9th legislators want stricter immigration enforcement
Call for stronger restrictions follows Stafford boys' slayings
TRISTAN SCHWEIGER
Staff Writer
Thursday, February 2, 2006
www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/ocean/story/5877791p-5892505c.html
In the wake of the beating deaths of two Stafford Township boys allegedly at the hands of an illegal immigrant, the 9th District delegation announced Wednesday that it will ask the federal government to tighten border protections.

Last month, the father of 14-year-old Karlo and 7-year-old Zabdiel Gonzalez discovered the bodies of the two children in their Ocean Acres home. Police have charged Richard Toledo, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, with the slayings.

State Sen. Leonard Connors and Assemblymen Brian Rumpf and Christopher Connors, all Republicans representing portions of Ocean, Burlington and Atlantic counties, emphasized the financial costs of illegals immigration as a main reason for tightening border security. But the legislators also referenced the killings.

“If (Toledo) wasn't in the country, we'd still have two kids alive,” Sen. Connors said.

The delegation intends to introduce a resolution to the Legislature that would call on President Bush and Congress to strengthen efforts aimed at combating illegal immigration, including possibly using military personnel for border patrols. They are not, however, calling for new legislation; they just want the laws already in place to be enforced more stringently.

The delegation made a similar announcement last summer after another illegal immigrant was charged with sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl on Long Beach Island. At that time, they called for a sweep of illegals immigrants in the shore area.

However, Partha Banerjee, executive director of the statewide New Jersey Immigration Policy Network, an immigrant advocacy group, criticized the resolution proposed by the 9th District delegation as representing the “politics of paranoia.”

Banerjee said the fact that Toledo — who also had given police the last name of Gonzalez, although he is no relation to the family — is in the United States illegally has no relationship to the killings.

“Just because one undocumented immigrant was involved in this incident does not mean we have to stereotype and brand all undocumented immigrants as criminals. I think these are two completely different things. One is the crime and one is undocumented immigration,” he said.
(10% of the population 30% of federal prison space? they are NOT law-abiding people)

The 9th District legislators said they are not trying to suggest that all illegals immigrants are inherently dangerous, although they also rejected Banerjee's assertion that there was no link between the Stafford killings and Toledo's illegal status.

“One thing that we do know is that when an individual comes into our country by illegal means, they've already committed a crime, and we can't expect that they're going to obey other laws,” Assemblyman Connors said.

Rumpf agreed.

“One act of the magnitude of what happened in Stafford is one act too many,” he said. “It's reality, not paranoia.”

Aside from the murder case, Assemblyman Connors said illegals immigrants represent a problem because they do not pay taxes or fulfill civic obligations like registering for jury duty. He was quick to draw a distinction between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants, however, saying that legal immigrants are valuable contributors to the economy.

“I have no objection to people who seek refuge in the United States because they can provide a better way of life. That's how we all came here, my ancestors as well, but they came here under legal means. With the benefits of citizenship come the obligations of citizenship,” Assemblyman Connors said.

The 9th District legislators said they are not trying to suggest that all illegals immigrants are inherently dangerous, although they also rejected Banerjee's assertion that there was no link between the Stafford killings and Toledo's illegal status.

Translation: we voted for the illegals before we voted against them