Pelosi Attacker an Illegal Alien

They're not sending their best people.

I must admit to being befuddled by the Axios headline “Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack was in U.S. illegally, DHS says.”

The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was in the U.S. illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said, CNN reports.

Driving the news: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an immigration detainer on Canadian national David DePape with San Francisco County Jail, Nov. 1, following his Oct. 28 arrest,” DHS said, per CNN.

DePape, who is accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer, is a Canadian citizen who entered the U.S. on March 8, 2008 through the California-Mexico border, the Washington Post reports.

While I remember reading that DePape had immigrated from Canada years ago, I promptly forgot it and had him filed away in my mind as a Californian. This says something about me, I guess, but mostly about how we’ve been taught to think about illegal immigration. The focus is almost entirely on poor, brown people who enter the country via our border with Mexico. Nobody seems overly concerned about Canadians entering the country and staying indefinitely—even when they’re weirdos who wind up committing violent crimes.

FILED UNDER: Borders and Immigration, , , , , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Michael Reynolds says:

    Clearly we’re going to need a wall. Damn Canadians come down here and take our jobs as crazed loners? And sketch comics?

    2
  2. Pete S says:

    @Michael Reynolds:
    Please build one. Please. It would be great if the neighbour built a fence to keep their crazy relatives contained. You may not all be crazy but it appears close to 50% are.

    3
  3. Jen says:

    There was a horrific case of animal abuse in Massachusetts a few years back. A severely abused dog, around two years old, was found in a park in Quincy. (The abuse was so extensive I had nightmares about it. Joints pulled apart, her tongue was split/cut, etc.) She was euthanized and the vets who worked on her ended up in counseling.

    The police very quickly had leads, because the dog had been posted on Craigslist (NEVER EVER POST A DOG ON CRAIGSLIST, many are used as bait in illegal dogfighting rings).

    The man who abused this dog so badly was an illegal immigrant from Poland, who had overstayed his visa. Once he’s done serving his sentence (which unfortunately does not include him suffering the same treatment he subjected that poor dog to), he’s to be deported.

    People don’t notice white illegals.

    7
  4. Kurtz says:

    @Jen:

    I actively avoid reading things about animal abuse because it it bothers me so much. I can say with near certainty that if I were to be arrested for a violent crime, the victim would have been someone I caught abusing an animal.

    6
  5. drj says:

    I guess we are no longer talking about the reasons (i.e., GOP radicalization) for DePape’s attack on Pelosi’s husband (and what the attack says about the condition of the political system).

    Just an unfortunate incident and a random attack – committed by a foreigner to boot.

    Sleeping Dog being prescient last Sunday:

    The Pelosi attack will be forgotten by mid week, unless he dies. Nor will it have any effect on the political discourse

    I guess we’re well on our way. Being distracted by juicy titbits, such as DePape’s immigration status, certainly helps.

    2
  6. Scott F. says:

    @drj:
    The US is still “a city on a hill,” it’s just not “shining” anymore. We’re radiating right wing radicalism now, so of course foreign fascists are going to be inspired by us.

    4
  7. daryl and his brother darryl says:

    @Pete S:
    Just leave a gate near Halifax…I’m not sure how much longer I can take these nut cases.

    1
  8. daryl and his brother darryl says:

    Most of the brown people are asylum seekers and are wrongly labelled illegal.
    To MAGA if you are not lily white then you are illegal.
    DePape entered legally and then his visa expired. I haven’t been able to find out how long it had been expired?

  9. gVOR08 says:

    @Scott F.:

    so of course foreign fascists are going to be inspired by us.

    Inspired by us? Foreign fascists are hiring Republican election consultants to show them how to do it.

    1
  10. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    [CRT TRIGGER WARNING!!!!]

