http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/us/31border.html
I'll go out on a limb and say this is the most outrageous news story I've read this year, at least from within American borders.
Can anybody tell me how it makes legal sense for a couple of Mexican guys making $4-500/wk selling drugs in Ohio (to a "ready customer") to end up with a 16 year sentence in a cage for fucking MANSLAUGHTER? Other than "something has got to be done" and "[putting these men in jail is] ... like sweeping sunshine off the roof" (real quote), I'm not seeing any legal OR practical justification. I suppose the feds have succeeded in sending a non-existent message to an incredibly violent and profitable industry that these "killers" have basically nothing to do with. I'm guessing the drug cartels aren't exactly trembling with fear.
At least we've ruined the life of the guy answering the phones in order to feed his family!
Hypothetical: If Henry buys a gun from an illegal dealer, and then Henry shoots someone in the head, is the guy who pulled the trigger somehow not responsible for the death? OH WAIT, BUT WHAT IF HENRY IS A REALLY NICE PERSON AND THE DEALER IS MEXICAN? CAN'T WE HAVE A SWITCHEROO?? LULZZZ :P
Too bad the dead guy's mother isn't a Mexican, because they could charge her with manslaughter for giving her son money to buy the drugs. If only.
(Final note, if we had a sensible health insurance system in this country, the "victim" would still be alive. So...can we charge Richard Nixon as an accomplice?)
Mm
