The South Boston murder suspect’s case is troubling on multiple levels, and it demands major changes in our court and immigration systems.
The suspect is charged with slitting the throats of two anesthesiologists who lived in a penthouse condominium on Broadway, apparently during a robbery. That’s the major troubling point.
But then there’s the question of why he was in the country in the first place. As a native of Guinea-Bissau, he got into the United States and got a Green Card apparently on the basis of having an aunt who was living in Chelsea. There may be more to this part of the story … but if there isn’t, it tells us a lot about our broken immigration system. Why someone without any particular skills who isn’t a refugee should be given permanent residency in the United States just because his aunt lives here isn’t clear.
But here’s where the story gets much worse.
Bampumim Teixeira, 30, was convicted of two bank robberies, one in 2014 and another in 2016. He somehow originally got only one year in jail — from a judge appointed by former governor Deval Patrick, the most pro-criminal governor in the history of the commonwealth. For the bank robberies, mind you, Teixeira, according to police, threatened to shoot bank employees. Even though he apparently didn’t have a gun, merely making the threat while trying to steal from the bank should have led to a charge of armed robbery.
One year in jail for two bank robberies — including a threat of shooting people?
But then the judge, Lisa Grant, of Boston Municipal Court, apparently realized that a full year in jail would get Teixeira deported under federal law once he got out of jail. So she crossed out 365 days and made it 364 — under the threshold that would have gotten Teixeira booted.
The second bank robbery took place June 30, 2016. That means that had Teixeira done even the “full” 364 days in jail, he’d still be in the slammer now — and would have been unable to rob and kill Richard Field, 49, and Lina Bolaños, 38.
So, to summarize:
If our immigration system were working properly, Teixeira would never have gotten permanent residency in the United States.
But, apparently, he did.
If our court system were working properly, he would have gotten a lot more than 364 days in jail for two bank robberies.
But, apparently, he didn’t.
If our court system were working properly, he would have at least served his entire measly sentence for two bank robberies.
But, apparently, he didn’t.
Had our court and immigration systems been working properly, he would have been deported the moment he got out of jail, whenever that was.
But, apparently, he wasn’t.
So what’s going to happen? If it’s business as usual around here, there’ll be some head shaking. There’ll be finger pointing at the suspect, who is of course the safest target. There’ll be some attempts at consoling words for the family and friends. There’ll be vague promises of “Never again.”
Then the powers that be will wait for the furor to die down … and nothing will change.
