The Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the Trump administration’s right to deport suspected foreign gang members was a major victory for public safety and the rule of law. But as long as left-wing prosecutors are allowed to continue shielding criminal illegal aliens from accountability, Americans remain at risk.
The horrific killing of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley at the hands of illegal alien José Ibarra last year became a symbol of the tragic consequences of open border policies, and voters took out their frustration on Democrats at the ballot box. But while President Trump has now effectively secured the border, the soft-on-crime prosecutors who allowed Ibarra to walk free after being arrested for multiple violent crimes before he murdered Riley are still in office – and they are doubling down on putting illegal aliens above the safety of law-abiding citizens.
Take, for instance, the recent outrageous decision by Fairfax County, Virginia, prosecutor Steve Descano to drop felony charges against Wilmer Osmany Ramos Giron, a twice-deported illegal alien charged with abducting and strangling his ex-wife in January. Ramos Giron reportedly has a prior conviction for a gun crime and an ICE detainer request on him.
Despite the seriousness of the crime – and the very clear evidence that Ramos Giron is a danger to the public – Descano opted to charge him only with a misdemeanor. Ramos Giron would have faced up to 16 years in prison for the felony charge. Now, he is back out in the community after serving just two months in jail.
To justify the decision, a spokesperson for Descano’s office claimed that the victim “wanted to minimize the impact on [Ramos Giron’s] record and avoid a felony conviction.” But according to a local reporter who followed up with the victim, that is a flat lie – Ramos Giron’s ex-wife was shocked at the decision and fears further threats to her and her children.
Descano’s website notably states that he “will make charging and plea decisions that limit or avoid immigration consequences.” In other words, he’s fine with releasing a dangerous criminal back onto the street so long as it protects him from deportation.
The Ramos Giron case is hardly an isolated incident; the terrifying reality is that this is the modus operandi for progressive prosecutors and left-wing state and local officials. Last month, The New York Post detailed multiple instances in Massachusetts where illegal alien rapists – some of whom victimized children as young as 8 – were released on extremely low bail. Last November, an illegal alien from Honduras was arrested for violently raping a woman in Virginia after having already racked up an extensive rap sheet that included crimes like indecent exposure, public nudity, and sexual assault.
Even with President Trump back in the White House, local officials and district court judges are still working to block ICE, defy federal law, and provide safe havens to criminals. Trump can build the wall, reinstate “Remain in Mexico,” and deport all the illegal aliens he can find – but without state and local partners who will cooperate, his efforts are sabotaged at every turn. It’s death by a thousand cuts, and the left knows exactly what it’s doing.
No civilized society can survive when violent criminals are treated like victims, and actual victims are treated like collateral damage. No nation can function when its own laws are ignored by the very people elected to enforce them. And no president – no matter how tough, determined, or popular – can succeed without law-and-order allies in courthouses and district attorney offices throughout America.
The solution? We start taking local races as seriously as national ones.
Conservatives must invest in local prosecutor races with their votes and their pocketbooks. The left-wing dark money machine is drowning law-and-order candidates with a flood of money in these traditionally small-dollar races. Even a few thousand dollars in a local prosecutor campaign can tip the scales and have a massive impact on law enforcement nationwide.
As a local prosecutor myself and one committed to working with the Trump administration and upholding the rule of law, here is my message to the conservative movement: don’t get comfortable. Don’t assume that electing Trump again means the job is done. The fight has only just begun. The radical left hasn’t stopped, they’re just getting sneakier, more local, and more entrenched. The more that conservatives ignore these races, the more the left wins.
The good news is Team Law-and-Order finally has an ally in the White House who understands that tragedies like Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, and so many others are a choice. We must choose to stop ceding ground to radical prosecutors who sacrifice innocent lives on the altar of open borders. Every ignored local race is a missed opportunity to defend our communities.
Clayton Fuller currently serves as the District Attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit in Northwest Georgia. The views are his own and do not represent the Department of Defense or the LMJC DA’s office. Follow him on Twitter @Clay4MainStreet and on Facebook at Clay Fuller: Main Street Patriot.