For years, illegal immigrants have poured into the city of Chicago, whose exceptionally unpopular mayor is both a loud advocate on behalf of unlawful migration, as well as a pro-criminal "progressive." This toxic combination has resulted in quite a lot of crime, and controversial allocations of resources, stirring public anger at the mayor among the public and a small portion of the city council. Recent high-profile cases like this horrific murder drive home the consequences of coddling and empowering illegal immigrant criminals, some of whom have terrorized and attacked city residents. The newly-enacted Laken Riley Act is very slowly starting to address the problem on a limited, piecemeal basis, but the underlying issues remain widespread and acute. Consider this insane fact pattern, as reported by Fox correspondent Matt Finn:
Follow this: suspected tDa migrant ordered deported by judge 2022. Released on appeal. Arrested in Chicago for weapons charge last year. Cook County denies ICE detainer. Released. Arrested again this week for homicide questioning. Being charged for domestic battery &…
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) February 23, 2025
The enraging details:
An illegal immigrant and suspected gang member is out on probation, free to roam the streets of Chicago even though he has been charged with domestic battery, has a previous weapons charge in Cook County and was ordered deported in 2022. Pedro Colmenares, a 33-year-old suspected Tren de Aragua gang member from Venezuela entered the U.S. in September 2022 and was ordered deported by an immigration judge in November of that year, according to DHS. While appealing the deportation ruling, he ended up in Chicago. Two years after the deportation ruling, Colmenares was back on DHS' radar after a weapons charge in the Chicago area last October. DHS issued an ICE detainer on Colmenares, but because of its sanctuary policy, Cook County refused to comply with the detainer, and Colmenares was set free. Colmenares was taken into custody once again this week for three days and was questioned by Chicago Police about his suspected involvement in the shooting death of a 25-year-old Hispanic man last September.
Chicago police said probable cause existed to place the illegal migrant into custody for murder earlier this week, but ultimately the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office declined to press homicide charges, explaining they "carefully reviewed" the case and found insufficient evidence and "uncooperative witnesses." Colmenares is facing charges in a shocking kidnapping and sexual assault of his former girlfriend last October in Chicago. He is charged with domestic battery with bodily harm for allegedly pulling up in a car to the 27-year-old Hispanic woman and telling her to get in "or I’ll shoot you." Police say he then drove the woman against her will to a separate location on Chicago’s west side, where he allegedly "battered and sexually assaulted the victim" over several days. Colmenares was ordered to appear in-person before a judge on March 5 in Chicago. He was ordered to surrender weapons and stay away from the domestic abuse victim, according to a court document, but he was not assigned electronic monitoring.
It's inconceivable madness. This gang-connected illegal immigrant has already been ordered deported by a judge. He's already been arrested for additional crimes. He's suspected of involvement in a homicide, and he stands charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman. Despite all of that, Chicago officials won't play ball with the feds to get this man removed from the country because he's been gifted the Very Special Protected Privilege of being a criminal alien. If that isn't bad enough, in spite of his rap sheet, city authorities aren't even holding him behind bars as he awaits trial for kidnapping and sexual assault. Think about how insane this is: The Chicago system is protecting this man from the deportation order already levied against him, even after he's allegedly committed numerous charged and suspected violent felonies -- and as they let him walk free awaiting his latest court proceedings, they've told him to surrender his guns and keep his distance from the victim of his latest attack. 'Listen up, Mr. Illegal Immigrant. We won't do anything about your deportation, but we technically frown upon kidnapping and rape around here, so please give us your weapons and stay away from your latest victim while you roam our streets.' What a disgrace.
Meanwhile, let's check in on criminal "justice" developments in more of America's most prominent, Democrat-dominated cities. In our nation's capital, you may recall the horrible murder of a man who served as an interpreter for US special forces in Afghanistan. He was able to flee that country and move to the DC area. In 2023, while he was trying to earn money for his family as a ride share driver, the city's carjacking epidemic (exacerbated by stunningly foolish policies enacted by the city council) hit home. A teenager shot and killed the man during the commission of an attempted carjacking. The senseless slaying caused a stir at the time. Last week, the murderer was charged:
In 2023, an Afghan interpreter for US Special Forces (who’d escaped that country and moved to the DC area) was murdered during a carjacking. His teenaged killer just got sentenced: Three years in prison. https://t.co/4KKoCzJCO3
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 16, 2025
Three years. The now-16-year-old murderer will spend three years behind bars for killing a man in cold blood. No wonder criminal gangs strategically assign much of their violence to minors. The system incentivizes it. What a very dangerous lesson. Elsewhere in "justice," we have this lunacy out of deep blue Connecticut:
A man accused of hacking someone to death with an axe and eating part of the victim's brain and an eyeball has been granted conditional release after a careful review of his clinical progress, officials in Connecticut say. https://t.co/Oxhx5bskS9
— NBC10 Boston (@NBC10Boston) February 22, 2025
Does part of the "conditional release" entail a requirement that this man refrain from future murder and cannibalism? Did the people who decided to release this person have parts of their brains eaten? Perhaps those decision-makers should have this person move into their neighborhood? Since his "clinical progress" is so impressive. In New York, Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres -- who is rumored to be eyeing a gubernatorial challenge against incumbent Kathy Hochul -- is condemning yet another violent episode. As it turns out, when nothing happens to you when you assault a police officer, you're likely to do more crimes:
A violent criminal assaulted a female police officer, only to be released back onto the streets.
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) February 21, 2025
What did the repeat offender do upon his release? He re-offended—this time randomly punching a woman in the face in Times Square.
If you assault anyone, let alone a police… pic.twitter.com/1KOMCYkPJq
Finally, circling back to Chicago, prospects for progress look grim, as "progressives" continue to exert a stranglehold over the city's government. Many Chicagoans want to remove or scale back 'sanctuary' policies that shield criminal illegal immigrants from enforcement. A city council vote last month demonstrates that only a fraction of the council agrees with that segment, while a large majority stands with Mayor Johnson and his 14 percent approval rating on this issue:
The Chicago City Council voted 39-11 Wednesday to reject an effort to weaken Chicago’s protections for undocumented residents as the city’s immigrant communities brace for mass deportations. After days of increasing alarm among advocates for immigrant rights, the showdown over whether to amend Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance was anticlimactic...Lopez and Tabares attempted to use a parliamentary maneuver to force the City Council to vote on a proposal they first introduced in September 2023 that failed to get even a committee hearing, much less a vote. That measure would have reversed a January 2021 amendment to the Welcoming City ordinance that prohibited Chicago police officers from cooperating with federal immigration agents in all cases. That ordinance was approved 41-8, just seven days after Trump’s first term ended. Lopez and Tabares both voted against it. Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has repeatedly said he will not allow Chicago police officers to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deport Chicagoans during the Trump administration, vowed to protect undocumented Chicagoans.
"Undocumented Chicagoans," writes taxpayer-funded PBS. Mayor Johnson cheered the outcome, crowing about how a "broad coalition beat back an ordinance that quite frankly was just stoking the flames of fear.” The fears of illegal immigrant criminals have been generously allayed. The fears of their victims? Unimportant, illegitimate, and probably bigoted, according to the people who run Chicago. Victims of crime and violence at the hands of perpetrators with no legal right to be in the country are to be considered collateral damage, sacrificed at the altar of "equity," "justice," and "inclusion." These are the clear priorities. They don't even try to pretend otherwise.
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