Friends don't let friends....
"Family alerted police on driver; Illegal immigrant charged in death of Milford man" August 23, 2011|By Martine Powers and Maria Sacchetti, Globe Correspondent | Globe Staff
MILFORD - Nicolas Guaman, accused of dragging a motorcyclist for a quarter of a mile after a collision, showed not a flicker of emotion when police told him the motorcyclist was dead, a document filed in court yesterday showed.
He simply shrugged, police said.
Guaman appeared yesterday in Milford District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to eight charges, including vehicular homicide while under the influence, failure to stop for police, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, and reckless conduct creating risk to a child.
An immigrant from Ecuador living illegally in the United States, Guaman may face deportation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency following his arrest.
Guaman was allegedly drunk when his Ford pickup collided with a motorcycle ridden by Matthew Denice, 23, of Milford at Congress and Fayette streets about 7:50 p.m. Saturday. Guaman’s 6-year-old son sat next to him in the truck....
The arrest of Guaman and reports that he previously faced criminal charges raised concern about why he had not already been reported to immigration authorities, and highlighted the ongoing debate over a federal initiative to identify illegal immigrants.
Milford police arrested Guaman in 2008 on charges of assault and battery on a police officer and at least one public employee and of breaking and entering, according to the police and the Worcester district attorney’s office. The case was continued without a finding for one year. Police said he also faced a few minor traffic charges dating to 2007, but the district attorney’s office could not confirm that information.
Some officials said the case showed why Massachusetts should embrace the federal program known as Secure Communities, a computer-based system launched in 2008 that automatically cross-checks the fingerprints of everyone who is arrested against immigration databases, alerting immigration authorities so they can take action against those here illegally.
“It’s a textbook example of why we need to join Secure Communities,’’ said Worcester Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis. “This is what we are trying to avoid.’’
State Senator Richard T. Moore, a Democrat from Uxbridge, wrote Governor Deval Patrick yesterday urging him to crack down on illegal immigrants driving without a license.
“The people of Milford are in shock and mourning over the senseless loss of a promising young life,’’ he wrote. “Once again, what can be done to assure the people of Milford and Massachusetts feel safe on their roads and in their neighborhoods?’’
Spokesmen for Patrick did not comment on the debate yesterday, but expressed condolences to Denice’s family.
In a report filed in court, Milford police Officer Angel Arce described “a wild and chaotic scene.’’
Denice was trapped in the truck’s passenger-side wheelwell, screaming, as Guaman drove away, police said. Despite frantic efforts by passersby, who chased after the truck and pounded on the windows, Guaman allegedly drove a quarter of a mile before turning and driving onto a curb, dislodging Denice from the wheelwell.
Then, witnesses told police, Guaman backed off the curb, running over Denice’s body, and continued down the street.
Police cruisers chased him for several blocks before he stopped. When officers opened the door of the truck, they saw Budweiser beer cans on the passenger seat and on the floor. Guaman’s eyes were glassy and bloodshot. The truck’s cab reeked of alcohol, Arce wrote.
When police pulled Guaman from the truck and attempted to handcuff him, a little boy jumped out and began punching and kicking the officers, yelling at them to leave his father alone.
Your dad is a murderer, kid.
The boy was Johnathan, Guaman’s son. Saturday was his sixth birthday, said Paul Jarvey, a spokesman for the Worcester district attorney’s office.
And dad decided he would get plowed. A birthday the kid will never forget.
Guaman failed several sobriety tests, police said. He told police the accident was not his fault and said he did not stop “because his truck was damaged and he didn’t know what to do,’’ the report said....
No, the thought was "I'm drunk, I gotta get outta here."
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Also see: Driver in fatal Milford hit-and-run to be arraigned
Illegal immigration is not to blame for fatality, Patrick says
Of course, if he wasn't here....
I'm sure the governor would also agree that guns don't kill people, people kill people.
Looks like we got another one:
"Obama kin arrested on DUI charge" by Billy Baker and Glen Johnson, Globe Staff / August 30, 2011
FRAMINGHAM - As he was being booked on drunken driving charges by Framingham police last week, Onyango Obama was offered a chance to make a phone call to arrange for bail.
“I think,’’ he said, according to a police report, “I’d like to call the White House.’’
If he was hoping to reach his nephew, Barack Obama, he would have been out of luck; the president was vacationing with the first family on Martha’s Vineyard.
The elder Obama, who is the half-brother of the president’s late father, according to a spokesman for the law firm representing him, is in the custody of immigration officials, awaiting possible deportation to Kenya....
Obama was arraigned Thursday on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to yield at an intersection, and negligent operation, according to Cara O’Brien, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex district attorney. She said a judge ordered him released on personal recognizance, but he was held on an immigration detainer....
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That should make an interesting test case:
"US will focus on deporting criminals; Obama move aims to free up courts; some immigrants may stay for review" August 19, 2011|By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff
The Obama administration declared yesterday that it would grant an indefinite reprieve to an estimated thousands of immigrants facing deportation, allowing them to stay and work legally so officials can more quickly deport convicted criminals and other serious cases.
Like drunk drivers? Yeah, wait until they kill someone before sending them back.
Federal officials said they are launching a review of each of the roughly 300,000 cases in the nation’s immigration courts to ensure that new and existing ones reflect the administration’s priorities to detain and deport criminals and threats to public safety.
The move is likely to inflame political tensions with immigration looming as a campaign issue in 2012, and it has major implications for Massachusetts, which has the second-longest immigration court backlog in the United States.
I'm sure the mass media would like that; however, the ISSUES are WAR and the ECONOMY!
ALL OTHER THINGS are SECONDARY RIGHT NOW!
All manner of immigrants in the courts’ pipeline could stand to benefit, from factory workers detained in the 2007 New Bedford raid, to same-sex couples about to be separated, to youths facing deportation.
“The president has said on numerous occasions that it makes no sense to expend our enforcement resources on low-priority cases,’’ Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wrote yesterday to Senate majority leader Harry Reid, outlining the policy.
Doing otherwise, she added, “hinders our public safety mission - clogging immigration court dockets and diverting DHS enforcement resources away from individuals who pose a threat to public safety.’’
It's just ONE BIG GAME, folks!
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Susan Long, codirector of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, which studied the issue in 2007, said most cases in immigration court appear to be people accused of violating immigration, not criminal, laws....
Yesterday, advocates for immigrants rejoiced in what many said was their first victory since President Obama took office promising - and failing - to tackle immigration policy overhaul in his first year.
Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, praised the move as a “humane and rational approach.’’
“This is a huge victory, not just for the immigrant and refugee community, but for all of us as American people, living up to our ideals,’’ Millona said. “It makes no sense to deport innocent children, to deport immigrant families. This is huge for the president. We commend him.’’
But others condemned the decision as a failure to enforce federal immigration laws.
“Everyone who’s here illegally should not be allowed to stay here,’’ said Joseph Ureneck, cochairman of Massachusetts Citizens for Immigration Reform, which favors tougher controls on immigration. “They should be returned to their home country.’’
The Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform called the Obama administration’s move a “huge breach of the public trust’’ and said it would essentially halt enforcement against many illegal immigrants.
The policy shift would affect less than 3 percent of most of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, but even that number is clogging the federal immigration courts at record levels....
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Also see: US set to expand deportations, says Massachusetts governor’s OK not needed
I gotta get moving, readers.
Update:
Obama's uncle is called a fugitive
The uncle of President Obama arrested here last week on drunken driving and other charges has been a fugitive from deportation since 1992, according to two federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case.
Back to Kenya he goes.
