Up until now, my favorite story about an illegal alien being his own worst enemy came during a flood of the Rio Grande. The Border Patrol saved his life.
The alien had escaped the flood waters by climbing a tree, but was about to die of thirst, not realizing that he could drink from the water below him.
I was reminded of that incident recently when I received a press release from the prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Louisiana entitled: Nicaraguan Women Sentenced for Illegally Using Social Security Number.
It described how one Junieth Betanco-Hernandez, a then 19-year-old illegal alien from Nicaragua, had crossed the Rio Grande near Hidalgo, Texas, about a year ago, had been picked up by the Border Patrol, and had been released to an “alternative to detention program” run by BI Incorporated, a DHS contractor.
In other words, she was turned loose in the U.S.
Let’s pick up the story from the press release:
On or about March 28, 2023 [she] reported to BI’s office and presented her immigration documents consisting of a Louisiana state ID featuring her name and photograph, and a social security card. Through investigation, Homeland Security investigations agents determined that [she] was not the individual to whom that social security number had been issued.
The alien, who may be young and unknowing, must have known that the card was not issued in her name, and provided it to the authorities anyway was an act of towering stupidly.
Now, as the late Paul Harvey used to say, for the rest of the story.
Instead of popping her into jail for at least several months, (preferably with adequate notice to Spanish-speaking media) and/or deporting her, an unnamed federal judge sentenced her to a year of probation, a meaningless penalty.
We tend not to deport people to Communist countries, like Nicaragua, but why not some jail time here?
Lots of illegals carry someone else’s social security card; they all should be told that this is a ticket to a prison sentence, but they aren’t.