It’s a sad day…

I’ve been stewing on what exactly to write regarding the terrible accident that took the life of a Nun and injured 2 others on Sunday morning.  Clearly my thoughts and prayers go out to her, her family and friends.  I wish the other two Sisters a speedy recovery as well. 

As for the guy that precipitated this mess, well, he shouldn’t have been here.  I can tell you that, as one of the guys who sat through the meetings with ICE and unltimately voted to support 287(g) in Manassas that I understood the idea of prioritizing the available resources so that they focused on the “real” bad guys (btw, this has been the Federal policy the entire time we have been in the program).  This type of winnowing makes a lot of sense, both then and now.  We all prioritize our available resources to where they are needed most.  However, I can also tell you that I never imagined that “prioritizing” would take as long as it now seems to.

Indeed, “prioritizing” seems to have run off the tracks.  This guy, according to a DHS press release, was first processed by ICE almost two years ago (thanks bvbl for the timeline).  Two Years during which he was arrested several more times and ICE didn’t bother to hang on to him.  It seems like “prioritizing” has become more like catch and realease….or maybe just catch and forget.

Go read the timeline over at BVBL – even if the words that Greg uses offend you (you can get an immediate apology over there…:) look at the arrest record for this suspect.  If the record is right, the suspect appears to have been arrested about 4 times (2 DUI) and served about 20 days in jail….I know that times are tough (the state just cut $500,000 out of the budget for the PWC jail) but are we really in a position where the courts and DHS just can’t get it done?   If that’s the case, the United States Government needs to spend some time soul-searching about where our resources are committed.  Their responsibility is first to those that pay the bills…..