Coyote Run Keeps Criminal Invaders In America

From Debbie at Right Truth:

Four people being smuggled in from Mexico died in a crash in the Colorado mountains last week. Two years ago a similar accident in south Weld County killed six people. New laws enacted since the first crash will make the cases very different. The new laws have greater sentences, however the witnesses (all illegals) must be kept here in the United States until the trial and sentencing is complete. Sounds like a win-win situation for the illegals that survived their coyotes poor driving habits.

The driver in the Weld County accident was Francisco Tomas-Andres, then 18 years old, and later identified as an illegal immigrant.

Although Tomas-Andres is still in prison, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials refuse to talk about his legal status or if he will be deported after serving his federal court sentence.

On Jan. 27, 2004, Tomas-Andres was traveling about 80 mph on Interstate 76 near Roggen when he lost control of the van.

It rolled several times, ejecting his 11 passengers, all illegal immigrants from Guatemala. Five died at the scene, one died months later in a Denver hospital. Five others were injured.

In the Idaho Springs accident Tuesday, the driver was an alleged illegal immigrant smuggler -- and four of his 14 passengers died.

New Colorado laws make it a felony to smuggle or traffic illegal immigrants, which will create a vastly different outcome for the Idaho Springs driver, if he is convicted. He is facing 46 counts of
smuggling, careless driving and reckless endangerment, all of which could bring a prison sentence of more than 160 years.

In the Weld County case, Tomas-Andres, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, pleaded guilty to six counts of careless driving resulting in death, and five counts of careless driving resulting in injury. He is still in the federal penal system after being sentenced to 46 months in prison by a U.S. District Court judge in Denver. Now, he is in the federal penitentiary in Yazoo City, Miss., scheduled for release next May.

After receiving his federal sentence, Tomas-Andres was returned to Weld County, where he plead guilty to six counts of careless driving involving death and was sentenced to 12 years probation.

The probation -- running concurrently with his prison sentence -- will expire in December 2016.

Weld District Attorney Ken Buck, who was not in office when the Tomas-Andres probationary sentence was agreed to, said new immigration laws give the prosecutors more power, but they bring a different problem.

"Each of the human smuggling counts and human trafficking counts carries a four-to12-year sentence," Buck said. "The problem is that we have to keep the witnesses here for a trial that may be a year away. We'd have to secure special visas for them and keep track of their location at all times."

While the new laws give added punch, Buck said such cases will be difficult. source

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration(CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at what level you would like to participate.

Technorati Tags: Coalition Against Illegal Immigration, Amnesty, Politics, Congress, US, Mexico, Illegal Immigration,