Morris Park Holy Name societies and Big Deal
Supermarket sponsor annual Lenten Fundraiser
Assemblyman Benedetto sponsors Driver Safety Program
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,58 FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 5, 2020 BTR
Action
Association
Miguel Garcia, owner of
Big Deal Supermarket, announced
that the St. Francis
Xavier Church and St. Clare
of Assisi Church Holy Name
societies and Big Deal Supermarket
will once again
sponsor their annual Lenten
Fundraiser, which raises
funds for these two Morris
Park parishes.
Beginning on Friday, February
21, and continuing
through Easter Sunday, April
12, parishioners shopping at
Big Deal Supermarket, located
at 1018 Morris Park Avenue,
can contribute to the
fundraiser by dropping their
sales receipts into the big
jar located in the front of the
store, after they have checked
out.
A percentage of all sales
during this period will be
donated to the two churches.
Rev. Salvatore DeStefano,
pastor of the Church of St.
Clare of Assisi and St. Francis
Xavier, noted that the
Lenten Fundraiser, an annual
tradition, raises funds
for needed church repairs,
church programs, and other
projects without having to
ask parishioners for monetary
donations. Shoppers are
happy to contribute to the
fundraiser as they fi ll their
shopping carts at Big Deal
with delicious and nutritious
foods, meats, desserts, and
fresh fruits from the supermarket’s
gourmet produce department.
St. Francis Xavier HNS
president Tom Tronconi and
St. Clare of Assisi HNS president
James Curran remarked
that last year a record $7,119
was raised and that $61,350
has been raised since the
fundraiser’s inception in 2010.
They named HNS vice presidents
Peter Ulrich and Martin
Dolgow as coordinators for
the 2020 Lenten Fundraiser.
Delivery service and phone
orders are available by calling
(718) 824-7571. For phone
orders, be sure to tell big deal
to drop your sales receipt into
the jar.
Miguel Garcia (r), owner of Big Deal Supermarket, receiving a plaque for
Meritorious Service from St. Francis Xavier Holy Name Society president
Tom Tronconi (l).
As a service to his constituents,
Assemblyman Michael
Benedetto will be sponsoring
an NYS DMV Approved Insurance
Reduction Program
on Saturday, March 28, 2020,
from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The course is held at Fort
Schuyler House, 3077 Cross
Bronx Expressway. To reserve
a seat, call Assemblyman
Benedetto’s offi ce at (718)
892-2235.
The cost is for this class is
$29. Space is limited.
This 6-hour course will refresh
your driving knowledge
with a review of time-tested
safe driving tips. Those who
complete the course will receive
a reduction of approximately
10 percent from the
base rate of automobile and
motorcycle liability premiums
each year for three years.
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
There is an increasing
trend, supported largely in
progressive-run cities, counties
and states, to not cooperate
with federal offi cials in
dealing with the crime wave
due to felonies committed by
illegal immigrants.
The Heritage Foundation
reports that:
“Non-citizens constitute
only about 7 percent of the
U.S. population. Yet the latest
data from the Justice Department’s
Bureau of Justice
Statistics reveals that noncitizens
accounted for nearly
two-thirds (64 percent) of
all federal arrests in 2018…
Non-citizens accounted for
24 percent of all federal drug
arrests, 25 percent of all federal
property arrests, and 28
percent of all federal fraud
arrests. In 2018, a quarter of
all federal drug arrests took
place in the fi ve judicial districts
along the U.S.-Mexico
border. This refl ects the ongoing
activities of Mexican
drug cartels. Last year, Mexican
citizens accounted for 40
percent of all federal arrests.
In fact, more Mexicans than
U.S. citizens were arrested
on charges of committing federal
crimes in 2018. Migrants
from Central American countries
are also accounting for
a larger share of federal arrests,
going from a negligible
1 percent of such arrests in
1998 to 20 percent today.”
Sanctuary policies produce
two substantial results
for the legal inhabitants of a
jurisdiction. First, they increase
costs, and second, they
protect portions of the criminal
population.
Despite the fi ction disseminated
by sanctuary policy
supporters, there is no mass
roundup of illegals that require
the countermeasure of
sanctuary protection. Sanctuary
policies primarily
serve to protect criminals
apprehended by local law enforcement
agencies (LEA)
from being handed over to the
federal government for deportation
proceedings.
The Center for Immigration
Studies notes that: “Numerous
cities, counties, and
states have laws, ordinances,
regulations, resolutions, policies,
or other practices that obstruct
immigration enforcement
and shield criminals
from the U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement
agency (ICE) — either by refusing
to or prohibiting agencies
from complying with
ICE detainers, imposing unreasonable
conditions on detainer
acceptance, denying
ICE access to interview incarcerated
aliens, or otherwise
impeding communication or
information exchanges between
their personnel and
federal immigration offi cers.
A detainer is the primary tool
used by ICE to gain custody of
criminal aliens for deportation.
It is a notice to another
law enforcement agency that
ICE intends to assume custody
of an alien and includes
information on the alien’s previous
criminal history, immigration
violations, and potential
threat to public safety or
security.”
According to ICE , the
agency relies on the exchange
of information with a local
law enforcement agency and
the use of detainers. In many
cases, these individuals pose
a demonstrable threat to
communities. By lodging detainers
against those individuals,
ICE seeks to ensure
that removable aliens are
turned over to its custody at
the conclusion of their criminal
detention rather than
being released into the community
where many abscond
or re-offend. For example,
it’s known that one group of
criminal aliens that ICE has
researched has a recidivism
rate of 46%.
An ICE detainer requests
that the receiving law enforcement
agency notify ICE as
early as practicable before the
alien is released from custody;
and that it maintains custody
of the alien for a period not to
exceed 48 hours beyond the
time he/she would have otherwise
been released to allow
ICE to assume custody.
In some cases, state or local
laws, ordinances, or policies
restrict or prohibit cooperation
with ICE. In other
cases, jurisdictions willfully
decline ICE detainers, and refuse
to even provide timely notifi
cation to ICE of an alien’s
release. The results are the
same: criminal aliens are released
into the community
where they may potentially
re-offend and harm members
of the public.
The individuals ICE seeks
detainers on are dangerous,
criminal aliens illegally
present in the United States
that local jurisdictions have
deemed important enough
to arrest and prosecute for
their crimes. Yet, these same
jurisdictions are preventing
ICE’s lawful, congressionally
mandated enforcement efforts
to enforce the laws its
offi cers and agents are sworn
to uphold, against the exact
same criminals. Instead of
enforcement actions taking
place within the safe confi nes
of local jails, ICE is forced to
increase its presence in corresponding
communities as a
result of these sanctuary policies.
A review of the New York
City and Westchester County
ICE coverage area is quite revealing.
Last fi scal year, ICE
lodged 7,526 detainers from
its New York fi eld offi ce. The
criminals against whom
these detainers were lodged
accounted for 17,873 criminal
convictions, and another
6,500 criminal charges. The
crimes these individuals had
been convicted or charged
with included 200 homicides,
over 500 robberies, over 1,000
sexual offenses, over 1,000
weapons offenses, over 3,500
assaults, and over 1,500 DUIs.
The statistics clearly indicate
that the presence of illegal
alien criminals is a clear
and substantial danger to
U.S. communities. The perpetrators
of these crimes are
not worthy individuals seeking
to be part of the American
dream. The supporters
of sanctuary city policies
provide no logical, moral, or
valid reasons for their actions
which encourage, support
and maintain the presence of
these predators in American
communities.