Michelle Malkin » Hard numbers: Illegal alien drunk drivers in North Carolina

Hard numbers: Illegal alien drunk drivers in North Carolina

By Michelle Malkin • April 19, 2008 09:12 AM

WRAL reports on a new statistical breakdown of illegal alien drunk drivers in North Carolina. It’s a blood-pressure-raising look at the deadly revolving door, catch-and-release, the deportation abyss, and the danger of sanctuary policies embraced by those sworn to defend and protect the public:

Seven-year-old Marcus Lassiter won’t see his eighth birthday. George Smith was on his morning commute to Duke University but never made it to work. Betty Coates might struggle with daily tasks for the rest of her life.

Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell sees a pattern among the cases of these victims of drunken driving: Each accused driver was in the United States illegally.

Bizzell pointed to Hipolito Hernandez, an illegal immigrant who faces second-degree murder charges in the hit-and-run that killed Marcus last Sunday.

“This case here is a prime example of the justice system letting the people down,” Bizzell said.

Nearly 300 illegal immigrants were convicted on driving-while-impaired charges and placed in North Carolina prisons in 2007.

Hispanics also account for 18 percent of drunken-driving arrests, while making up less than 7 percent of the state’s population, according to a study from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center aired in WRAL’s documentary “Focal Point: Crossing the Line.”

The study also showed that Hispanics involved in car crashes were 2.5 times more likely to be drunk than white drivers and three times more likely to be drunk than black drivers.

In the three cases listed above, each of the accused drunken drivers had extensive contact with the judicial system – but had managed to elude the immigration system until these incidents.

Johnston County is lucky to have a law enforcement leader who refuses to capitulate to open-borders hectoring and propaganda. He gets it:

Latino advocacy groups often urge the public to step back from the emotion over immigration and focus on the individual crimes.

Advocates admit that drunk driving is a problem within the Hispanic community and have aired public-service ads to combat the problem.

Drunk driving is also the No. 1 killer of young Hispanic men, according to the UNC study.

Bizzell said the tragedy is that deaths such as Marcus’ and debilitating injuries such as Coates’ are preventable.

“This isn’t about race. This isn’t about Mexico versus the United States,” Bizzell said. “It’s about a drunk Mexican that’s illegal, driving drunk, no operator’s license, stolen vehicle, killing a little 7-year-old boy.”

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#293752

On April 19th, 2008 at 6:20 pm, josetheguerilla said:

JohnFLob, my comment was about hate and contempt directed at the Pope. My stand on ILLEGAL immigration hasn’t changed for 30 years. And if you were a regular reader here, you would know that. …”

If you are indeed against illegal aliens and want law enforcement at all levels to deport them and keep them out then I apologize.

Thanks JohnFlob, Zorro is good people. All you had to do was ask me.

/s/

jose
#293756

On April 19th, 2008 at 6:28 pm, brooklyn red said:

But didn’t Congress approve & FUND complete border fence… I know I didn’t just imagine this. So this has not happened because??? Is not the circumvention of Congress a Federal offense? And the monies allocated to build the fence went where??? And there are no investigations because?

Oh, why yes Sir I did pay my taxes… & why yes I do have my pay stubs… & no, I’m not sure what you mean by my kind… no I’m not getting smart with you… Oh, of course I want change…

We no longer need to fear losing our country & our rights… it done happened.
#293761

On April 19th, 2008 at 6:43 pm, TexasTiger said:

On April 19th, 2008 at 9:49 am, Just A Grunt said:

And where is MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)?

Meeting at Chi-Chi’s over a few pitchers of margaritas?
#293764

On April 19th, 2008 at 6:58 pm, terristeelmagnolia said:

My husband is a police officer…
we rear ended by a drunk illegal alien driving without car insurance…

the drunk illegal never even went to court.
#293765

On April 19th, 2008 at 6:59 pm, terristeelmagnolia said:

husband WAS rear ended….
#293769

On April 19th, 2008 at 7:09 pm, zorro said:

JohnFLob: If you are indeed against illegal aliens and want law enforcement at all levels to deport them and keep them out then I apologize.

Thank you and accepted. I too would like to apoligize to you as well.

