Sunday marks the 11th annual National Remembrance Day for Americans Killed by Illegal Aliens. It is a day upon which we honor and remember those Americans who did not perish in a foreign war, though they did die violently. You might say…they died in a different kind of war.
National Remembrance Day was conceived by the Tea Party Immigration Coalition (TPIC). 11 years ago, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) announced his sponsorship of a resolution making the first Sunday of every November the day we acknowledge and remember those Americans killed by illegal aliens.
On November 3, 2011, Rep. King stood just outside the Capitol building with Congressman Walter Jones and activists Jeff Lewis and TPIC founder John Stahl, alongside Jamiel Shaw Sr. and Ray Tranchant (who both lost their children to the reckless and even murderous actions of illegal aliens) and said:
These are real human stories, there’s real pain and real agony going on a daily basis in the United States of America, and we treat it as if it’s just some kind of tolerable interruption of our lives. It’s not. It’s an interruption of innocent lives that takes place because we have an administration that refuses to enforce immigration law.
For far too long, we have sat by and watched as our fellow citizens die every year at the hands of illegal aliens, while our elected officials simply ignore the ever-growing crisis.
For those lost, there are no wreath-laying ceremonies, no twenty-one gun salutes nor community gatherings.
Those who are left behind truly suffer in silence.
The following are only a few of the stories, which illustrate the human cost of illegal immigration:
-Victim: Oregon State Trooper Bret Clodfelter, 34
On Sept. 30, 1992, Trooper Bret Clodfelter stopped a suspected drunk driver who turned out to be an illegal alien named Francisco Manzo-Hernandez. The drunken driver was traveling with two of his fellow invaders. Trooper Clodfelter handcuffed the driver and placed him in the back seat of his cruiser.
As all of the men were drunk, the state trooper offered to drive the two passengers home. For his kindness, Clodfelter was shot in the head four times. All three fled the scene and were captured a few days later.
Trooper Clodfelter served with the Oregon State Police for eight years and left behind a wife, son, and daughter. A further tragedy took place a year after the trooper’s murder, when his wife, Rene, took her own life.
-Victim: Phoenix Police Officer Marc Atkinson, 28
On March 26, 1999, Officer Atkinson was shot and killed by illegal alien Felipe Petrona-Cabana. Officer Anderson was ambushed by Cabana while on routine patrol. Cabana was traveling with two other illegal aliens and carrying a pound of cocaine. An armed citizen named Rory Vertigan witnessed the shooting and helped capture the outlaws.
Officer Atkinson served on the Phoenix Police Department for five years. He left behind a wife and an infant son.
-Victim: Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy David March, 33
On April 29, 2002, Deputy March was shot to death by Mexican national Armondo Garcia. Invader Garcia told friends that he wanted to kill a police officer. Garcia saw Deputy March on patrol one evening and pulled over and waited for March to drive past him. As soon as March began to pass, Garcia opened fire. Garcia fled back across the border after murdering March.
For four years, the government of Mexico refused to apprehend or extradite Garcia. In February 2006, U.S. Customs officers arrested Garcia in Mexico. Garcia pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
Deputy March served with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for seven years and left behind a wife and stepdaughter.
-Victim: Officer Tony Zeppetella, Oceanside Police Department
On June 13, 2003, previously deported gang member Adrian Camacho shot Officer Zeppetella 13 times during a routine traffic stop. Camacho received the death penalty for the murder.
Officer Zeppetella, 27, had been on the job for only one year when he was killed, and left behind a wife and a 6-month-old son.
-Victim: Deputy Brandy Lyn Winfield, Marion County Sheriff’s Department
On October 14, 2004, Dep. Winfield was called to investigate a disabled vehicle, and had stopped to talk to two men on the side of the road. One of the men, Juan Carlos Cruz, shot and killed him. Cruz, who pleaded guilty to the murder, has never expressed any remorse for his actions.
Deputy Winfield, 29, left behind a wife and two children.
-Victim: Detective Donald Young, Denver Police Department
On May 8, 2005, Det. Young was working at an event hall when he was shot to death in an unprovoked attack by Raul Garcia-Gomez.
The Mexican national had already been arrested three times when he murdered Det. Young, but because of Denver’s ‘sanctuary policy’ he was never reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Garcia-Gomez actually worked in a restaurant owned by former Denver Mayor Hickenlooper, who has been a longtime champion of sanctuary policies.
Det. Young, 43, left behind a wife and three children.
-Victim: Officer Gregory Bailey, California Highway Patrol
On February 25, 2006, while performing a routine traffic stop, Officer Bailey was hit and killed by Domingo Esqueda. Esqueda’s BAC was three times the legal limit.
Officer Bailey, 36, was also a member of the California National Guard and had just returned from Iraq when he was killed. He left behind a wife and four children.
