Repeated deportations relevant

Roy Murry was recently arrested for a triple murder in Colbert, and the headlines proclaimed that he was involved in the local Republican Party years ago. Another man was arrested for a grisly murder in Spokane last year, and not one of the print or broadcast news stories mentioned that he was in the country illegally after repeated attempts at deportation.

Benito “Tito” Baldovinos-Mendoza will stand trial in federal court on July 6 for his involvement in the murder of Spokane resident David Whitman, who was kidnapped and shot to death, doused with gasoline, burned and dumped in a wooded area in Tum Tum.

Page 12 of the police report states that, between 2005 and 2013, Baldovinos-Mendoza had been deported nine times. Surprisingly, that important piece of information was overlooked by the media.

So which detail is more newsworthy and relevant to the respective crime: Murry’s brief political involvement, or the fact that Baldovinos-Mendoza was already committing a crime in being here illegally?

I might be more accepting of what appears to be a cheap swipe at Republicans if the media would devote as much attention to the failure to secure our borders.

Stephanie Cates

Spokane