(The Center Square) – Another American has been killed, allegedly by a foreign national living in the country illegally.
Twelve days ago, 8-year-old Mora Gerety was struck by the driver of a pickup truck as she walked across an intersection five blocks from her middle school in Boise, Idaho.
On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released more details about the man who allegedly struck her: a Honduran national living illegally in the U.S. with an outstanding warrant.
On Nov. 11, Honduran Elvin Elgardo Ramos-Caballero was charged with a hit and run, authorities said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took him into custody on the same day.
He illegally entered the U.S. in September 2015 and was released into the country by the Obama administration, DHS said. After failing to appear to his immigration hearings, a federal immigration judge issued a final order of removal in absentia on May 9, 2016. He had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, ICE said.
Despite his active warrant, he received his driver’s license from “the sanctuary state of Oregon,” DHS said.
Since 2016, his removal order was never enforced under the Obama, Trump 45 or Biden administrations.
Ramos-Caballero was driving a pickup truck when he struck Gerety at the intersection of North Harrison Boulevard and West Ada Street, authorities said. Gerety attended Washington Elementary School, roughly five blocks from where she was struck. Paramedics rushed her to St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead after lifesaving measures were unsuccessful.
One local news outlet reported “the intersection does not have a marked crosswalk” and claimed residents suggested putting up crosswalk flags would improve public safety.
DHS argues public safety will improve after criminal foreign nationals are deported and taken off of U.S. streets they shouldn’t be driving on to begin with.
“8-year-old Mora Gerety’s precious life was taken by an illegal alien who should have never been in our country, let alone issued a driver's license by the sanctuary state of Oregon,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Mora Gerety’s classmates, teachers, friends, and our nation will carry this loss forever. We ask every American to lift this family up in prayer and we ask God to grant them the courage as they face the hardest days a family can endure. Decades of open border polices have turned every community into a border town. These policies have deadly consequences.”
The Department of Justice initially listed Boise as a Sanctuary City in May when it first identified city, county and state jurisdictions that weren’t cooperating with ICE. In an updated list in August, Boise was taken off.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean maintains Boise isn’t a sanctuary city and doesn’t have jurisdiction over the county jail. "To be clear – Boise is not a sanctuary city. Boise is, however, made so special by the vibrant and diverse communities that live here. We remain committed as ever to remaining a safe and welcoming city for everyone," she said in May when she opposed the designation.
A reviewby The Center Square has found that McLean has boasted about Boise being “a certified ‘Welcoming City’ for immigrants and refugees.”
“Certified Welcoming is a formal designation for cities and counties that have created policies and programs reflecting their values and commitment to immigrant inclusion,” given by the nonpartisan nonprofit organization, “Certified Welcoming,” The Center Square learned. The organization says it partners with 300 nonprofits and local governments working “to build more inclusive and welcoming communities in the United States.”
Its “Welcoming America” initiative first partnered with the Obama administration in 2014 to advance a strategic plan to “better integrate immigrants and refugees into American communities.”
So far, 36 cities and counties have received Welcoming City certifications, it says. Some receive multiple stars based on a rating system.
The organization clarifies that the certification is not the same as having sanctuary city status. Instead, it indicates that communities have “committed to adhering to inclusive policies and practices [in its] ‘Welcoming Standard,’” to build trust and relationships among law enforcement and the community and educate “immigrants about their rights and responsibilities under the law.”
The organization is tied to multiple open border organizations that promote “diversity, equity and inclusion” and “climate migration,” funded by billionaire George Soros and others. They claim to “fight against” state “anti-immigrant policies,” provide free legal services for asylum seekers, fund grants for cities and localities to “improve immigrant inclusion,” build local “resilience for resettlement infrastructure,” promote foreign workers obtaining a range of visas among multiple other programs and initiatives.
