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How would you feel if this happened in your city,county or state with illegal immigrants?

Mo. town outraged over killings, illegal immigrant
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2009/03/20/ap/us/d971tl300.txt
By JIM SALTER
HANNIBAL, Mo. – A Hannibal police officer was finishing up mundane paperwork on a quiet Saturday morning when Manuel Cazares walked into the station, blood splattered on his hands and shoes.

Cazares put his hands out, crossed them, and told the officer to arrest him.

"I killed two people," he allegedly said.

Details surrounding the allegations are far too common: an abusive relationship, a jilted lover, a sudden attack.

But some in this Mississippi River community of 17,000 best known as Mark Twain’s hometown aren’t just outraged by the violence. They also question why Cazares was in Hannibal at all.

Cazares admitted after his arrest that he is an illegal immigrant from the Mexican state of Michoacan. The 32-year-old had several run-ins with law enforcement before the homicides, but officials had never questioned his legal status.

Now he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 28 deaths of his ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Amanda Thomas, and 25-year-old Carl Patrick Epley.

"I don’t know how this happens," said Tina White-Masengill, Thomas’ sister. "My stepdad told police many times, ‘I don’t even think the guy’s a legal citizen.’"

During his three years in Hannibal, Cazares managed to avoid detection, despite a few traffic violations and a property damage conviction after an arrest for allegedly beating up Thomas and tearing up her home. Thomas had a restraining order against Cazares, who got probation in the property-damage case.

Police say his name wasn’t in a database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police and Cazares’ boss also say he had authentic-looking identification, including a Social Security card. And police noted that Cazares speaks fluent English.

Cazares’ attorney did not return phone messages seeking comment. Cazares is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

Hannibal police declined several interview requests from The Associated Press, but said soon after the killing that they had received several angry calls, some with racial overtones.

Days after the killings, rocks were thrown through plate-glass windows at the Mexican restaurant where Cazares worked. The FBI decided against opening a hate-crime investigation after concluding that it was vandalism, not retaliation.

Hundreds of messages related to the case were posted on the Hannibal Courier-Post Web site, with several questioning why authorities hadn’t been able to determine Cazares’ legal status before. One suggested police should conduct raids to seek out other illegal immigrants.

"Of course we have folks who say that’s unconstitutional and racial profiling so we have to ignore the problem until this sort of terrible tragedy takes place," the posting read. The newspaper eventually took down the postings.

At a news conference, police Capt. James Hark told reporters that tracking illegal immigrants is a federal responsibility. He said the department is sympathetic to the victims’ families, "but, in retrospect, there’s nothing in the system that would have prevented this from happening."

ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said the agency seeks to work closely with local police to uncover illegal immigrants.

"When local law enforcement suspect that they have arrested an illegal alien on criminal charges, we encourage them to forward those suspicions to ICE, where we will make the appropriate determination whether that person is in the country legally or illegally, and whether he is deportable," Rusnok said.

The relationship between Cazares and Thomas had long been rocky, with Thomas seeking restraining orders in 2007 and again early last year. Marion County prosecutor Tom Redington said the first order was dismissed when Thomas failed to appear at a court hearing; the second was dismissed at her request.

Thomas made a third attempt around Thanksgiving and obtained a restraining order that was supposed to keep Cazares away from the small brick duplex where she lived with their 20-month-old son and a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Yet neighbors said they often saw Cazares in the area.

"We pulled up one night and he drives up the street with his car lights off and just sits there watching her house," said neighbor Charles Thomas, who is not related to the victim.

In early February, Thomas told police she thought Cazares was stalking her. White-Masengill said her sister played cell phone messages for police, including one in which he said, "No one can love you like I do."

Redington said he didn’t have Cazares arrested immediately because of the "on-again, off-again nature of their relationship." He asked Thomas to obtain records that would show that Cazares had been calling her, but she never got the records.

According to court records, Cazares offered the following a

This kind of thing happens fairly often in California. In fact, I live in the Napa Valley where we have a very large population of illegals picking the grapes. My town alone has a population of 40% Mexican and many of them are here illegally. One winery out of over 300 here will hire only legal Mexicans. The rest hire whoever they can get. So, trust me, I know and see exactly what your talking about. BTW, your question is a little long and the last sentence should be removed since it is incomplete.

  1. Time travler
    April 9th, 2010 at 17:10 | #1

    This kind of thing happens fairly often in California. In fact, I live in the Napa Valley where we have a very large population of illegals picking the grapes. My town alone has a population of 40% Mexican and many of them are here illegally. One winery out of over 300 here will hire only legal Mexicans. The rest hire whoever they can get. So, trust me, I know and see exactly what your talking about. BTW, your question is a little long and the last sentence should be removed since it is incomplete.
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  2. eir
    April 9th, 2010 at 17:36 | #2

    i’d be pissed. it’s only going to get worse, since we aren’t allowed to ask if people are citizens, lest we be "profiling". it’s bu!!sheet.
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  3. CHAR L
    April 9th, 2010 at 18:18 | #3

    Time Traveler is CORRECT I live in California as well and YES it does happen quite a bit here
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  4. Green is the new RED!
    April 9th, 2010 at 18:55 | #4

    Well, our great Congress removed an extension of E-Verify from the porkulus bill that would have extended it indefinately and Nancy Comrade Pelosi the Speaker of the FREAKIN House is out giving speeches to groups of illegals telling them that she is going to stop the raids that they are patriotic "special" people.

    PEOPLE PICK UP YOUR PITCH FORKS AND HIT THE STREETS!

    Let’s stop complaining and DO SOMETHING!
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