And thanks for the kind words guerilla, it means a lot.
#293778

On April 19th, 2008 at 7:46 pm, TXRose said:

Just ran into a friend at the store and she told me that one of her sisters was hit
by an inebriated drunken driver and her suv rolled twice. She was hanging upside down in her seatbelt and was unconscious. An onlooker told her, later
that some people from CA stopped to help and when the emts got there, they
took them to the illegals van (packed with a bunch of people that ran off, this
being in South TX) and had them help him first. He wasn’t hurt, just trapped but
they insisted he must go to the hospital. By this time a policeman got between
the moonbats and their “victim” and told the emts to go help the woman in the
suv. The Californians went ballistic and started to scream racism and profiling
when he hauled the driver out and put him in his unit. The “victim” realized that he had friends in the area and promptly refused to cooperate. The onlooker that talked to her later at the hospital left his information so she could give it to her insurance company. He said almost the same thing had
happened to one of his employees and he was tired of this c&*p. He said he
was going to withhold donations and convince his friends to do the same until
lawmakers and law enforcement started to run these people ( meaning illegals)
in. He also said that the lalalanders kept on and on until they, too, were
arrested. Needless to say, no DL, no insurance, no can find the perpetrator.
#293779

On April 19th, 2008 at 7:47 pm, TXRose said:

redundancy alert….either inebriated or drunken but not both. Sorry.
#293787

On April 19th, 2008 at 8:15 pm, eeyore said:

Hey, it’s been even worse. A few years ago, an NC officer (I don’t remember if it was Raleigh, Wake Co, or HP) was diciplined for racial profiling when 23% of his DUI arrests were Hispanic and they were only 11% of the population (in whichever jurisdiction) was.

The diciplinary action stuck even though it was pointed out that 24% of DUI accidents there involved Hispanics. Nope, still profiling.

I even heard an “Hispanic Rights Activist” say on the radio that Mexicans shouldn’t even be arrested for drunk driving – “Driving drunk is not a big deal in Mexico, so it’s unfair to expect them to know differently here…”
#293790

On April 19th, 2008 at 8:23 pm, TMoney said:

Sheriff Bizell, meet Sheriff Arpaio.

Patriots of a feather.
#293877

On April 19th, 2008 at 11:03 pm, josetheguerilla said:

And I’ll add yet another one: All law breaking Americans, who hire an illegal alien drunk driver should be charge as an accessory to Murder. Don’t forget about the 7-year old boy killed in this case. What if he were your child?

Okay, I think I went overboard here. It should read “All law-breaking Americans who hire illegal alien drunk drivers should be held accountable to the full extent of the current laws.

The guerilla
#293941

On April 20th, 2008 at 2:00 am, Patriot1 said:

Maybe North Carolina could do a study like they did here in AZ. They found that IMMIGRANTS did not commit crimes at any greater percentage than citizens. However, they didn’t split them up between LEGAL and ILLEGAL. OHHHH WELLLL, no difference HUH???

oh really? if you count ID theft, SS# theft, tax evasion, and counterfeit documents

all felonies btw

you have illegals committing WAY more crimes than any US citizen

Even one crime committed by someone who should not be here in the first place is one too many.
#294156

On April 20th, 2008 at 11:03 am, reine.de.tout said:

On April 20th, 2008 at 2:00 am, Patriot1 said: …you have illegals committing WAY more crimes than any US citizen

Even one crime committed by someone who should not be here in the first place is one too many

And the first crime they commit is . . . coming here illegally. Every illegal has committed at least one crime. So, to the person you quoted who said: “Maybe North Carolina could do a study like they did here in AZ. They found that IMMIGRANTS did not commit crimes at any greater percentage than citizens. However, they didn’t split them up between LEGAL and ILLEGAL. OHHHH WELLLL, no difference HUH???”

Baloney! 100% of illegal “immigrants” have committed a crime – that is a WAY higher percentage than citizen crime.
#294444

On April 20th, 2008 at 4:27 pm, jhn1 said:

to 107 and 108

You are missing their point.
The statistics claim that on an averaged basis, immigrants, legal and illegal combined, are just as law-abiding as citizens.
If the statisticians were not deliberately conflating two disparate groups, then you would not only show that the illegals are just as large a problem as most of us say here, but the legal immigrants are being used to cover for just how bad the illegals are as well as not receiving their deserved credit for how much benefit to the US the legal variant of immigrant is.
What was being complained about was the deliberate mixing of two different groups to achieve a maliciously reduced picture of illegal activity.
Ummm
Eagle Scouts and MS-13 members.
On an averaged basis, …
#294989

On April 21st, 2008 at 10:18 am, Jimmie said:

Under our present rules (because this is how it works now) We force illegals to buy phony ID’s…drivers licenses and Soc. Sec. Cards. There is NO OTHER OPTION. These things cost upwards of $500, expensive but as noted there is no other option. So when caught in a criminal act the non citizen has the option of moving to another area, you can’t track phony ID’s, or just throw away the one ID and become some other illegal person. We will not allow illegals to study our driving laws, …it is serious trouble ( for anyone else) in to drive drunk and kill someone but under our rules, you can just change who you are. So the illegals have many more “rights” than citizens. Not only the right to drive drunk, but the right to vote as many times as they wish. And this is the thing…as long as these illegals use their right to vote, and to vote often, for the Democrat party nothing is going to change the rules. Spend Billions on fences….take in to TEMPORARY custody a few chicken pluckers, and all that will really happen is the price of chicken will go up…what a plan….Billions of dollars just so we can pay more for chicken……