The man who was recently accused of attacking his wife with a chainsaw in front of their young children has sparked another debate about immigration after it was revealed he has been deported to his home country of Mexico 11 times since 2005.
Alejandro Alvarez-Villegas of Whittier, 32, faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated mayhem, driving or taking a vehicle without consent, hit-and-run driving resulting in property damage and three counts of child abuse. He is expected to be arraigned July 25 at Norwalk Superior Court.
A recent Orange County Register article points out just how many Americans believe crime increases are affiliated with illegal immigrants.
Supporters of the proposed border wall between Mexico and the U.S. are pointing to the U.S. immigration system and looking at this case as another failure in a system that is in need of repair.
“We have plenty of our own homegrown criminals. And we don’t need foreign nationals joining in, so it does matter, especially for family members who lost loved ones at the hands of someone here illegally,” said Robin Hvidston, of the Claremont-based We the People Rising, a group against illegal immigration.
Others are coming to the defense of immigrants, saying that crime in America is not just reduced to the people who flood the country illegally every year.
“It’s a horrible crime committed by someone who needs to be in jail, but it doesn’t represent the proven contributions of millions and millions of immigrants,” said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
An immigration detainer has been lodged against Alvarez-Villegas, which means that once he is eligible to be released from jail, federal agents can pick him up and take him into immigration custody.