Why Doing So Gets Americans Killed
Our leaders have told us we are a nation of immigrants.
Reagan, 1984, at Fudan University: “We call ourselves a nation of immigrants, and that’s truly what we are.”
Bush, 2006: “We’re a nation of laws, and we must enforce our laws. We’re also a nation of immigrants.”
Obama, 2014: “My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants.”
Hillary Clinton, 2016: “I think we are both a nation of immigrants and we are a nation of laws.”
Well, I’m in that count. Legally.
The illegals I’m going to talk about here started on the wrong foot and deliberately stayed out of step.
The first duty.
A government’s first duty is the security of its citizens.
They were here illegally. They were caught for another crime. And instead of removing them and keeping citizens safe, cities like New York, and people like Zohran Mamdani, chose the criminals’ side over Americans.
The names everyone knows.
Kate Steinle, 32. Shot dead on a San Francisco pier, 2015, by Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an illegal alien San Francisco had released months earlier. Acquitted of murder. [1][2]
Mollie Tibbetts, 20. Abducted and murdered in Iowa, 2018, by Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an illegal alien. Life without parole. [3]
Kayla Hamilton, 20. Murdered in Aberdeen, Maryland, 2022, by Walter Javier Martinez, an illegal alien and MS-13 member. 70 years. [4][5]
Rachel Morin, 37, mother of five. Raped and murdered on a Maryland trail, 2023, by Victor Martinez-Hernandez, an illegal alien. Life without parole. [6][7]
Laken Riley, 22. Murdered in Athens, Georgia, 2024, by Jose Ibarra, an illegal alien the NYPD had arrested and released. Life without parole. [8][9]
Jocelyn Nungaray, 12. Strangled in Houston, 2024. Two illegal aliens, released at the border months earlier, are charged. [10]
Debrina Kawam, 57. Burned to death on a Brooklyn subway train, 2024. A deported illegal alien who came back is charged. [11][12]
Oscar Belgal. Illegal alien. Arrested by the NYPD in 2023, convicted of grand larceny, arrested again in 2025, and left on the street until ICE came for him in Marble Hill. [13][14]
Caught for another crime and let go, or let in and never removed. It’s a distinction without a difference.
The system had them or let them in. It didn’t remove them. Seven women and girls are dead. The eighth man was still on the street.
March 4, 2025.
President Trump stood before Congress and honored Laken Riley with her mother and sister in the gallery. [15]
I watched that speech. Every Republican stood and applauded. By my count, more than nine out of ten Democrats stayed in their seats. That’s what I saw. If you saw something different, the video is public. Show me.
They choose not to.
The city says cooperation scares people away from reporting crime. A man robbing and dealing isn’t calling 911 anyway.
The city says it needs a judge’s warrant. Its own law already allows a hold with one. [16] And the Supreme Court says Washington can’t force a city to help. It never said a city can’t. [17][18]
They’re allowed to hold them. They choose not to.
14,916 ICE detainers not honored in New York since January 2025. [13]
They know these names.
City Hall knows these names. It still hides behind “lawbreakers won’t report lawbreaking.”
Mamdani: “I am in support of abolishing ICE.” [19] “When it comes to our city, we are proud of our sanctuary city policies.” [20]
Here’s what I see.
They are not on America’s side. Not on Americans’ side. No matter how tightly they wrap themselves in the flag, no matter how they work the Constitution.
At the very least on this, they’re on the intruders’ side.
Intent doesn’t change the damage.
Nobody in City Hall swore an oath to weaken this country. I don’t need them to.
If you knowingly release a man you have in custody on a new crime, the result on the street is the same as if you had sworn that oath.
Same victims. Same funerals.
That’s dereliction of the first duty. Immigration doesn’t shrink that duty. It makes it bigger.
Coddling is as pernicious as laziness.
Releasing a man with a record because enforcing the law is uncomfortable is not compassion. It’s coddling. And coddling rots a city the same way laziness does.
Gratitude is spine. Agency. It says: this country is worth protecting, and I’ll do the hard part.
The Three A’s.
Accountability. A crime gets consequences. For everyone.
Assimilation. Come legally. Live by the law. That’s the deal I took.
Allegiance. A government’s allegiance runs to its citizens first.
That’s stewardship. You don’t get to give away the safety of the house you were trusted to guard.
Grateful, or Ungrateful?
Spine, not knees.
LIVE GRATEFUL.
