Joe Biden Promises Sanctuary for Drunk-Driving Illegals

An immigration detainee sits in a high security unit at the Theo Lacy Facility, a county j
Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images

Joe Biden told Vice News that he would not seek to deport drunk driving illegal migrants.

Immigration agents should “only arrest for the purpose of dealing with a felony that’s committed [in the United States], and I don’t count drunk driving as a felony,” Biden told his interviewers Jan. 20.

“We’re not going to deport anybody who has not — in this country — committed a felony in this country. In this country, committed a felony,” he said. 

But many Americans have been killed by drunk-driving illegals, and DUIs are commonplace among illegals. For example, In fiscal 2019, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency arrested many thousands of illegals following DUI charges. The 2019 end-of-year report showed 49,106 criminal convictions for DUIs, alongside 39,717 traffic violations, 47,453 “dangerous drugs” convictions, and 26,156 assault charges.

After Biden’s comments, Mothers Against Drunk Driving issued this statement:

Drunk driving is the Number 1 killer on America’s roads and a violent crime that MADD believes should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of the offender’s immigration status.

Drunk driving laws differ by state, and the fact that only four states charge a felony for a non-injury second drunk driving offense illustrates the enormous challenge MADD faces in helping to pass laws that will eliminate the horrible tragedies caused by drunk driving. In all drunk driving cases, MADD supports the victims and their wishes in the prosecution and sentencing of offenders who kill or injure someone.

For example, the roughly 800,000 younger illegals who got DACA work permits from President Barack Obama included 4,210 illegals with drunk driving arrests. Sanctuary state officials release many drunk driving illegals in California and other states, and immigration lawyers argue that DUIs are insufficient to justify the deportation of illegals.

Breitbart News has reported numerous examples of Americans who were killed or injured when federal officials did not deport drunk-driving illegals:

In July 2017, Nemias Garcia-Velasco, a 32-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, was reportedly arrested and charged with vehicular homicide after Silvano Torres, a 58-year-old father of three, was killed in a car wreck where Velasco was allegedly driving drunk, according to a report by the Omaha World-Herald.

In February 2016, Omaha police reportedly charged illegal alien Eswin Mejia with killing 21-year-old Sarah Root while driving drunk and street-racing the night of January 31. But Mejia vanished after posting a small bond. The day before the crash, Root graduated from Bellvue University with a 4.0 GPA and a B.S. in crime investigation.

A six-year-old boy in San Diego was severely injured when a drunk-driving illegal alien allegedly slammed into the family’s car on their way home from the Disneyland theme park, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Carlos Edilberto Flores-Benitez, 27, allegedly ran over a man while he was drinking and driving, police and eyewitnesses say, according to WNCN. Police reports claim the illegal immigrant hit the man at an intersection and then immediately sped off from the scene.

Breitbart News also reported in October 2019 the death of two legal immigrants by a drunk-driving illegal who was allowed to stay in the United States:

An illegal alien in the sanctuary state of Illinois is accused of killing two legal immigrants in a deadly drunk driving crash last week, law enforcement officials say.

Juan Rodea-Cruz, a 25-year-old illegal alien, is accused of killing 26-year-old Marko Boskovic, a legal immigrant from Serbia, and 25-year-old Laura Uribe, a legal immigrant from Colombia, in a drunk driving crash on October 20 while driving the wrong way down a highway in Clarendon Hills, Illinois.

Rodea-Cruz — whom the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has requested custody of — was found with multiple open, unopened, and broken liquor bottles in his vehicle, according to the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office.

In February 2018, Breitbart News reported:

Colts Linebacker Edwin Jackson and his driver were allegedly killed by a drunk driving, previously deported illegal alien Sunday morning near Indianapolis. The suspect fled the scene on foot after crashing into their vehicle. Indiana State Police officers arrested the reported driver later that morning.

Police arrested a man who identified himself as Alex Cabrera Gonsales, a 37-year-old Mexican national, after he allegedly crashed his black Ford F-150 into a car parked along Interstate 70 near Indianapolis, according to a statement obtained from the Indiana State Police. The driver of the car, 54-year-old Jeffrey Monroe, and his passenger, 26-year-old Indianapolis Colts Linebacker Edwin Jackson, were both killed in the crash.

Many illegals are charged with DUIs, so helping ICE identify them in jail and accelerate their deportation.

In May 2017, Oscar De La Rosa-Mendoza, 31, reportedly pled guilty to driving while intoxicated, as well as resisting arrest from local police after they pulled him over, according to CBS 4 News. The migrant has already been deported seven times.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Removal Operations (ERO) officers arrested 25 illegal immigrants in Long Island, New York [of whom] 24 were convicted of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Update: This piece has been updated to clarify the statement made by MADD.

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