Op-ed: Gotta Break a Few Eggs to Make an Omelet, Border Edition

By Mark Krikorian on June 27, 2024

“Mr. President, what is the acceptable number of little girls to be raped and murdered by illegal aliens waved into the country on your orders?”

Neither Jake Tapper nor Dana Bash will ask that question at tonight’s debate, but they should.

The latest outrage was the murder last week of twelve-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston, which the New York Times finally deigned to notice on Tuesday, using the usual “Republicans pounce and seize” template (the subhead literally says the murder “has become the latest crime seized on by Republicans”).

It’s not just that the two perps — described by the Times as “accused of killing the 12-year-old girl and leaving her bound and without pants in a drainage ditch” — were illegal aliens. They were border-jumpers who were in the Border Patrol’s custody and were then released in accordance with policies put in place by Joe Biden and his impeached DHS Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas.

Here’s how NBC news reported the ICE statement on the perps’ immigration history:

On March 14, Martinez was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas. That same day, he was released on an order of recognizance with a notice to appear. Pena was apprehended by Border Patrol on May 28 near El Paso. He was released on an order of recognizance with a notice to appear the same day he was apprehended.

This despite the fact that federal law mandates that border-infiltrators be kept in detention over the entire course of their proceedings.

Any time an illegal alien commits a crime, the federal government bears some responsibility. But if the alien criminal had successfully evaded law enforcement — not encountered the Border Patrol or ICE or local police — before committing that crime, the government’s responsibility is more attenuated.

But when the illegal alien is taken into custody and then released — the same day, i.e., with little opportunity to do even the useless vetting for people from dysfunctional countries with little state capacity — then the administration that ordered that release bears direct responsibility for the crimes.

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[Read the rest at National Review]