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Monday, April 16, 2007
Should I have called police in a case involving a suspected illegal immigrant?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I had a fender bender last week.
The other guy didn’t see me, and he merged into the right side of my car on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Duluth, just before Northwoods Lake Apartments.
My first thought was about how much of a pain in the neck this was going to be. Little did I realize…
The guy got out of his car, went to inspect my damage, then waited for me to get out. “I’ll give you $100 for the damage,” were the first words out of his mouth. He had a Spanish accent. Soon he was up to $200, this before I could look at my car. I knew that wasn’t going to be enough. He didn’t want me to call police. He kept saying “God will bless you. Please sir,” as he put his arm around my shoulder.
He was nice, friendly, non-threatening. I suspected, though, that he was in this country illegally.
I called the city of Duluth Police Department to report the accident. My “friend” got a ticket for not having a driver’s license and for failure to maintain lane. He had a Mexican consular card, which is issued by Mexico to identify him as a citizen, and proof of insurance. I called my insurance company, which began to process the claim, and that’s where we stand right now.
I asked Kevin Mooney, a defense lawyer who has experience with traffic violations, what kind of problems my “friend” might have.
Mooney tells me that only the federal government can investigate immigration status, not state, county or local police. Maj. Don Woodruff, Duluth police spokesman, confirmed that.
(This would explain why I didn’t hear the officer ask the driver any immigration-related questions.)
Not having a driver’s license is a simple misdemeanor. All misdemeanor traffic violations carry a maximum one year in jail and a maximum $1000 fine, Mooney said, but added that, in his experience, a fine for an accident without injury is pretty standard.
My “friend” would have spent at least 48 hours in jail had he been driving on a suspended license, but not having a driver’s license at all is little more than a fine. Some counties in the state of Georgia will not let you get a car tag without a driver’s license. Gwinnett is not one of those counties, Mooney said.
I called my mom when I got into the office to let her know what happened and that I was all right. She sighed. “Were you tempted not to call the police?” she asked.
“I hated to do it. He seemed like a nice guy. But I’m still making payments on the car, and it’s illegal not to call them.”
“Isn’t it sad,” she said, “that you feel guilty for doing nothing wrong?”
I felt that way at first. Any other time would have been no problem. Call the insurance company, fix the car, and move on.
If he was illegal, and I don’t know whether or not he was, it creates a dilemma. This is a hazard of illegal immigration.
Somebody has to decide whether or not to deny health care to a child whose parents are here illegally. Somebody has to decide whether or not to teach English to a child whose parents don’t have green cards. And somebody, like me, has to feel bad for starting a world of problems over a simple accident.
After learning about the laws (or lack thereof) I felt angry with him for putting me in this situation. It isn’t easy to say “He has no one to blame but himself.” But if he is here illegally, that’s what I’d say.
Now I wonder why I, as a citizen, try so hard to do things by the book when it can be so easy for others who aren’t to get away with so much.
How do you feel? Did I do the right thing? Am I wrong to feel bad?
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