Countervailing Narratives

Narratives about illegal immigration were initially the exclusive province of open-border, sanctuary-city advocates. Tales were rife about "dreamers" who served in the Armed Forces or were valedictorians, doctors, teachers, and other contributing members to American society.

(Toronto Sun image)

The 2015 shooting death of Kate Steinle in San Francisco by illegal immigrant Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was the flashpoint for the counter-narrative that non-enforcement of immigration laws posed physical danger to citizens. Donald Trump referred to Kate Steinle during the 2016 campaign and called Jose Zarate's acquittal in 2017 an "outrage."

Immigration reform has been paralyzed by the competing narratives (and political polarization, but that's way beyond the scope of this post).

In 2018 New York enacted a Criminal Justice Reform Package that "eliminate[d] monetary bail for people facing misdemeanor and non-violent felony charges." Bail reform got most of the ink, but another part of the legislation, Expanding the Discovery Process, may have resulted in disaster for a witness who was going to testify against MS-13: [bold added]

Wilmer Rodriguez (Daily Mail)

Mr. Rodriguez agreed to testify against the gang members, who were charged with assault and witness intimidation as a result of the attack, officials said.

On Sunday, Mr. Rodriguez was found beaten to death outside a home in New Cassel, N.Y.....it came several weeks after a judge ordered prosecutors to disclose Mr. Rodriguez’s identity to lawyers who represented the gang members accused of attacking him, officials said.

Reformers say that defendants should be given witness names weeks in advance. Detractors counter that violent defendants will stop at nothing to prevent these witnesses from testifying. Reformers are denying any responsibility for Mr. Rodriquez' murder:

“This has absolutely nothing to do with the new criminal justice reforms,” said Mike Murphy, a spokesman for the State Senate’s Democratic majority....

Lisa Schreibersdorf, the executive director of Brooklyn Defender Services, said...“There is absolutely no way this is related to the discovery laws.”

There is no proof that Wilmer Rodriguez had been killed by MS-13, yet the gang's history of murder and other violence makes the supposition plausible. Unless the suspicion is countered soon, the narrative connection between the 2018 Reform Bill and the Rodriguez murder will be unshakeable.