It’s rare to see an article like this, because it actually mentions the victims (like 21-year-old Steven Rand Rouvet) of unlicensed drivers, who are often drunk illegal aliens.

COLUMBIA—Recent accidents, some involving illegal immigrants, have captured the attention of the community and have lawmakers talking about what to do about unlicensed drivers.

From 2001 to 2005, 807 fatal accidents in South Carolina are believed to have involved unlicensed drivers, according to AAA Carolinas. It’s unclear how many of those accidents were caused by illegal immigrants.

Regardless of the reasons they don’t have licenses, unlicensed drivers are among the greatest safety threats on the highways, said Carol Gifford, public relations manager for AAA Carolinas, which released the “Unlicensed to Kill” study [PDF] in March. [...]

Earlier this month, Smokey Bones bartender Steven Rand Rouvet, 21, was killed in an early-morning hit-and-run crash near North Charleston. Four days later, Highway Patrol troopers charged Jesus Magana, an illegal immigrant with no driver’s license, with leaving the scene of an accident involving a death.[Human cost of unlicensed drivers | Growing list of South Carolinians killed by unlicensed drivers, some illegal immigrants, fuels debate for tougher laws ,By Noah Haglund and Yvonne Wenger Charleston The Post and Courier Monday, June 16, 2008 ]

One of the crime victims remembered was Joyce Dargan, killed near her home.

Myrtle Beach, Oct. 13, 2005:

Joyce Dargan, 57, was hit and killed when she walked to her mailbox in Restaurant Row, The Myrtle Beach Sun News reported. Authorities said two teen boys were racing their cars when one swerved off the road and struck Dargan. The boys, 14 and 15 at the time, were sentenced to up to six years in juvenile prison. Both were illegal immigrants who later could be deported. The boy whose car struck Dargan had been stopped for traffic violations twice in the six weeks before her death.

I included her in a poster I created a couple years ago, partially because I thought it was outrageous that border anarchy has made going the the mailbox a dangerous activity.

On Wednesday, June 18, there’ll be a meeting at the Cato Institute, a subsidiary of the Open Borders Lobby ™,  to promote Jason Riley’s new book, Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders ,

In a provocative new book, Jason Riley makes the case for welcoming more legal immigrants to the United States. Drawing on history, scholarly studies and first-hand reporting, Riley argues that today’s newcomers are fueling America’s prosperity and dynamism. He challenges the prevailing views on talk radio and cable TV that immigrants are overpopulating the country, stealing jobs, depressing wages, bankrupting social services, filling prisons, resisting assimilation and promoting big government. Comments will be provided by one of the nation’s leading political analysts.[BOOK FORUM Wednesday, June 18, 2008 12:00 PM  ]

And if you’re wondering which of the nation’s leading political analysts will be providing the commentary, it’s our old friend Michael Barone, also an Open Borders™ fan, presumably providing disinterested commentary, while Daniel Griswold of Cato will be “moderating” on behalf of Cato. So with the Wall Street Journal’s Riley, Barone, and Daniel Griswold all on the same stage, don’t expect a spirited debate.However, any of our readers who are in the Washington area might want to attend and ask a polite, but pointed, question or two.

This item should be a cautionary tale about overpopulating the ranks of foreign workers, particularly the annoying illegal ones. When the economy tanks, they take up crime because they want to maintain their American lifestyles.

And a police officer says so, not your humble correspondent.

But hey, they’re only doing it to feed their families, so there’s no problema, right?

A wave of burglaries is spreading across the Washington area, and police say illegal immigrants, hit by police crackdowns and the drop in new construction, are likely playing a key role.

“The immigrant community is at a tipping point,” said Montgomery County police community liaison Officer Luis Hurtado. “The poor economy is pushing more immigrants to turn to crime.”

In the first five months of this year, burglaries climbed 10 to 20 percent in many jurisdictions.

The District of Columbia had the greatest increase, jumping 20 percent from 1,370 in the first five months of 2007 to 1,638 for the same period this year.

Montgomery County police said they’ve averaged 288 burglaries a month for the first five months of this year, up 23 per month, or nearly 10 percent, from last year. [...]

Crime experts have mixed opinions on the role illegal immigrants play when it comes to breaking the law. Criminologists either believe illegals are more prone to criminal behavior because they’ve already broken one law upon entering the country, or they will more likely keep their hands clean, fearing deportation.
[Washington-area police report wave of burglaries, cite illegal immigrants, By Freeman Klopott, San Francisco Examiner, June 16, 2008]

I spoke with a former prosecutor last week who is not involved with this issue, and he said in his experience in North Carolina, once the psychological line of committing a crime had been crossed, more wrongdoing often followed. In for a dime, in for a dollar, as they say.

Furthermore, VDARE.com’s Steve Sailer prognosticated in 2006 about future foreign felons: Is there a post-Housing Bubble illegal immigrant crime wave coming?

Apparently the answer is “Yes.”

As if detaching Jim Webb from the Republican Party was not bad enough, it is increasingly looking as if part of the catastrophic GWB legacy is going to be splintering the GOP lock on the South.

Bob Conley, a Democratic newcomer to South Carolina politics, will take on Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in November after a recount Monday gave Conley a narrow victory over a primary opponent.
Conley, a North Myrtle Beach engineer, said he is a former Republican who became a Democrat out of frustration with trade and immigration policies and the Iraq invasion. He contends conservative positions on social policies are not owned solely by Republicans and opposes abortion rights and gay marriage.

US Senate primary recount: Conley to face Graham AP June 16 2008

The despicable Lindsay Graham won re-nomination for the Republicans over a far better, but woefully under funded man, Buddy Witherspoon

who challenged Graham’s support of a failed measure aimed at reforming illegal immigration laws

Naturally, arrogance rules the day in the Graham camp, as they move to become as mainstream Democrat as possible:

The single-term incumbent signaled he wasn’t concerned about Conley making immigration a campaign issue in the fall.
Graham “will aggressively seek the support of Republicans, independents and Democrats… said Scott Farmer, Graham’s campaign manager

The Democratic grip on Southern Senate seats was broken in the ‘70s and ‘80s as voters realized their representatives had been co-opted by the Washington Establishment and were quietly betraying their interests. Those Senators thought their constituents would never notice, or did not care about issues.

They were wrong.

Now, it seems, the Stupid Party is letting it happen again.

And the issue this time is immigration.