By Robin Shulman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 25, 2007

NEWARK -- Since two illegal immigrants were named among the suspects in the execution-style killings of three college students here, Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Tom Tancredo have suggested that the deaths show the consequences of failures in immigration policy.

But those closest to the killings say they are less concerned about the suspects' immigration status than their history of violence, noting that alleged ringleader Jose Lachira Carranza was released on bail after three previous felony arrests, including two in connection with the rape of a 5-year-old.

"Whether he was a citizen of our country or not, he was prone to violence and he should not have been released," said James Harvey, whose son was one of the students killed. "The state had him in custody and let him out on bail -- that's more important than that they didn't check their immigration status," he said.

On Wednesday, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram ordered all local authorities in the state to ask about immigration status after arrests on offenses including robbery, assault, rape, murder and drunken driving, and to notify federal officials if a suspect is in the country illegally.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) said he supports the directive -- which also prohibits law enforcement officers from investigating the immigration status of any witness or victim of a crime. But there was a feeling here that debate stemming from the local killings had wandered far from the city's concerns.

The Newark city council last October passed a nonbinding resolution promising that local officials would not share immigration status information when immigrants enroll their children in school, seek medical care or cooperate with police. The regulations made an exception for suspected criminals.

Yet earlier this week, Tancredo, a Colorado congressman, traveled to Newark and stood on the steps of City Hall blaming the city's protective immigration policies for the killings. "If the suspects are found guilty, Newark and its political leadership share a degree of responsibility," he said. "I encourage the family of the victims to pursue a lawsuit against the city."

Booker responded immediately. "We do not want people coming into our community and exploiting our pain for political advantage," he said.

On the night of Aug. 4, Dashon Harvey and Iofemi Hightower, both 20, and Terrance Aeriel, 18, were lined up against a wall, forced to kneel and fatally shot at close range. Natasha Aeriel, 19, Terrance's sister, was also shot, but she survived.

Among the six people who were arrested in connection with the shootings were two illegal immigrants.

Before these killings, Carranza, 28, who is from Peru, had been arrested three times on felony charges but released on bail. Authorities did not ask his immigration status, which could have triggered a federal "detainer" that might have kept him in custody.

Michael Gilhooly, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said an officer had been assigned to the Essex County Jail to identify illegal immigrants. Speaking of Carranza, Gilhooly said: "His name had been put on a list [of foreign-born detainees] provided to us, and we get lists from these jails that are substantial. . . . We were not aware of him."

Another suspect, Melvin Jovel, 18, from Honduras, was also in the country illegally.

Municipal Council member Ronald Rice was among the first to call for clear reporting requirements for illegal immigrants arrested on serious charges. But he now says he has been astonished to see others take up this call, which he meant as a "trial balloon."

"I want to actually help," he said. "Others have come into our town to try to use these gruesome murders for their own political ends. And I resent it."

The killings have made Newark another front in the immigration battlefields.

In nearby Morristown, the mayor is seeking to get the local police deputized to enforce immigration laws. Across the country, some 34 states have introduced laws that would deny bail to people suspected of being undocumented and increase funding for local enforcement of immigration laws.

All the suspects in the Newark killings are Latinos and all four victims are African American. Yet people here say the killings were so singularly brutal they transcend generalizations about immigrants.

The most pressing problem here is crime, not immigration, said nearly two dozen residents of the neighborhoods where the killers and the victims lived. They talk about car theft, gunfights and changing T-shirts to avoid gang colors.

"We know it's not safe for us," said Joshua Baker, 17, a neighbor of the Aeriels. "It's not an immigration issue."