In a Monday editorial, the Post argued for the expansion in Colorado of Secure Communities, a program it credits for helping the feds set a new record for the number of illegal immigrants deported in a single year. As we reported last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement racked up 392,000 deportations nationwide.
Still, the Post conceded that Secure Communities is no panacea, as it stressed in this passage:
For example, an illegal immigrant last week was involved in a high-speed crash that killed a popular Community College of Denver professor, Yvonne Frye. Despite several prior arrests and convictions for lesser crimes, Jose Nevarez-Coronado apparently never raised suspicion regarding his illegal status.Brought here by his parents as a child, Nevarez-Coronado spoke English so well that officers appear to have believed he was a legal resident, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation spokesman Lance Clem. Secure Communities likely wouldn't have flagged Nevarez-Coronado, Clem tells us, because its database only contains the fingerprints of those immigrants here on a visa and those illegals who have been identified by ICE.
An interesting point -- or it would have been, if true. Today, the following correction appeared in the Post:
Because of a source error, an editorial in Monday's paper incorrectly stated the immigration status of Jose Nevarez-Coronado, who was arrested after a car wreck that killed Community College of Denver professor Yvonne Frye. Nevarez-Coronado was born in Albuquerque and is in the country legally, according to the Denver Sheriff Department.
At this writing, this paragraph has not been affixed to the online version of the editorial cited above. But it does serve as a reminder that, unfortunately, America has no problem growing its own (alleged) drunk drivers.
Page down to read the Denver District Attorney's Office release about charges against Nevarez-Coronado, and to see a larger photo of the man accused of causing Frye's death:
Denver District Attorney's Office release:MAN CHARGED IN FATAL CRASHDenver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey has formally charged a man in connection with a fatal car crash last Wednesday that killed Community College of Denver professor Yvonne Frye.
Jose Nevarez-Coronado (DOB: 07-12-90) is charged with vehicular homicide-DUI (F3) and vehicular homicide-reckless (F4).
The charges allege that in the early morning hours of October 6, 2010, Nevarez-Coronado was driving drunk, travelling northbound on Colorado Boulevard at a high rate of speed. The charges further allege he struck a Toyota Corolla driven by 62-year-old Yvonne Frye at the intersection of 14th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. Frye was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nevarez-Coronado remains in custody in the Denver Detention Center; his bond is set at $100,000. He is scheduled to appear in Denver County Courtroom 2100 on October 13, 2010, at 10:30 a.m. to be formally advised of the charges.
