Amy Reichert: Two friends, one broken immigration system
In the heart of this piece is a tale of two friends and a human story about what it means to seek both justice and mercy in our national immigration debate.
A couple of weeks ago, I said goodbye to my dear friend Jackie Cruz Acencio as she prepared to leave San Diego with her husband, Oscar, a U.S. Marine, who is being medically evacuated from Balboa Naval Hospital following a tragedy that never should have happened.
On Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, Oscar was driving his family home with Jackie and their three children when they were struck head-on on a rural road northeast of Julian in San Diego County. Jackie and Oscar’s eight-year-old daughter, Arya, was killed. Oscar suffered traumatic brain injuries and lost his leg.
The driver that collided with their family is Brayan Josue Alva-Rodriguez, a 25-year-old man with two prior DUI convictions who was in the country illegally. In March 2023, an immigration judge ordered him removed from the country. The Cruz Acencio family believes that their daughter would still be alive had existing sanctuary state policies not shielded a repeat offender who never had a pathway to citizenship.
In contrast, I also think of my friend Fito, who was brought here as an infant from Tijuana, Mexico and lived as an American in every way. After youthful mistakes, he was incarcerated and deported. He returned to the United States to be with his family. Later when he tried to live openly under his real name, ICE detained him, and he was deported again under the Obama administration. Today, he’s a pastor in Tijuana. I miss my friend.
I share these stories because they reveal the reality of our immigration system, not the talking points. Our immigration debate has collapsed into absolutes, replaced by extremes on both sides, with one side denying the need for borders at all and portraying everyone being deported as angels, while the other denies the humanity of the people involved, shouting “deport them all” and labeling all immigrants as MS-13 gang members.
In December 2023, with The Goat Initiative, I traveled roughly 60 miles east of the city of San Diego to the border to the small town called Boulevard. What I saw firsthand crystallized my strong beliefs on national security.
Large sections of the border wall were breached, with thousands crossing unchecked on a regular basis. All along the U.S. side of the border, the ground was littered with torn up and discarded passports. I observed these myself.
Open borders was no longer a right-wing conspiracy — it was seemingly the policy of the Biden administration. During Biden’s term as president, Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 8 million encounters at the southwest border, not counting the two million estimated “gotaways.” To me, and millions of other Americans, what was happening at the border was an obvious national security threat.
Now our country is being torn apart by the division this has caused. From one side, ICE agents are being called Nazis and being chased down for removing people like the man who hurt the Cruz Acencio family. From the other side, the loudest voices call only for deportations without considering the individual. Enough is enough.
Most “normie” Californians I speak with, whether Republican or Democrat, believe as I do and want a solution that involves both a pathway to citizenship for long-time, contributing immigrants and accountability for those who commit violent crimes.
Mercy for people like Fito; no mercy for those who take innocent lives like Arya’s.
Amy Reichert is the chairwoman of Restore San Diego. You can follow her on X @amyforsandiego