    Nah, I’m not gonna this time. What would be the point of highlighting” This says something about me, I guess, but mostly about how we’ve been taught to think about illegal immigration. The focus is almost entirely on poor, brown people who enter the country via our border with Mexico. Nobody seems overly concerned about Canadians entering the country and staying indefinitely—even when they’re weirdos who wind up committing violent crimes.” and commenting on it?

    1
  11. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @daryl and his brother darryl: [CRT TRIGGER WARNING!!]

    You’re forgetting the root principle: Brown = Illegal and Asylum = Escaping a bad economy.

  12. Jen says:

    @daryl and his brother darryl: He entered in March of 2008 with a 6-month visa.

    So, pretty expired.

    1
  13. CSK says:

    @daryl and his brother darryl:

    DePape entered that U.S.A. on a temporary visa (6 months) in March 2008. So he’s been here 14 years.

    1
  14. CSK says:

    @Jen:

    I sound like your echo chamber. 😀

    3
  15. daryl and his brother darryl says:

    @Jen:
    @CSK:
    I guess I was assuming that he had renewed it at least once.
    Not that it matters in any case.

  16. EddieInCA says:

    @Jen:
    @Kurtz:

    Me too. I like animals more than people. Seriously.

    3
  17. CSK says:

    @daryl and his brother darryl:

    DePape was a Cub Scout back home in British Columbia.

  18. JKB says:

    It would be interesting to know how many times sanctuary state, California, and city, San Francisco, had DePape in custody but did not notify ICE due to the political policy of non-cooperation with ICE on illegal immigrants.

    3
  19. Jen says:

    @EddieInCA: Same.
    @Kurtz: I’ve often said something similar. Nothing makes me angrier than someone abusing animals.

    1
  20. CSK says:

    @Jen: @Kurtz: @EddieInCA:

    A saying attributed variously to Voltaire, Mark Twain, Madame de Stael, Frederick the Great, etc.:

    “The more I see of people, the better I like my dog.”

    1
  21. just nutha says:

    @JKB: It would be even more interesting if there’s an actual ICE BOLO for him, but I’ll bet there isn’t.

    […]
    I suspect that I dislike people and animals about equally (allergies in the case of animals), but I find abusing living beings unacceptable. One doesn’t need to be an animal lover or not be a misanthrope to be opposed to abuse.

    1
  22. al Ameda says:

    DePape, who is accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer, is a Canadian citizen who entered the U.S. on March 8, 2008 through the California-Mexico border

    Oh, so he came here during a Republican presidency?
    Also, in an interesting twist, apparently, he got round our wall at the northern border by way of Mexico.

    1
  23. al Ameda says:

    @JKB:
    It would be interesting to know how many times sanctuary state, California, and city, San Francisco, had DePape in custody but did not notify ICE due to the political policy of non-cooperation with ICE on illegal immigrants.

    Actully, it would be more interesting to know why the Bush Administration was so lax in allowing this Canadian man to enter the country illegally by way of Mexico.

    2
  24. daryl and his brother darryl says:

    @al Ameda:
    Also why Trump didn’t get rid of him?

    2
  25. Mister Bluster says:

    @JKB:..It would be interesting to know how many times sanctuary state, California, and city, San Francisco, had DePape in custody but did not notify ICE due to the political policy of non-cooperation with ICE on illegal immigrants.

    Like you give a sh!t.
    You think it was some sort of false flag, fake news.
    I can only suspect that Jesse Watters of Fox news was thinking of you when he said: People are being hit in the head with hammers every day.

    JKB says:
    Monday, 31 October 2022 at 14:21
    The turning point is likely to be the death knell for mainstream media. This story had massive holes and the tears are getting larger by the minute. Even the statement by SFPD left huge holes. But we see the window was broken from the inside, a third person let the police into the house. Nor was breaking and entering in the list of charges the police anticipate, though not charged yet.
    Plus there are police body cams and the Pelosis and their neighbors all have high end security cameras. Where’s the footage?

    2
  26. Pylon says:

    We in Canada aren’t sending our best?

    What, Ted Cruz didn’t alert you to that already?