-Victim: Deputy Brian Tephord, Broward County Sheriff’s Department
On November 12, 2006, Dep. Tephord made a routine traffic stop. While sitting in his patrol car, running the suspects’ information, Bahamian nationals Andre Delancey and Bernard Forbes opened fire on him. Dep. Tehord was taken to the hospital, where he died an hour later.
Delancey had been arrested in 2004 on gun charges and should have been deported, but was allowed to remain in the United States.
Dep. Tephord, 34 left behind a wife and three young children.
-Victim: Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson, 40
On September 21, 2006, Officer Johnson was shot and killed while making a routine traffic stop. The man who murdered Ofc. Johnson was a Mexican national who had been deported seven years earlier. However, President Bush’s refusal to defend the Mexican border allowed this human predator to easily re-enter the United States and eventually turn this police officer’s wife into a widow.
Officer Johnson stopped a commercial vehicle traveling 20 miles over the posted speed limit. The truck was driven by Juan Leonardo Quintero. A co-worker and Quintero’s two stepdaughters were also in the vehicle.
When Quintero was unable to provide any form of identification, Ofc. Johnson handcuffed him and placed him in the backseat of his patrol car. Once the officer was seated behind the wheel again, Quintero, though handcuffed, removed the 9mm handgun concealed in his waistband and began firing at Johnson through the plastic shield separating the front and back seats. Ofc. Johnson was shot in the head five times. He was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to a local hospital.
Officer Johnson was a 12-year veteran of the Houston Police Department and a U.S. Army veteran. While serving on the HPD, Johnson received two Lifesaving Awards. He left behind his wife Joslyn (also a police officer) and five children.
-Victim: Deputy Loren Lily, Cobb County Sheriff’s Department
On December 31, 2006, illegal alien Joel Camacho Perea drove into Dep. Lily’s path on Powder Springs Rd., hitting and killing him. Perea then fled the scene; he was later captured and charged with hit-and-run and vehicular homicide.
Dep. Lily, 41, who was an 18-year veteran of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Dept. had only been married to his wife Jamie for four months when he was killed. He left behind his wife and two godchildren.
-Victims: Tessa Tranchant, 16, and Allison Kunhardt, 17
On March 30, 2007, in Virginia Beach, Va., a Mexican national named Alfredo Ramos slammed into the rear of a vehicle in which Allison Kuhnhardt and Tessa Tranchant were stopped, while waiting at a red light. Ramos, 22, was traveling at a high rate of speed and was drunk at the time. He actually had nearly a .20 blood-alcohol level and could barely see the police officers in front of him. The two high school students had to be cut from their crumpled car and both later died after being taken to the hospital. Ramos suffered only a busted lip.
Though an illegal alien, Alfredo Ramos had been living in Virginia Beach for quite a while and worked at a local Mexican restaurant known as Mi Casita. Ramos had been previously convicted of three separate charges of public intoxication, identity theft, and even a DUI, but continued to live in the area. He speaks only Spanish and required an interpreter at all of his court proceedings.
Tessa Tranchant’s brother Dylan had only been home from Iraq for two weeks, when his sister was killed. Dylan was tasked with identifying his little sister’s body.
-Victim: Officer Vincent Owen D’Anna, Flint Police Department
On August 29, 2007, drunk-driving Mexican national Ramon Felix Pineda hit Officer D’Anna, who was riding his motorcycle off-duty. Pineda actually dragged Officer D’Anna, who was pinned under his car for some distance. Pineda jumped from his car and fled on foot, until he was apprehended by a citizen.
It was discovered that Pineda had been living in the United States for ten years.
Officer D’Anna was 26 years old.
-Victim: Officer Nick Erfle, Phoenix Police Department
On September 18, 2007, Officer Erfle stopped a group of men who were obstructing traffic. One of the men, Mexican national Erik Martinez, then shot and killed him.
Martinez had been deported in 2006 for theft charges, but was able to easily re-enter the United States.
Officer Erfle, 33, left behind a wife and two children.
-Victims: Emilee Olson, 9; Hunter Javens, 9; Jesse Javens, 13; and Reed Stevens, 12
In February 2008, four children were killed in Cottonwood, Minnesota, after their bus was hit by an illegal alien who ran a stop sign.
On a gloomy Tuesday morning, Mexican national Alianiss Nunez Morales went sailing past a stop sign on County Road 24, and right into a school bus carrying 28 Lakeview School students. The bus flipped over on its side, injuring several children and killing four.
In addition to the children who were killed, four others were hospitalized at Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Another child was transported to the Mayo Clinic.
Morales was arrested and charged with four counts of vehicular homicide as well as several misdemeanors. Apparently, she was not even licensed to drive in Mexico. Lt. Mark Peterson of the Minnesota State Patrol told reporters: “She (Morales) doesn’t have a drivers’ license anywhere that we’re aware of.”
