Let’s say you’ve been in Mexico illegally for 24 years.

You are driving a vehicle that you can’t legally drive because you do not have a valid driver’s license issued by the sovereign nation of Mexico.

You have your two teen-age sons in your SUV as well as a friend. You decide to show how cool you are and do a doughnut in a parking lot but as you gunned the car you lost control of it. Your SUV goes into the bay prompting witnesses to scramble to save you, your friend and your two sons. The police are summoned.

What are the odds of you not being thrown in jail on at least child endangerment charges and not being deported? They’re probably close to zilch.

Now do that in the United States as 38-year-old Agapito Hernandez did in San Francisco. Not only would a jury find you innocent of misdemeanor child endangerment charges but many of the fine folks of The City would rail against the federal government for trying to deport you.

His public defender - Kimberly Lutes-Kotth - is quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle  as saying “he is a sweet, honest family man. It is sad that he had to go through an arrest and trial because police never attempted to investigate whether it was an accident.”

Where does one begin?

Hernandez by his own admission in court said he gunned the SUV out of a parking stall and lost control. He also testified his brakes - which he told the court had been giving him trouble - failed.

So Hernandez admits he purposely “gunned” his car with three passengers inside when he hit brakes that he knew weren’t functioning properly and then lost control of his vehicle. That’s an accident? It’s gross stupidity not to mention negligence. An accident is just that - an accident. Not only is it not acceptable to gun cars out of parking stalls but to do so when you’re operating a vehicle you know has mechanical maintenance issues makes you responsible for whatever happens.

Recklessly operating your vehicle so it plunges into the San Francisco Bay with your two sons inside isn’t child endangerment in the eyes of the public defender and jury.

And now there is outrage that a “sweet, honest” man might be deported. How is he honest? You are not honest if you break the law and entered this country illegally.

His defenders keep saying he’s an immigrant. No, he’s an illegal. Don’t sugarcoat what the man is. He’s a lawbreaker and he’s not an immigrant that is here legally.

We should openly embrace legal immigration. We should not make excuses for those who are here illegally.

If he’s been here 24 years, he had ample opportunity to take advantage of several amnesty programs but chose not to do so.

In other words, he has made a conscious decision to not just break one of the basic laws of this land once but continued to do so for 24 years.

You can bet that they’d be no debate in Mexico had Hernandez been an illegal there for 24 years and did what he did.



This column is the opinion of managing editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Bulletin or Morris Newspaper Corp. of CA.  He can be contacted at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com or 209-249-3519.