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Illegals gang rape New York woman
This is a partial transcript from The O'Reilly Factor, January 3, 2003.
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the Personal Story segment tonight, the terrible rape of a 42-year-old woman allegedly by five illegal aliens in New York City.
As we told you at the top of the broadcast, Executive Order 124 signed into law by New York City Mayor Koch in 1989 does not require city workers to inform the INS when an illegal immigrant is suspected of criminal activity.
Thus, four of the five suspects had prior arrests. Two were convicted of fairly serious crimes. But they were all allowed to roam around the city. They were homeless. They were living in the woods.
The question: Are Mayors Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani, and now Bloomberg partially responsible for crimes committed by aliens in the city?
With us now in the studio is Melanie Lefkowitz, a reporter for Newsday, and, from Los Angeles, which has a similar policy of not alerting the INS, Ira Mehlman, the media director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
First, we'll start with you, Ms. Lefkowitz. This woman -- Hispanic woman, 42 years old, divorced, right? Kids?
MELANIE LEFKOWITZ, NEWSDAY REPORTER: Two kids.
O'REILLY: Two kids. Two children under her charge. Was out sitting on a bench with a boyfriend. Take it from there.
LEFKOWITZ: They're on the bench. It's not that late. It's about 10 minutes to 10:00. It's in the concourse between the Long Island Railroad station and where the tennis championships are held.
These men attacked them. They can't remember how many men. Five to seven men start beating them, robbing them. The woman is yelling, "Help!" And her boyfriend's yelling for her to run.
Instead, they drag the woman down the stairs at the Long Island Railroad station, kicking her and beating her as they push her down the stairs.
Once in there, they pull her down to the end of the platform, down into where they'd been living. It's described as a shantytown...
O'REILLY: Right. In the weeds. In the...
LEFKOWITZ: In the...
O'REILLY: ... tall weeds.
LEFKOWITZ: A really disgusting place, apparently...
O'REILLY: Right.
LEFKOWITZ: ... with lean-tos and garbage around.
They bring her into one of these huts, to the mattress, and, apparently, at least five of them take turns raping her for...
O'REILLY: Right. And she was saved miraculously, I understand. The boyfriend got away, called 911. The cops came with police dogs, right?
LEFKOWITZ: One police dog, yes. It did take a long time for them to find her. It took them about two-and-a-half hours, but the police dog sniffed them out.
O'REILLY: All right. And, apparently, the woman said they were going to kill her, right?
LEFKOWITZ: They told her they were going to kill her and dump her body somewhere where somebody would never find it.
O'REILLY: Because she saw them, she could identify them. So this woman was saved at the last moment.
Now, you as a woman -- I mean, this is about the worst crime short of murder that you can commit against a woman, correct?
LEFKOWITZ: It's pretty horrendous.
O'REILLY: Right. You'll never forget it. You're brutalized forever. Your life changes. You've got two small children.
The illegal alien component here -- does that surprise you as a reporter?
LEFKOWITZ: I mean, I don't really get into that. It doesn't surprise me or not surprise me. I think, by the time these guys get out of prison, it won't be much of an issue with it whether they're going to...
O'REILLY: No, but the issue is why were they here when they were in the system in the first place? They were in the criminal system. At least four of the five. We think all five were. And, if they're illegals, they should have been deported immediately, I believe.
Mr. Mehlman, how do you see this case?
IRA MEHLMAN, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM: Well, this is hardly unusual. This happens all over the country.
Our politicians have made an affirmative decision not to enforce our immigration laws. This is both the federal government and state and local governments. They have decided that there are other priorities.
And, if the American public has to put up with crime or, even worse, terrorism, that's a price that we're just going to have to pay so that we can continue to have the subsidized labor and all the other things that special interests want out of illegal immigration.
And we have -- all over the country, you have policies in place that forbid local government agents from informing the INS when they come in contact with somebody who they have reason to believe is here illegally, and that's what makes it so easy.
O'REILLY: OK.
MEHLMAN: That's why we have 10-million people living here illegally.
O'REILLY: At least 10 million. Maybe 13 million.
Now this Executive Order 124 in New York City -- this is nebulous in the sense of criminal activity. If an illegal alien goes in for city service, the city worker is not allowed to call the INS.
So, if you go to the emergency room, the doctor can't pick up the phone and say I have an illegal alien here. We kind of understand that, in a humanitarian way. We -- you know, somebody needs food or something like that, you know, giving them the food and then calling the INS is pretty brutal. I understand that side of the story. However, when you're arrested and incarcerated and you still don't tell the INS, that I can't understand.