Of course, that was not Morales’ first brush with the law. In 2006 she had pleaded guilty in a Chippewa County court to driving without a license.
Morales told police that she was on her way to work when she caused the fatal wreck. Despite her illegal status, she was employed by Norcraft Cabinetry in Eagan, Minn. The company’s website (norcraftcompanies.com) displays a section entitled “Code of Business Ethics and Conduct.” Within that section, the following statement is made: “All employees must respect and obey the laws of the cities, states, and countries in which we operate.”
That statement seems more than a bit hypocritical coming from a company which hires illegal aliens!
-Victim: Mackenzie Maddox, 6
In June 2008, Mackenzie was hit and killed while crossing the street in a suburb of Milwaukee. The man behind the wheel was previously deported Mexican national Jose Rodriguez.
As the little girl and her mother crossed the street at S. 84th St. and W. Cleveland Ave. in West Allis, WI, the car driven by Rodriguez came speeding through the intersection, striking both the little girl and her mother Andrea. Mackenzie died at the scene and her mother was taken to Froedtert Hospital; her mother survived her injuries.
Rodriguez, worked for an Oak Creek waterproofing business.
Only four months before the homicide, Rodriguez, who had four prior convictions, including a DUI, was identified by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as being in the country illegally and deported to Mexico.
-Victims: Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16
In San Francisco, on June 22, 2008, three members of the Bologna family were gunned down by Salvadoran national and gang member Edwin Ramos. Tony Bologna and his sons Michael, and Matthew were shot to death by Ramos as they sat in their car on a crowded street, in the city´s Excelsior District.
Ramos, who is a member of the notoriously violent drug gang known as MS-13, shot the Bologna family to death because Tony Bologna had temporarily blocked the car in which Ramos was traveling, as the two cars made their way through an intersection. The Bologna men were returning home from a family barbecue.
As a juvenile, Ramos had committed felony attempted robbery and assault.
Shortly after the shooting, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, Juvenile Probation Department officials did not report Ramos to federal immigration authorities for possible deportation because of San Francisco´s stated sanctuary policy.
-Victim: Officer Gary Gryder, Houston Police Department
On June 29, 2008, Officer Gryder was working traffic control when drunken Vietnamese national Hing Trong crashed through a construction barrier and ran him over. Officer Gryder was taken to the hospital, where he later died of his injuries.
Several witnesses claimed that Trong was laughing as he was taken into custody.
Officer Gryder was a 23-year veteran of the Houston Police Dept. and left behind a wife and three children.
-Victim: Officer Andrew Widman, Fort Myers Police Department
On July 18, 2008, Officer Widman responded to a domestic disturbance call at a local convenience store, when Cuban national Abel Arango turned on Officer Widman and shot him to death.
The illegal alien, who was then shot and killed by other officers, had actually been ordered to be deported in 2000.
Officer Widman, 30, left behind a wife and three children.
-Victim: Marten Kudlis, 3
On September 4, 2008, 3-year-old Marten sat playing at a table in an Aurora, CO Baskin and Robbins ice cream shop. His mother, Enely, was a few feet away, at the counter, waiting for her son’s ice cream.
Neither could have known that everything was about to change.
An SUV speeding through the intersection of Havana and Mississippi, with Guatemalan national Francis Hernandez at the wheel, slammed into a pickup truck, which was then pushed into the ice cream shop´s window. The toddler was sitting in front of that window, and was sent flying as the truck came crashing through it.
Witnesses reported hearing Marten’s mother screaming: “Where is my son…Where is my son?”
According to police, Hernandez was driving 80 mph in a 40 mph zone.
Marten was taken to the hospital, but died a short time later due to massive internal injuries.
The two women in the pickup truck struck by Hernandez were Patricia Guntharp, 49, and Debra Serecky, 51. They were both pronounced dead at the scene.
After the crash, Hernandez jumped from his Chevy Suburban and ran to a Hooters restaurant. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
-Victim: Dean Knospe, 71
On January 22, 2009, Mexican national Eulalio Haro was convicted in the 2006 hit and run death of Mr. Knospe. Haro, who was driving under the influence, hit Knospe, who was riding his motorcycle, and drove away, leaving him to die on the road.
Haro had been previously deported after serving a prison sentence for another crash in 1993, but re-entered the country illegally.
-Victims: Lori Donohue and her daughter Kayla, 8
On June 8, 2009, Donohue and her daughter were walking through the parking lot at the Seven Stars School of Performing Arts, in Brewster, NY where Kayla had just finished a dance class, when they were killed by a drunk-driving illegal alien.
