Newark Crime Spurs Immigration Debate

NEWARK, N.J., Aug. 21, 2007 — -- Melvin Jovel, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, was arraigned this morning for the shocking execution-style killings of three promising college students in Newark, N.J., this month.

Fellow illegal immigrant Jose Carranza, from Peru, is already in custody for the shootings, and was arrested twice before this incident.

Their residency status has pushed this crime into the national debate over illegal immigration, with conservatives pointing to Newark as a sanctuary city that is hospitable to illegal immigrants.

"Newark and its political leadership share a degree of culpability … their actions have directly contributed to the deaths of these promising American kids," stated presidential candidate Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.

"There is no excuse for city, county and state governments to not have a rule that when you pick someone up for a felony, you automatically check to see if they're here legally, or if, in fact, they are illegally in the United States," said former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker called the charges by Tancredo "vulgar" Monday, but today his office referred questions to the Essex County prosecutor's office.

The prosecutor provided ABC News with a letter from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, requesting that probation and parole officers notify them of "individuals who are in violation of immigration laws" who have been "convicted of felony crimes."

Carranza was arrested twice for violent crimes — but was not convicted.

Unwelcome City?

Beyond the finger-pointing is a rising hostility to illegal immigrants, not just among conservatives, but in the inner city.

"They should stop illegal people from coming over here," said Racheal Smith of Newark. "They're trying to make it legal for them to come over here and they shouldn't be, because they can't even keep track of these people, and they're going out committing all types of crimes."

Another Newark resident, Jonathan Quarterman, told ABC News, "The federal government will do what they want to do, and we end up wearing the weight."

"They should stop letting them in illegally. They should do something about it. Send them back," said one woman, who asked to be referred to as P. Hannah.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author of the new book "The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation Between African-Americans and Hispanics," worries what this will do to pre-existing racial tensions between African-Americans and Latinos.

"Fear, on the part of so many African-Americans, that illegal immigrants are bringing an element of violence, and even predatory violence against African-Americans ... creates even greater fear," he said.

"Newark is coming on the heels of violence in other cities," Hutchinson said. "Are we getting to a point where violence in America, and even hate violence in America, now comes black against brown or brown against black?"

Liberal immigration activists argue that illegal immigrants do not commit violent crimes more than any other group, but for many in mourning here in Newark, two illegal immigrants may have been two too many.