A little over a year ago, I wrote about the dangers of the illegal alien influx occurring in our beautiful state. That influx is upending communities like Sylacauga, Albertville and Athens, precipitating citizen outrage from the Tombigbee to the Tennessee.
While we were greatly spared from even deeper incursion through the election of President Donald Trump and his clawback of former President Joe Biden’s disastrous border policies, our state still must deal with the fallout from this incursion, especially the eradication of the criminal elements.
Now 1819 News has uncovered even more horrible crimes enacted by the illegal aliens still in our midst. September and October alone have yielded multiple exposures and arrests, including:
- A Baldwin County child returned from Mexico to Alabama after being kidnapped by her mother – allegedly as payment to a cartel for her illegal alien boyfriend's debts
- An illegal alien arrested in Summerdale on child sex charges
- Illegal aliens arrested at a Decatur hotel for their connections to a major drug syndicate
- Suspected illegal aliens arrested by immigration authorities while on their way to Franklin County poultry plant
Just as the crime in Montgomery reverberates throughout the state, so does the fallout from criminal illegal aliens, affecting all Alabamians regardless of where they live. Yet we are rarely clued in to the outcome of these cases or their lingering effects.
When it comes to the non-criminal aliens like Alireza Doroudi, who had his visa revoked, and Giovanna Hernandez-Martinez, a so-called Dreamer who was pulled over for driving recklessly and discovered to have been in the country illegally for years, we know that taxpayer dollars were saved because they chose to repatriate to their countries of origin. These examples were “newsy” because they involved young people supposedly contributing to America and trying to “build a better life,” so legacy and local news organizations kept us abreast of the resolution of their cases.
But criminal illegals are simply lumped together, then disregarded, particularly by mainstream press. There are no articles calculating the harm caused, the lives lost, or the capital that was (and sometimes still is) required. Some non-soundbite plans on how our elected leaders plan to eradicate this scourge and its aftermath from our state borders would be a bonus.
Do we know how much revenue continues to fund imprisonment, housing, feeding, and legal services for apprehended illegals? Will they have costly trials or will they be removed from our country? If the former, will they be deported or will they continue to be a drain on our resources?
Case in point: In 2022, illegal alien José Paulino Pascual-Reyes brutally murdered his girlfriend and her son, dismembered their bodies, then drugged and restrained the girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter. If the little girl had not managed to chew through her restraints and escape, this sick individual might still be in the shadows, getting away with these heinous crimes. But over THREE YEARS after his apprehension, there is a “possibility” he will finally stand trial.
It is truly sickening that Pascual-Reyes has been allowed to get “three hots and cot” for this long. As 1819 News reporter Craig Monger explained, much of the holdup came from the defense counsel’s legal wranglings – all paid for by the taxpayer dime.
Since the murder, progress on the case has been more or less stagnant. Through a series of continuances, applications for foreign language interpreters, mental health evaluations and the defense’s attempts to block things like DNA sample collections, there has yet to be any significant movement in Pascual-Reyes’ case.
Pascual-Reyes is considered indigent, meaning his counsel, interpreters and every other service are provided by the taxpayer.
According to court records, the last motion filed in the case was in March, ordering a status hearing to be postponed until an undefined date.
Pascual-Reyes may finally be brought to justice, but the cost to Alabamians goes beyond the horror of lives lost and communities terrorized. Now multiply Pascual-Reyes by the hundreds of thousands more that are being targeted, arrested, or currently detained. This shows that we have yet to wake up from Biden’s border nightmare and we may be tossing, turning, and paying for the aftermath for decades.
Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, As the Girl Turns, is an investigative journalist, author, opinion analyst, and contributor to 1819 News, Redstate, and other publications. Jennifer writes on Politics and Pop Culture, with occasional detours into Reinvention, Yoga, and Food. You can read more about Jennifer's world at her As the Girl Turns website. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