Guatemalan national Zacaria Conces-Garcia, 35, who had a blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit, lost control of his Ford F-350 pick-up truck and came speeding through the parking lot, hitting both Lori and Kayla.
Little Kayla died at the scene, while her mother died later at Westchester Medical center. Conces-Garica was charged with vehicular homicide.
Lori and Kayla were buried together in the same casket. Andrew Guzi, funeral director at Beecher Funeral Home said: “The family said they wanted Kayla to be wrapped in her mother’s arms.”
-Victim: Darness Brown, 10
On December 7, 2009, Boynton Beach police arrested Leticia Flores, 28, for the hit-and-run killing of 10-year-old Darness Brown. The girl’s 13-year-old sister, Darneisha Ellis, was also injured when Flores allegedly hit their scooter.
Boynton Beach police spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said the girls were riding their scooter on Southwest Ninth Avenue at Southwest Third Street when Flores hit them with her Honda SUV.
In what had to be a sickening scene, Darneisha told the police that as her sister was dying next to her, Flores jumped out of her vehicle and screamed at the two girls for being on the street; she then fled the scene.
The girl’s story was supported by an eyewitness. Jessica Thomas, 24, told police she ran outside when she heard the crash. The affidavit claims: “Once outside, she observed the driver of the vehicle standing outside staring at the injured pedestrian. Thomas then stated that the driver (Flores) got into her vehicle and fled the scene.”
Police caught up to Flores as she pulled into a convenience store parking lot. She told the arresting officers that she left the accident scene because there were other people who had come to the girls’ aid. She also said that she ran because she had no drivers license.
A good Samaritan performed CPR on the little girl until paramedics arrived. However, having sustained severe internal damage, she died shortly after arriving at Delray Medical Center.
-Victim: Millard County Deputy Josie Fox, 37
On January 5, 2010, Deputy Fox pulled over the 1995 Cadillac Deville being driven by Roberto Miramontes Roman on U.S. Highway 50. Detectives say that during the stop, Ramon shot Fox slightly above her bullet-proof vest.
The following day, acting on a tip from a homeowner, sheriff’s deputies in Beaver County, UT, burst into a shed where Mexican nationals Roberto Miramontes Roman and Ruben Chavez Reyes (the passenger) were sleeping, and took both men into custody without incident.
Roman, 37, was charged with capital murder, as well as tampering with evidence, and faces the death penalty if convicted.
Among other offenses, Roman has been caught twice in the past for re-entering this country illegally, the last such arrest and prosecution coming in 2005.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Roman entered the country legally in 1990, but because of numerous criminal convictions, was deported in 1998. Roman is a convicted drug dealer. A witness who cooperated with the investigation, claimed that he bought drugs from Roman a few hours before he murdered Deputy Fox.
Deputy Josie Fox, 37, served with the Millard County Sheriff’s Office for five years. She left behind a husband and two children.
-Victim: Kendrick Owens, 13
On March 8, 2010, Kendrick was walking with a friend along the road in New Caney, TX, when police say the 1998 Dodge Dakota driven by Javier Correa, 28, struck and killed him.
Correa sped away from the scene, and drove to his nearby home. A tow truck driver who saw him hit Owens, followed Correa and alerted police to his location. A few minutes later, Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers arrived and took him into custody.
Correa was convicted of intoxication manslaughter, and failure to stop and render aid.
According to police, several drivers called 911 to report Correa’s reckless driving shortly before he hit the Keefer Crossing Middle School student.
Court records show that Correa, had a prior DWI conviction in 2005, as well as a previous conviction for assault causing bodily injury in 2000.
-Victim: Rob Krentz, 58
On March 27, 2010, Arizona rancher Rob Krentz was shot to death near a watering hole on his 35,000-acre ranch. The lifeless body of his faithful dog, also shot to death, was lying beside him.
The man who had worked his family’s century-old ranch all of his life, and often provided assistance to those in need of food and water, even though they were illegal aliens, and even though they were trespassing on his property, was taken from his family and friends by one of those illegal aliens.
What follows is a short list of ideas on how you can honor the fallen:
• Fly your American flag at half-staff in front of your home or business.
• Gather with neighbors, family, and friends in the town square, in front of city hall, or in a park for a candlelight vigil.
• If you know a family who has lost someone at the hands of an illegal alien, reach out to them and let them know they are not alone.
• If you are able to attend church services, say a prayer for the victims as well as for their grieving families and ask your fellow parishioners to do the same.
• Place a candle in a window at dusk.
• Take a few moments to email your Congressman and Senators and remind them that the crimes committed by illegal aliens could be easily prevented, if only our government would defend the border and enforce immigration laws.
In 2020, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation declaring the first Sunday of every November, “National Day Of Remembrance For Americans Killed By Illegal Aliens.”
May the families and friends of the fallen, suffer in silence no more…
