Michigan State Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) has recently voiced strong criticisms about the current state of immigration policies, highlighting the national impact of illegal immigration and its implications for local communities.
Carra's concerns are compounded by troubling reports of violent crimes allegedly linked to illegal immigrants. He referenced a disturbing case currently under investigation in his community, where an illegal immigrant is suspected of committing severe crimes.
“There's a couple of scenarios—not a conviction yet—but there is a scenario where it's believed that it was an illegal immigrant who raped a couple of adolescent girls in my community,” Carra told Federal Newswire. “And then the illegal immigrant, I believe, lived in Indiana just across the border and came up into Sturgis and did that. Now that's something that is still working through the court process, but that's what it's looking like by this point. And so people who say that there is no crime happening from it.”
Carra also criticized the role of cartels and traffickers in exacerbating the immigration crisis. He noted how these criminal organizations benefit from the illegal immigration system.
“As for the cartels, for example, they like illegal immigration because people are coming across legally and their services aren't needed,” Carra said. “When people need assistance with how to work through the process, they hire coyotes, and sometimes there are scenarios where people are coerced into moving to America. They’re threatened by actors in other countries, saying, 'You are going to move to America and you are going to pay us to move you to America, or else we're going to kill your uncle.' That type of threat and coercion, and manipulating people to move to America, then living off the taxpayer dime here, only further profits bad actors in other countries at the expense of the American taxpayer.”
An advocate of legal immigration, Carra suggested easing the way for legal immigrants.
“It's completely backwards right now. It should not take five years on average to come over the correct way,” Carra said. “And if we were able to make that process easier, that's the American dream. Come over, work hard to buy it for yourself and your family. And that’s what our country was founded on.”
Carra also expressed frustration over the perception that illegal immigrants are receiving undue benefits, such as accommodations and financial assistance funded by taxpayers, while legal immigration processes remain cumbersome.
“This idea of giving free handouts to people who don't obey the laws is completely backwards,” he said.
Carra called for comprehensive immigration reform to address both the legal and illegal aspects of immigration.
“Compelling taxpayers to fund an operation that’s only furthering bad actors in other countries is just completely asinine,” Carra said.
According to KTSA-TV, drug cartels are increasingly using social media to recruit American teens for drug and human smuggling operations, with law enforcement in certain areas apprehending over one hundred juveniles involved in smuggling activities in the past 18 months.
Cartels entice these recruits with promises of financial rewards, leading them to drive vehicles for smuggling operations.
Recent legislation targeting human smuggling has resulted in numerous arrests, with many suspects being American citizens. The dangerous high-speed pursuits and violent confrontations with law enforcement highlight the severe risks and challenges posed by this illicit activity.
Carra’s comments come as 10.5 million illegal immigrants reside in the country, many of whom have entered the country in the past few years.
The number of illegal immigrants residing in Michigan is projected to be 91,000.
Former President Donald Trump visited Grand Rapids earlier this year, describing the border crisis as the number one issue affecting the country. Trump discussed a murder case involving an illegal immigrant, Brandon Ortiz-Vite, to emphasize his call for stricter border security policies.
Ortiz-Vite, who was previously deported to Mexico in September 2020, was charged with the murder of Ruby Garcia, a 25-year-old Grand Rapids woman earlier this year.
Ortiz-Vite, a Mexican national, unlawfully re-entered the U.S. and allegedly killed Garcia on March 22, leaving her body on the shoulder of U.S. 131.
