How could suspected Illegal Immigrant with Criminal History not ever be checked out after 1st dui hit and run?
The man accused of killing Beverly Duffield with his car and then taking off is a suspected illegal immigrant with a criminal history.
Court records show in 2003, 28-year-old Robert A. Torres was charged with municipal counts of DUI, hit-and-run, transporting beer, and no driver’s license.
Then in 2006 he was arrested on a warrant stemming from his 2003 DUI charge.
Torres is accused of the fatal hit-and-run that killed bicyclist 74-year-old Beverly Duffield in West Tulsa on Tuesday.
Right now Torres is being held in the Tulsa County jail without bond while Immigration Customs Enforcement investigates his immigration status.
http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story/Suspected-Illegal-Immigrant-Has-Criminal-History/DIzXVV0VWEqL0Fyz059mlQ.cspx
The story does not say if he was convicted or not in 2003 and 2006. If not, then it was most likely the reason why Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not pay attention to him. Even if he was convicted, those were DUIs and traffic-related offenses. ICE and U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) do not have enough resources to put all illegal immigrants into removal (deportation) proceedings unless they commit more serious criminal offenses as he just did now killing someone. It does not mean they never go after someone who commits less serious offenses, but most of the times, they do not simply because they have to save their resources for more serious criminal aliens.
To respond to what Bombshell said below, aliens with one or two DUI convictions are simply not as aggressively pursued by Immigration Enforcement as some people would like. This guy did NOT have two DUI convictions even, only a warrant in 2006 but a warrant is issued when a person merely fails to appear in court before. It does not mean he was guilty of DUI before in 2003. He was only charged and so was entitled to a presumption of innocence prior to being found guilty. Perhaps Immigration should go after aliens like this when DUIs are committed but those are simply their policies right now due to enforcement priorities and resources. If you want to change that, you’re free to voice your opinion to Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, who is in charge of ICE and USCIS.
By the way, the most common way that an undocumented alien who is not a criminal alien but a law-abiding person get placed into removal proceedings is to apply for some immigration benefit with USCIS and has the application denied. Now, they are no longer faceless and nameless to USCIS, but is on Immigration’s radars, so to speak, since they have all the person’s address and information.
The story does not say if he was convicted or not in 2003 and 2006–If you read carefully this part–>>>> Court records show in 2003, 28-year-old Robert A. Torres was charged with municipal counts of DUI, hit-and-run, transporting beer, and no driver’s license.
Then in 2006 he was arrested on a warrant stemming from his 2003 DUI charge.
That sounds like a solid case and they do not issue warrants for innocent people. When illegals skip court dates ,in the eyes of the law they are guilty and do not help their cases by having repeat criminal offenses and not showing up to address them.Any DUI must result in a citizenship check for everybody. Had the police checked his status chances are very good, he would have been deported and this never would have happened.Drunking driving is a serious crime and we can afford to deport offenders and must deport them