Extradition Disgrace

President Bush's relentless kow-towing to Mexico knows no limit, but you'd think that after permitting millions of Mexicans to invade the US - propping up Mexico's ailing and corrupt economy - and treating Mexican President Vincente Fox as if he were the leader of a superpower, Bush might be able to ask Mexico for at least one little favor in the name of justice for a murdered American. But apparently not. After two years of waiting on the President's promise to pressure Mexico to extradite the murderer of a US police officer, California law enforcement officials are reduced to begging the president to keep his word.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, in a letter yesterday to Mr. Bush, also asked the president to fulfill a promise he made to the family of slain Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff David March. Mr. Bush told the deputy's widow in 2003 during the Peace Officers Memorial Service in Washington, "We'll get him back," referring to the suspect.

The league sent a similar letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will attend the Texas meeting.

"President Bush's repeated refusal to pressure Mexico to return accused killers of police officers to the United States is a silent way of giving these vicious killers an executive pardon," said league President Robert Baker.

"Bush is sending a dangerous message to criminals in the U.S. and abroad, and he cannot allow Mexico to proudly harbor dozens of criminals who have killed in America and fled to Mexico to evade prosecution."

The illegal alien, identified as Armando Garcia, fled to Mexico after the shooting, where he is protected by a 2001 Mexican Supreme Court order saying criminal rehabilitation is the goal set for violent offenders and that a death sentence or life imprisonment imposed by a U.S. court is "cruel and unusual punishment." Garcia had been deported three times before the deputy's slaying.

California law mandates either the death penalty or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for those who kill a police officer.

It is a disgrace that President Bush has not demanded that Mr. Garcia be extradited to the US, and imposed penalties against Mexico for refusing to do so. But then, everything about the president's policy toward Mexico reeks of disgraceful appeasement. Mr. Garcia, not surprisingly, was no stranger to the US criminal justice system.

Garcia, a suspected drug dealer, later was identified by investigators as the killer. Immigration records show Garcia previously had been deported on three occasions from the United States as an illegal alien, but returned each time.

The Drug Enforcement Administration also said Garcia was a suspect in the sale of methamphetamines in California and later was convicted on felony drug-distribution charges and sentenced to four years in prison. He also was arrested in 2000 by police in El Monte, Calif., carrying a Tec-9 machine pistol -- for which he was deported.

Records show he also was identified as the suspect in two drive-by shootings.

The impact of Mexican criminals operating freely in California and other border states has been dreadful, both in terms of crime and the expense of combating it - burdens put squarely on Americans and their wallets. If Mr. Garcia had never been able to enter the US illegally, Deputy March would still be alive. If Mr. Garcia hadn't been able to re-enter the US after being deported THREE TIMES, Deputy March would still be alive. If Congress and the President were doing their jobs, Deputy March would still be alive. Perhaps the local district attorney should try indicting people in Washington for aiding and abetting Mr. Garcia in his crime spree.

Incidentally, if a low-level Mexican methamphetamine dealer can successfully stroll across the US-Mexico border at least four times, how many well-trained and well-financed Islamist terrorists do you think can do the same thing?