NJ Slayings Underscore Need for Immigration Reform

The decision by a New Jersey Superior Court judge has once again pointed a spotlight on our need to greater control our borders against illegal immigrants. On Thursday, November 4, 2010, Melvin Jovel, 21, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, was sentenced to life in prison for the slayings of three New Jersey teenagers and the attempted murder of a fourth. Jovel received three consecutive life sentences in prison.
Jovel, and five other men, according to prosecutors, lined up the victims against a wall in Newark, NJ and shot each in the back of the head. All of the victims attended or planned to attend Delaware State University.
Jovel, according to newspaper reports, expressed no remorse as he addressed the court in Spanish. The lone surviving victim, angry at first, then calm, told Jovel he inspired her to inspire others to be closer to God.
What angers me most about this story is that Jovel has been allowed to live in this country illegally for most of his life. He has mooched off of the NJ school system and all of the resources at the teachers disposal --even more so since he didn't speak English--to prepare him to someday become a productive member of society. Then as if he hasn't taken enough from the state, Jovel, with the help of his friends, arbitrarily decided to take the life of three of New Jersey's brightest stars. Now the mooching continues as he gets to sit in prison for the rest of his life receiving three hot meals a day and a warm bed at night.
My final complaint is this: when will we decide to stop allowing illegal immigrants to cross our borders and snub their noses at our culture (he doesn't speak English) and our sense of right and wrong?

On Loss

I'm having a sad day. A friend of a friend lost her daughter to the child's father. He shot and killed his nine-year old daughter, after arguing on the phone with the child's mother. The man also shot the babysitter. An innocent bystander.
My friend is grieving over the loss of this child and keeps running scenarios about the number of times she babysat the girl. My friend recalls how easily she could have been the babysitter. My friend is grieving for her friend who will not see her child agonize over what to wear to her school dance. There will be no high school graduation and no first day of college.
Instead, she will live with the loss of her child. And the father will sit in prison for the rest of his life. I'm not sure leaving this man alive at the expense of New York's taxpaying citizens is fair. The father had no remorse when he pulled the trigger and a firing squad won't either.