Tsakumis on Deporting the Bad Guys

And speaking of violent immigrant vistors who will not be deported...

Here is the Friday 24 Hours column by Alex Tsakumis on the very issue:

To Hell with Speed Demons

By A. G. Tsakumis

'Rebel with a Clause'

Irene Thorpe didn’t have a hope.

On that fateful night in November of 2000, when she lost her life, she> couldn’t have possibly seen them coming. Taking her faithful dog out for a> walk was her last act, in a life apparently brimming with goodness.>> At almost 140 kms/hr, Bahndur Singh Bhalru and Sukhvir Singh Khosa fuelled> by the insanity of street-racing, tore up the road like there was nothing> there. When Mr. Khosa hit and killed Ms. Thorpe, there was nothing left.>> Nothing except the shattered lives of Ms. Thorpe’s family.>> In the ensuing seven years, while Mr. Bhalru was appropriately jettisoned> from these shores back to his homeland, Mr. Khosa, the man who killed Ms.> Thorpe, has managed to mambo through the legal process, delaying his> overdue departure with surprising ease. Last week we discovered, with> astonishment, I’m sure, that he has yet to be sent packing. With family> now, he must weep his way through one last hurdle as the Supreme Court of> Canada weighs in.>> But who weeps for the rest of us?>> There is something fundamentally wrong with a country’s immigration laws> that allows a convicted, street-racing, non-citizen killer seven years of> appeal from extradition.>> A maggot should be afforded more quarter.>> When B. C. Supreme Court Justice Linda Loo sentenced Messers. Bhalru and> Khosa, the shock then was enough to begin to ask some serious questions> about our legal system: two landed immigrants, who obviously felt that> they would selectively pick which Canadian laws they would choose to> follow, were given 2 years of house arrest, 240 hours of community> service, 3 years of probation and barred further from driving for five> years.>> Irene Thorpe was sentenced to a casket.>> In this Province, six speeding tickets over a two year period gets you six> months of having your license suspended. That’s exactly ten percent of the> driving penalty, alone, meted out to these idiots, by Justice Loo, who> should clearly add the letters N-I-E to the end of her last name. This was> justice served? How could anyone in their right mind not know,> instinctively, that street racing kills? What a farce.>> Immigrants to this country should respect all the laws of Canada, and not> follow them conveniently piecemeal. We all should for that matter. But how> can we expect this to transpire, when our politicians are busy embracing> ineffective carbon-credit climate change programs and pushing drug> replacement fantasies?>> And to those of you who will drop the race card, spare me the letters> about race and ethnicity. I’m well aware that both Mr. Khosa and Mr.> Bhalru are Indo-Canadian. That has absolutely no bearing on this issue> whatsoever. I could care less if they are Indo-Canadian, Dutch, French or> self-replicating aliens from some far away galaxy in outer space--which> might more easily explain their behavior if true. They came to this> country to be good (read: law-abiding) citizens, and were most certainly> not. They cost Ms. Thorpe her life.>> I have never been an advocate of a broad-based death penalty in this> country. But save and except for terrorists, rapists and child molesters,> I can’t think another group of sufficiently sick enough bastards to whom I> would happily have the government consistently throw the switch.>> Street racers who recklessly flout the laws and show little remorse, if at> all, other than the perfunctory words of regret in court or before the> cameras of the six o’clock news…?>> I would have accepted Messers. Bhalru and Khosa going back to India,> quietly, without any legal fanfare or noise, never to return to Canada,> ever. But with Mr. Bhalru already long gone, seven years of stubborn> appeals for Mr. Khosa seems an absolute outrage. The man who killed Irene> Thorpe should have been on a plane, home, years ago.>> Then again, if we want real justice, we should just make him swim.

A.G. Tsakumis is a free-lance editorial writer and popular political commentator.