driving.
Open border advocates often claim that illegal immigration is a victimless crime. But driving under the influence – an offense many illegal immigrants indulge – is hardly victimless. In 2015, nearly 300,000 people in the U.S. were injured in alcohol-related accidents, and nearly 10,000 were killed. About one in three people convicted of DUI will become repeat offenders. We have no choice but to suffer the presence of native-born drunk drivers, but we do have the option of expelling those from other countries who reside here in defiance of our laws.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration is not too keen on sending them home.
The chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), minced few words in denouncing the failure to deport illegal aliens convicted of DUI. “This reckless policy,” they declared, “is a clear and unmistakable message to the American people that this administration has decided that their safety and security are far less important than ensuring that illegally present aliens with no regard for the law will remain in this country without any legal consequences at all.”
This statement followed the revelation of two disturbing incidents involving illegal aliens charged with DUI. One was the failure of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain for deportation an individual whose reckless driving injured and killed bystanders. Another was ICE's release of an illegal alien convicted of DUI who later was charged with murder.
Traffic offenses by illegal aliens, however, do nothing whatsoever to persuade advocates of illegal immigration that deportation might be an answer. To the contrary, they maintain that the solution for the aliens’ poor driving is to let them “come out from the shadows” – where they allegedly dwell – and apply for driver’s licenses. By acquiring licenses, say these advocates, they will have adequate knowledge to drive our roads and highways safely.
A great flaw of this argument is that it confuses knowledge with character. The problem quite often with reckless drivers, particularly those who drink, is not that they lack driving skills. It’s that they lack the character to refrain from self-indulgence which diminishes what skills they have, thereby placing themselves and others in danger. Taking a license test will do little to change this disposition.
The issue of character is one of key importance to the whole question of illegal immigration. Despite whatever virtues illegal immigrants may possess, they share the common moral failure of ignoring America’s rule of law and placing their own selfish interests above the well-being of the country where they live. This failure of character manifests itself in many ways, and one most definitely is reckless behavior on our roads and highways.
He found that hard figures are difficult to come by because many jurisdictions don’t record citizenship status. But with painstaking analysis of statistics, he concluded that illegal aliens, usually unlicensed, are much more likely than the general public to cause fatal accidents and be intoxicated when they do so.
These findings are food for thought, especially in light of a report by the Center for Immigration Studies which reveals that the Obama Administration last year released 19,723 illegal aliens from custody who had been convicted of a total 61,133 crimes not related to the violation of immigration law. A total of 22,118 of these convictions came under the heading of “traffic offenses,” 12,307 of which involved drunk driving.
Open border advocates often claim that illegal immigration is a victimless crime. But driving under the influence – an offense many illegal immigrants indulge – is hardly victimless. In 2015, nearly 300,000 people in the U.S. were injured in alcohol-related accidents, and nearly 10,000 were killed. About one in three people convicted of DUI will become repeat offenders. We have no choice but to suffer the presence of native-born drunk drivers, but we do have the option of expelling those from other countries who reside here in defiance of our laws.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration is not too keen on sending them home.
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The chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), minced few words in denouncing the failure to deport illegal aliens convicted of DUI. “This reckless policy,” they declared, “is a clear and unmistakable message to the American people that this administration has decided that their safety and security are far less important than ensuring that illegally present aliens with no regard for the law will remain in this country without any legal consequences at all.”
This statement followed the revelation of two disturbing incidents involving illegal aliens charged with DUI. One was the failure of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain for deportation an individual whose reckless driving injured and killed bystanders. Another was ICE's release of an illegal alien convicted of DUI who later was charged with murder.
Traffic offenses by illegal aliens, however, do nothing whatsoever to persuade advocates of illegal immigration that deportation might be an answer. To the contrary, they maintain that the solution for the aliens’ poor driving is to let them “come out from the shadows” – where they allegedly dwell – and apply for driver’s licenses. By acquiring licenses, say these advocates, they will have adequate knowledge to drive our roads and highways safely.
A great flaw of this argument is that it confuses knowledge with character. The problem quite often with reckless drivers, particularly those who drink, is not that they lack driving skills. It’s that they lack the character to refrain from self-indulgence which diminishes what skills they have, thereby placing themselves and others in danger. Taking a license test will do little to change this disposition.
The issue of character is one of key importance to the whole question of illegal immigration. Despite whatever virtues illegal immigrants may possess, they share the common moral failure of ignoring America’s rule of law and placing their own selfish interests above the well-being of the country where they live. This failure of character manifests itself in many ways, and one most definitely is reckless behavior on our roads and highways.
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