There was another unnecessary casualty in ICE’s immigration campaign on Monday, after a schoolteacher in Savannah died when a man being pursued by ICE crashed into her car.
According to the New York Times, ICE agents were attempting to pull over 38-year-old Oscar Vasquez Lopez, an undocumented man from Guatemala. A judge issued a final order of removal for Vasquez in 2024. When ICE agents attempted to pull over Lopez, he “fled the scene, making a reckless U-turn and running a red light, colliding into a civilian vehicle,” according to a statement from ICE.
Linda Davis, a special-education teacher at Herman W. Hesse K-8 School, was the person that Lopez crashed into. Davis was taken to a hospital after the collision, where she was pronounced dead from her injuries. In a Facebook post, School Principal Alonna McMullen said that Davis “was a beloved member of our school family and her loss has affected us deeply.”
Lopez was arrested by Chatham County Police officers after the collision and charged with first-degree homicide, reckless driving, driving without a valid license, and failure to obey a traffic control device.
Chatham County Chairman Chester Ellis spoke to WTOC shortly after the accident and said Chatham County officials weren’t aware ICE was conducting operations in the city. “I’m saying to the president, down to all of our national leaders, there’s a better way to do this. And I think if you allow us to be at the table to draw out strategies and come up with ways of doing things, we can prevent this,” Ellis said.
Ellis also pointed out that Chatham County law enforcement operates under restrictive chase policies and that they wouldn’t have been able to take the same actions as ICE. “We have a no-chase policy, and the no-chase policy is to help protect our citizens more than it is anything else. So there may have been a different way to corner the individual so that he could not run, or that he could not cause the accident that took the life of Dr. Davis,” Ellis said.
WJCL reports that Linda Davis’ death has understandably drawn strong reactions among Georgia leaders. U.S. Rep Buddy Carter wasted no time pointing the blame at the left. “The Left has a Georgian’s blood on its hands, once again,” Carter said in a statement. “A beloved local teacher lost her life because an illegal immigrant facing deportation refused to cooperate with ICE.”
Democratic Georgia State Sen. Derek Mallow took a more measured response. “We must confront the circumstances that led to this tragedy. Federal immigration enforcement actions, including pursuits, can create dangerous conditions on our local roads. ICE and DHS are not trained for routine traffic stops, and operations that put innocent lives at risk demand serious review and accountability,” Mallow said in a statement.
“Turning someone’s death into a political football helps no one. It doesn’t heal families. It doesn’t make our streets safer. And it does not honor the life that was taken,” Mallow added.
The death of Linda Davis is both tragic and completely avoidable. Considering that everywhere ICE has gone has resulted in U.S. citizens either being hurt or killed, it’s become more and more clear that ICE cares more about its absurd arrest quota than keeping citizens safe.
SEE ALSO:
On Tiffany Woods, Disaster, Displacement, And Life Without Parole
ICE And Border Patrol Heads Evasive During Senate Hearing
Georgia Schoolteacher Linda Davis Killed In Crash By Man Fleeing ICE
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