From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Arrest in Chandler Rape Case May Fuel Debate" (Emphasis mine)

Well, I would certainly hope so.

Fuel the illegal immigration debate, that is, because the suspect who has been arrested for terrorizing the Chandler, Arizona area for the past 18 months by committing at least six home invasions and rapes of young girls happens to be an illegal immigrant from Mexico, one who has been deported at least twice already. Santana Batiz Aceves's DNA has been matched to the DNA of the rapist, and he is believed to be the man responsible for sexually assaulting the junior high school students.

Now, of course, the hand-wringing begins about how this arrest will affect the "debate" over illegal immigration, like it's a huge surprise or something that people will have an opinion on the subject. The Arizona Republic newspaper quotes some sort of muckety muck immigration guru, who opines that:

"'A single incident like this pushes the debate about smart, thoughtful immigration policies to the side,'" said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. 'There will be no room, there will be no oxygen for rational conversation about immigration as long as the headlines dominate about this horrible incident'."

Of course, since Mr. Papademetriou lives in the Washington, D.C. area, he doesn't have to worry about his children being attacked by a sexual psychopath who keeps coming back after being repeatedly bounced out of this country.

How fortunate we all are to get such unashamedly elitist and paternalistic preachings from good ol' Mr. Papademetriou. I'm assuming that his "smart, thoughtful" polices include letting everyone currently here illegally stay forever, pushing aside the law-abiding people who have been waiting for years and spending thousands of dollars to become legal residents, or simply throwing the borders wide open and letting anyone who wants to just stroll on in. Anyone who disagrees with him, or has an alternate viewpoint, is simply not "rational". Because, you know, he knows what's best for you.

This case, and the fact that a Phoenix police officer was killed four months ago by a different illegal immigrant, one who had also been previously deported, is bound to spur calls for immediate changes in the border policy of the U.S.. For local citizens to not have their opinions on illegal immigration be affected by these types of incidents would be irrational, not the reverse.

As for the rape suspect, according to this article, Mr. Aceves's nickname is Chaparro, which means "Shorty" in Spanish. This may prove to be a particularly appropriate name for him, because violent child predators are known as "Short-Eyes" in prison, and also because his stay in lockup is apt to be quite short if he is released into the general population with this kind of a record.