| SUBSCRIBE | | Why we charge |
|
|
|
Front Page
opinion guest_columns
Friday, July 03, 2009
All Immigrants Not Criminals
By Javier Martinez Villanueva, The Rev. Trey Hammond And Charles E. Becknell
We condemn the recent brazen and despicable crimes that resulted in the murder of the young woman at a local Albuquerque restaurant. The alleged perpetrators of the attack must be held responsible under the law.
These are difficult times for all of us. In the past several months, Albuquerque residents have endured the discovery of the West Mesa murder victims, the suffocation of a little boy at the hands of his own mother, and now this horrendous crime committed in broad daylight. National trends tell us that in an economic environment like the one we are experiencing, property crimes, such as robberies, will increase. Nonetheless, there is no excuse for these types of heinous crimes. We must work toward stronger communities and collaborative efforts to reduce violent crime.
What we reject, however, is the irresponsible and inadequate coverage given by the local media. While it is a fact that the alleged perpetrators of the crime were in this country without documents, the media has created the impression through its coverage that it is precisely because the alleged perpetrators are undocumented immigrants that they committed this crime. The media needs to clarify the fact that these crimes were committed by what appear to be career criminals, and the fact that they are undocumented immigrants is merely incidental.
As the Albuquerque Journal reported, Ortiz had been deported after being arrested for DWI and Melgar was arrested twice for DWI and released. Furthermore, Ortiz and Melgar are known members of a violent gang. People with serious criminal histories continue to commit crimes because they become career criminals, not because they are immigrants, and a broken immigration system allows these people to remain undetected. Targeting all undocumented immigrants does not get to the comprehensive immigration reform needed in order to bring people out of the shadows and give to those members who constantly contribute to our communities the opportunity to fully participate in this society. At the same time, we must also have the tools necessary to identify those people with violent criminal histories and deal with them accordingly.
Remember that there are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country, and the vast majority of them are hard-working, responsible citizens who pay their taxes, who volunteer in their children's Little League baseball teams, the PTAs, their local neighborhood associations and their local churches. Let us not demonize them with biased and erroneous media coverage that creates nonsensical generalizations for the sake of exploiting a hot political issue.
Let us come together as a community. Let us mourn and heal the consequences of violence on families and community. Let us take our neighborhoods back from criminals. And let's stop blaming all undocumented immigrants for the sins of a few.
Martinez Villanueva is a member of The Albuquerque Partnership, Hammond is pastor of La Mesa Presbyterian Church and Becknell is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference/NM.
You also can send comments via our comment form
E-mail Story
Print Friendly
