Illegal alien amnesty, at your disservice.

H/T to Michelle Malkin.

“Did the Newark murder suspects benefit from illegal alien amnesty programs?”  Michelle asks a very valid question. 

There has been quite a bit of coverage on the immigration status of several violent cases around the U.S., including Oregon, New Jersey and Texas, just to name a few.  There has also been concern noted about just who is or is not securing our borders.  There has also been concern raised over federal agencies asking to suspend illegal alien arrests and deportations.  We’ve seen discussion on sanctuary cities.  We have talked about Elvira Arellano’s thumbing of her nose at immigration laws and defying deportation orders for years.  And, we have even talked about Geraldo Rivera’s hysterical advocacy for criminal aliens in his tirades in recent days. 

But, let’s focus more on the Newark, NJ murders for a bit.  Who are the alleged perpetrators in the gruesome execution style murders in Newark, NK?  Let’s start with Melvin Jovel an 18 year old immigrant from Honduras who appeared in court this week.

Jovel, who is from Honduras, told the judge he does not have a Social Security number or a green card, but his immigration status remains unclear, prosecutors said. A U.S. passport was found among his belongings when he was arrested Sunday night, but officials are still trying to determine whether the passport is valid, Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Thomas A. McTigue said. Federal authorities have placed a detainer on Jovel because his status is uncertain, McTigue said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials participated in Jovel’s arrest, and a spokesman for the agency said it becomes involved “when they suspect a person is in the county illegally.”

But the spokesman, Michael W. Gilhooley, declined to comment today on whether officials had determined Jovel’s status.

They don’t know his status?  Now, let’s think about this, shall we?  No social security number…no green card…a questionable passport?  I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to put this together.

Maybe we need to go back a few months at look at the “Temporary Protective Status” that George W. Bush championed.    More on TPS can be found here.

Do you care to guess one of the countries for which TPS was applicable?  You guess it – Honduras.  By chance, that is also the country from which two of Jovel’s co-defendants, Rodolfo Godinez and his half-brother, Alexander Alfaro, originate.   

Michelle offers some simple questions on determining Jovel’s immigration status: “Did Jovel or a parent/guardian file an I-821 application form for TPS or not? Was it approved or not? If so, when?”

About two years ago, Jovel took a trip back to Honduras and came back to the U.S.  So, if he had TPS, did he get the special permission required for this trip to leave the country?  If not, he was in violation of the TPS rules.  If he violated these rules, how was he able to get back here and why were deportation proceedings not done?

Michelle has the roundup on the others involved at her site, including an e-mail from an ICE agent who lays out some of the problems with our lax immigration practices in the U.S.

As much as Geraldo and his cohorts would like to try to convince us of it, illegal alien status of criminals is not “irrelevant“.

GIBSON: If his illegal status could have been known and he wasn’t on the street and the murder didn’t happen, wouldn’t that be better?

RIVERA: Why is it that of the 60 homicides in Newark, New Jersey, this year, this is the only one that anyone here cares about? Why is that? Why is that? Is it because we are using this issue to inflame the public on the issue of illegal immigration?

GIBSON: You’re asking the wrong guy. This show started to do it long before he was known to be an illegal. You can ask that of others, but you can’t ask that here.

RIVERA: I grant you that. On Monday you did the story 48 hours after it happened.

GIBSON: Partially because you did it over the weekend and we know…

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: And I love you. But all I ask for, if you can have a debate about immigration, as we are having in this country, that’s fine. But just don’t mix apples and oranges. Don’t incite the public with irrelevant detail and this is an irrelevant detail.

GIBSON: His illegal status was irrelevant?

RIVERA: To the murder he committed, yes. Why is the citizenship of the five co-defendants not an issue?

GIBSON: But if his status had been known, he wouldn’t have been there to participate.

There needs to be “answers” and “action“, as Michelle concludes.  The victims’ families deserve it, not the run-around they are getting.

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Others posting on this topic:  Hot Air / Big Dogs Weblog / Thought Cops / Bud Simmons / Tammy Bruce / American Pundit /