Sources
- Ninth Circuit, Steinle v. City and County of San Francisco (2019) (detainer sent March 27, 2015; released April 15, 2015). https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/03/25/17-16283.pdf
- AP, “Jury acquits Mexican man in San Francisco pier killing,” Nov. 30, 2017. https://apnews.com/article/e586a1a9688d4287a3412b756a6b225d (Garcia Zarate was acquitted of murder and manslaughter.)
- AP, “Man gets life sentence in 2018 killing of Mollie Tibbetts,” 2021. https://apnews.com/article/business-immigration-mollie-tibbetts-61b4beb398a50c20ec0f5cc29ffc0d2e
- Harford County State’s Attorney, “Illegal immigrant & MS-13 gang member pleads guilty in brutal 2022 murder.” https://www.harfordcountystatesattorney.org/illegal-immigrant-ms-13-gang-member-pleads-guilty-in-brutal-2022-murder/
- Fox Baltimore, “19-year-old illegal immigrant sentenced to 70 years for the murder of Kayla Hamilton.” https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/19-year-old-illegal-immigrant-sentenced-to-70-years-for-the-murder-of-kayla-hamilton (Sentence: life with all but 70 years suspended.)
- Harford County State’s Attorney, “Maximum penalty imposed for brutal 2023 Ma-Pa Trail murder,” Aug. 11, 2025. https://www.harfordcountystatesattorney.org/maximum-penalty-imposed-for-brutal-2023-ma-pa-trail-murder/
- AP, “Fugitive from El Salvador gets life in prison in woman’s killing on a Maryland hiking trail,” Aug. 2025. https://apnews.com/article/rachel-morin-killer-life-sentence-maryland-salvador-1fdadf5b38201d54ee7da75de1b823fe
- CBS News, “Suspect in murder of Georgia nursing student entered U.S. illegally, ICE says,” Feb. 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jose-ibarra-suspect-murder-georgia-nursing-student-illegal-entry-venezuela/ (Ibarra’s NYPD arrest and release before a detainer are per ICE; NYPD said it had no record, later reported sealed.)
- AP, “Man convicted of killing Laken Riley sentenced to life in prison,” Nov. 20, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/georgia-nursing-student-laken-riley-immigrant-d8d75ccc6d81e7a88eb7890829d9fc9c
- CNN, June 26, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/26/us/jocelyn-nungaray-killing-houston ; FOX 26 Houston (ICE detainers, release at El Paso). https://www.fox26houston.com/news/venezuelan-nationals-face-capital-murder-charges-houston-girls-death-ice-confirms
- NBC News, “Man charged in woman’s burning death on NYC subway was deported from U.S. in 2018.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-charged-womans-burning-death-nyc-subway-was-previously-deported-us-rcna185276 (Zapeta-Calil: entered illegally June 2018, deported June 7, 2018, re-entry date and place unknown, per ICE.)
- Reuters, Jan. 7, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/legal/man-accused-killing-woman-new-york-subway-fire-pleads-not-guilty-2025-01-07/ (Charged; pleaded not guilty.)
- DHS press release, Oct. 9, 2026. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/10/09/dhs-debunks-new-york-sanctuary-politicians-lies-about-ice-shooting-illegal-alien (DHS claims: in the country illegally, entry “at an unknown date and location,” released days after the Dec. 7, 2023 arrest; 14,916 detainers figure is DHS data.)
- Mayor’s Office transcript, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch on the Marble Hill shooting, Oct. 8, 2026. https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/10/transcript–mayor-mamdani-holds-press-conference-on-ice-shooting ; AP via PBS, Oct. 9, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ice-officer-shoots-a-man-while-making-an-arrest-in-new-york-officials-say (Belgal record per NYPD Commissioner Tisch; 2025 drug-sale charge pending, not guilty plea. A detainer for Belgal is claimed only by unnamed federal sources in the New York Post and is not confirmed.)
- ABC11, joint address live coverage, March 4, 2025 (“received applause from Republicans in the chamber”). https://abc11.com/live-updates/trump-joint-session-of-congress-live-updates/15977198/entry/15978677
- NYC Administrative Code §§ 9-131, 14-154 (detainer laws). https://www.nyc.gov/assets/immigrants/downloads/pdf/nyc-detainer-laws.pdf
- Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 (1997). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/521/898/
- Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn., 584 U.S. 453 (2018). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/584/16-476/
- ABC News, “Mayor Mamdani says he supports abolishing ICE.” https://abcnews.com/Politics/mayor-mamdani-supports-abolishing-ice-calls-humanity-dealing/story?id=129385475
- MEAWW, June 2026 (Mamdani on MS NOW; February executive order). https://news.meaww.com/ice-should-be-abolished-zohran-mamdani-rejects-democratic-concerns-on-immigration
