Close to Home: The painful and dark side of illegal immigration

As the state Senate mulls over SB 54, misleadingly labeled the California Values Act, I present a different point of view about the Golden State, which is rapidly moving toward sanctuary status. This is a very bad idea.

How many of you remember 4-yer-old Christopher Peter “Buddy” Rowe)? Little Buddy was run down by a pizza delivery driver in a Santa Rosa crosswalk on Aug. 18, 2011.

He was on his way to soccer practice with twin sister, Julia, his older sister Mimi, mother Michelle and father James when he was hit by Marcos Lopez Garcia, then 22. After striking Buddy, the driver then fled the scene.

Garcia had twice previously been convicted of driving without a license. Garcia was also an illegal resident.

The tragedy forces the question: Was this a stand-alone event, a tragic, unavoidable accident that took the life of this precious child? No. Not hardly.

Since 9/11, it is estimated thousands of innocent individuals in America are no longer alive because of the irresponsible acts of people who should not have been here in the first place. By one estimate, as many as 91,250 innocents have been killed or murdered by undocumented residents since 9/11.

How many of these drivers were drunk cannot be ascertained because many cities, counties, states and associated law enforcement agencies refuse to provide alcohol/drug details of those arrested and convicted of these terrible crimes.

A decade ago, Rep. Steven King, R-Iowa, using figures provided by the Government Accounting Office, reported that every day 12 innocent people are murdered by illegal immigrants, another 13 people die at the hands of an unlicensed, uninsured, inebriated undocumented person who flouted American law. If one extrapolates the 25 per day by 365 days, one can see a city the size of Vacaville in population has disappeared since 9/11.

Buddy Rowe will never attend school, play soccer, make friends, meet a soul mate, have a family Christmas or have a life because America protects this population like an endangered species.

Allow me to be crystal clear. I see absolutely no difference between the Republicans or Democrats on the issue of illegal immigration. Both parties, for different reasons, have cast a blind eye and deaf ear to securing our southern border. This failure endangers Americans to this imported criminal element. George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, nary a difference among any of these four in securing our border. Unconscionable!

Millions of illegal immigrants, uneducated and poverty-stricken individuals have swarmed into the United States from Mexico, Central and South America. Most seek a better life; some enter to wreak havoc. All are lawbreakers.

No words can console the parents and family of 4-year-old Buddy. Never mind there are laws on the books, and that our Constitution is written to protect us from this assault.

I will remind constitutionalists of Article IV, Section 4: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened, against domestic violence”).

Buddy Rowe won’t have to worry about Article IV, Section 4. I wonder if our state Sen. Mike McGuire, Assemblyman Jim Wood or our congressman, Rep. Jared Huffman, remembers raising their right hand when they took their oath of office to defend and protect the Constitution.

Perhaps a few of you who read this might remind them since none have responded to my emails opposing SB 54, creating sanctuary status for California. It’s a very bad idea.

Roger Gitlin represents District 1 on the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors. He said this was not written in his capacity as a supervisor but as a resident of Crescent City. Email him at ragitlin@aol.com.