But I'm not sure whether this 124 -- and I've got to point out to the audience we asked Mayor Bloomberg at least 20 times to clarify this order. He will not do it. He will not say anything about it. He's a coward, as many of these people are, these politicians.
But do you know anything about this, whether they're forced not to tell the INS, or what -- what is the deal when an illegal is arrested?
MEHLMAN: Well, there is a federal law that says any law-enforcement officer can report this to the INS, but the problem is you get into the politics of local police departments. If you go against the order of your own police department, you're going to have hell to pay for it with your higher-ups, and it's probably going to put a damper on your career...
O'REILLY: Sure, but...
MEHLMAN: ... and so most...
O'REILLY: ... is that the order in Los Angeles, not to report it to the INS? Is that the order?
MEHLMAN: Yes. Special Order 40, which was passed by the city council in the late 1970s, specifically deals with the police department. It's separate from all the other social-service agencies. So cities like Los Angeles have policies in place that specifically prohibit the police departments from sharing information with the federal government.
O'REILLY: All right. Now "The New York Times" is reporting that's the same system we have in place in New York City.
However, we're not sure, based upon the wording of this, but there's no question that Mayors Koch, Giuliani, Dinkins, and now Bloomberg have encouraged city workers not to deal with the federal government when they cross an illegal. There is no question about that.
Now I said at the beginning of if program, Mr. Mehlman, that if I were the family member or a friend of this woman who was gang-raped, I would sue the city and name these four mayors. Am I wrong?
MEHLMAN: Absolutely -- this is negligence. You know, if a corporation was doing this to as many people as our faulty immigration policies are harming Americans, we would be suing these companies. We'd be putting them out of business.
But yet all across the country and at all levels of government -- this includes the federal, state, and local governors -- we have policies in place that protect illegal immigrants, that send the message that, if you can come into the United States, nothing is going to happen to you.
And then we find out that not only do we have workers coming into the country, but we have terrorists and we have criminals.
O'REILLY: Sure. And the amount of money that we...
See, my policy is, if you're illegal and you're here and you're arrested, you're deported the next day. That's it. You're deported. I don't care whether you're innocent, you're guilty. If you're here illegally, you've already violated our law. You're deported the next day. That's the sane policy. That's what should be in place.
This is all voter-driven, right? These politicians don't want to do this from President Bush on down because they want to curry favor with the immigration groups and the ethnic groups, correct?
MEHLMAN: It's special-interest driven. The vast majority of voters want our policies enforced. They want these people out of here as quickly as possible, the same as you do. But you have the ethnic politicians, as you pointed out, and you also have industries that have allowed themselves to get subsidized labor.
O'REILLY: Right.
MEHLMAN: They get cheap workers. They pass off all the costs to everybody else. So it's a handful of special interests that are holding the rest of us hostage and the safety of a lot of Americans hostage.
O'REILLY: No, they're not holding -- the special interests aren't holding us hostage. It's the politicians with the power who won't do anything about it that are absolutely responsible.
Now, Ms. Lefkowitz, you've checked out these perps. This Carlos Rodriguez, the leader of the gang -- the alleged leader of the gang -- he's a pretty rough customer. He would -- he dragged another woman into the cellar, didn't he?
LEFKOWITZ: Yes. He's the one in the gang?
O'REILLY: Yes.
LEFKOWITZ: Yes. Yes. He's a member of this Mexican gang, Knights of Destruction...
O'REILLY: Right.
LEFKOWITZ: ... and, apparently, he's got a long rap sheet. I don't know what his convictions are.
O'REILLY: Yes. He dragged -- this guy is a member of a Mexican gang, again here illegally. He dragged a woman into a basement, handcuffed her. He was convicted of this -- convicted of this -- and the INS doesn't know who he is. I mean, I am just appalled.
Mr. Mehlman, I'm going to give you the last word on this, but I think the situation here in New York with this gang rape of this woman happened for a reason, and I hate to say it because the poor woman is suffering, because it doesn't get any worse than this. It doesn't get any worse.
Yet we have four mayors, you know, here in New York that basically say, you know, if these guys commit crimes in our city, we're not going to tell the INS, we're not going to try to get rid of them, and I think something has got to be done.
MEHLMAN: Absolutely. And one of the things the federal government can do is start withholding funds from local governments that do not cooperate.
You know, all these governments show up in Washington with their hands out complaining about how much illegal immigration is costing them for services and all the other things. The federal government needs to tell these people that, if you don't cooperate, you're not getting any money from the feds.
O'REILLY: Yes. You don't think that's going to happen under President Bush, do you?
MEHLMAN: Probably not, but that's what should happen.
O'REILLY: OK.
Mr. Mehlman, thanks very much.
Ms. Lefkowitz, nice to see you. Appreciate it.
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