The Remembrance Project Honors American Victims Killed by Aliens

By Joe Guzzardi
October 11, 2013

Americans following the comprehensive immigration reform debate have seen the images of children holding placards that read: “Don’t deport my mommy.” And they’ve heard U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez implore Congress to “Stop separating families.”

Like the other shallow arguments for legalizing illegal immigrants, the separating families angle doesn’t hold water. After all, in the rare case when someone is deported, his family can accompany him back to his native country. Most illegal aliens would be returning to Mexico, a magnificently beautiful tourist destination with an improving economy and an internationally acclaimed university. Mexico, in other words, is not Siberia and being deported back should not be considered, as is often suggested, cruel and unusual punishment.

More tragic are American families, victims of illegal alien murderers, which have been permanently separated. This under-reported phenomena plays out thousands of times annually. Here are just three examples: Frankie Brooks, 6, killed in his front yard when struck by a drunken illegal alien driver; Houston police officer Kevin Will who left behind a pregnant wife and two children when killed by twice-deported MS-13 gang member Johoan Rodriguez and Louise Sollowin, a 93-year-old, raped and beaten to death by Sergio Martinez-Perez, 19.

These crimes have many enablers. In all but a few cases, the mainstream media ignores the stories. Worse, hundreds of sanctuary cities have sprung up across the nation that directly violate federal law and give safe haven to dangerous aliens. Because of their lenient policies, those cities encourage illegal immigration.

To heighten Americans’ awareness of the frightening consequences criminal aliens can perpetrate and to honor the memory of those killed, in 2009 Maria Espinoza, a first generation American of Mexican descent, founded The Remembrance Project.

As part of her project, Espinoza created the “Stolen Lives Quilt” initiative to display in dozens of American cities throughout America. The Quilt is made up of 3' x 6' banners that display the faces, names, and a short story of 3 victims.  Since 2012, the quilt has travelled to 16 states including Texas, New York, Arizona and California and will serve as a reminder to lawmakers in future rallies and city council meetings of the ongoing suffering of victimized American families. On November 3, The Remembrance Project along with state leaders and other national organizations that demand an end to coddling criminal aliens will recognize “The National Remembrance Day for Those Killed by Illegal Aliens.”

Despite evidence that too many Americans have endured the ultimate tragedy when they lost their sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, mothers, and fathers, Congress with the White House’s strong backing, is pushing for comprehensive immigration reform that would legalize 11 million illegal aliens including deportable criminals and expand, without meaningful background checks, legal immigration. For families who lost loved ones, the very idea that Congress could be considering amnesty is inconceivable.

The Remembrance Project’s message to Washington D.C. is to uphold United States’ laws including those that relate to immigration, to focus on putting 20 million unemployed Americans back to work, and to reduce the $17 trillion debt. Those should be higher priorities than accommodating illegal aliens’ perceived needs and caving into special interest groups’ agendas.

Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow whose columns have been syndicated since 1986. Contact him at [email protected]