Illegal Immigrant Gang Banger Kills Teen Jock
A police department’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration policy allowed a notorious gang member to murder a high school football star just one day after the illegal alien completed a jail sentence for a previous felony.
The Los Angeles Police Department has for decades banned officers from inquiring about a suspects’ immigration status and the negligent policy allowed a violent gang banger to gun down a star prep running back heavily recruited by several top colleges.
Seventeen year-old Jamiel Shaw, the son of an Army sergeant serving in Iraq, was a league most valuable player with a bright future. Had the cops identified the gang member as an illegal immigrant during his previous encounters with the law, he would have been deported and Shaw would have gone on to play college football.
Judicial Watch has actually sued the LAPD for its illegal mandate, Special Order 40, which prevents officers from inquiring about the immigration status of arrestees. It was implemented in 1979 by the city’s former police chief and the city council.
In this tragic case it enabled a violent illegal immigrant to remain in the country and take the life of a dedicated young athlete. The teen jock was walking home from the mall when several members from the renowned Hispanic 18th Street Gang pulled up in a car. The triggerman, Pedro Espinoza, shot him on the sidewalk.
The day before the shooting, 19-year-old Espinoza had been released from Los Angeles County jail. He had been serving time for assault with a deadly weapon yet was freed to continue victimizing innocent U.S. citizens. Authorities say he has been a member of violent street gangs since he was 12.
L.A.’s self-described “Chicano Mayor,” who publicly advocates for illegal immigrants, called on the city to come together to take action and refuse to accept the level of gun and gang violence on “our streets and in our neighborhoods.” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also pledged to make public safety the center of the city’s agenda. No word if that includes allowing the cops to help deport criminal illegal aliens before they murder Americans.