Strain of Border Crisis Is Fueling a Spike in Violence

Commentary

May 11, 2023

By Brian Lonergan

With the specter of bad consequences looming with the coming end of the Title 42 immigration order, it has been impossible to ignore a recent jump in horrific crimes that have been committed around the southern U.S. border region. Despite any official narrative to the contrary, there is some undeniable connective tissue between these incidents and the spectacular failure of our current immigration policies.  

An illegal alien was arrested after a four-day manhunt and charged last week with murdering a family of four in Cleveland, Texas. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Francisco Oropesa Perez-Torres, 38, had previously been deported four times.   

In Davis, California, Carlos Dominguez has been arrested for stabbing and killing multiple victims over a five-day span in the area. Local news reported that, according to ICE, Dominguez is from El Salvador and entered the United States in April 2009. He crossed into the country as an unaccompanied minor. 

The Obama Administration reportedly closed Dominguez’s case in 2009 rather than deport him, a practice that continues with the Biden Administration today.  

Violent crimes committed by illegal aliens have been a growing fixture of American life for years, but cases like these bring the problem into focus. If not for our government’s lax enforcement of our immigration laws, the victims of these crimes would still be alive today, without question. 

It is the supreme arrogance of the current administration that they can enact such irresponsible border policies and expect no social dysfunction to result. 

Our border problems lead to tragedy in numerous other ways. In Brownsville, Texas, George Alvarez is charged with eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. On May 7, he allegedly drove his SUV into a crowd of pedestrians, mostly migrants from Venezuela. The vehicle struck 18 people, killing eight. The incident occurred outside Brownsville’s Ozanam Center, a shelter for migrants and homeless people.  

Alvarez, 34, has a long criminal record including prior DUI and assault charges. Although authorities are still determining whether the act was deliberate, one eyewitness reported that Alvarez stepped on the gas prior to the collision and was heard loudly cursing.

That Alvarez is a social misfit who may be motivated by animus toward migrants illustrates another symptom of the larger problem. Powerful elites like Joe Biden and his allies are fond of social engineering projects like excessive mass migration and seem to care little about the collateral damage. 

Flooding small border communities with endless numbers of migrants puts strain on those communities, in terms of overcrowding, re-allocation of social services and increased criminal activity. When these reckless policies are implemented, we should not be surprised when people on the fringes of society react with irrational actions that yield tragic results.  

While the incidents in Brownsville, Cleveland, and Davis received national coverage, numerous other dangerous scenes play out regularly across border states with practically no media attention at all. 

A pickup truck driven by an illegal alien in McAllen, Texas, led police on a wild, high-speed chase captured on police dashcam video. The alien driver rammed an uninvolved vehicle before slamming into a highway divider. The driver was arrested for human smuggling and four illegal aliens in the vehicle were apprehended. Such getaway attempts, known as bailouts, have become common in border communities. 

Another vehicle fleeing police in Texas’ Kinney County was captured on video. Two women were arrested for smuggling six illegal aliens in the car. Police also found a stolen 9mm handgun, meth, and marijuana.

Because such incidents occur so frequently and may not result in death, the public has become largely desensitized to them and they receive minimal news coverage. However, they contribute to the further erosion of lawfulness that is essential to a properly functioning society. 

If the rules for entering the country legally are ignored on a daily basis, what other laws are unworthy of compliance? The rise in smash-and-grab robberies in big cities, enabled by the anti-enforcement attitudes of radical leftist district attorneys, is evidence that compliance with our laws against theft are now open to subjective interpretation. 

It is the supreme arrogance of the current administration and other like-minded politicians that they can enact such irresponsible border policies and expect no social dysfunction to result. Yes, personal responsibility matters, and the perpetrators of those crimes should be punished. It is also fair to ask when the authors of the policies that fostered the conditions for those crimes to occur will be held responsible as well.

Brian Lonergan is director of communications at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of illegal migration.

Also published at American Greatness, May 11, 2023.

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