Bubbaworld

The Tulsa World for June 20, 2007 contained a front page story titled “Detained despite green card: Legal, but not safe” telling the story of Jorge Hernandez, a legal resident of the United States who spent nearly a week in the Tulsa Jail.

According to the Tulsa World, Jorge, a “Green Card” holder, was arrested on June 8th and remained in jail until June 14th owing to a detainer placed on him by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Also according to the Tulsa World, 18-year-old Jorge was arrested on the complaint of driving a car with an altered vehicle identification number. The World report also reveals that:

Hernandez also was cited for not having a driver’s license or car insurance. When Hernandez was arrested, he did not have his green card with him. Federal law requires legal residents to always carry documentation of legal presence in this country.

Once again according to the Tulsa World, Jorge is alleged to have committed four offenses. (1) Vehicle VIN altered or missing on a vehicle he borrowed, (2) No driver’s license in possession, (3) No liability insurance verification in possession and (4) No green card in possession.

And for this he spent about six days, including a Saturday and a Sunday, in jail before the federal detainer was removed and he was released on bail.

The Tulsa World story also points out that while jailed Jorge missed “more than four days of work at his construction job and lost about $500 in pay“.

Now, let’s sit back and consider this for a moment.

VIN’s, some people know of their existence, others don’t. And who upon borrowing a vehicle actually checks to see if a VIN is present and if so if it looks legitimate? Probably no one, so let’s give Jorge the benefit of the doubt and blow this one off completely in our consideration.

Next comes the issue of driver’s license, insurance verification and green card.

Who is not aware that state law requires anyone operating a motor vehicle on our public roadways to have both a valid driver’s license and liability insurance verification form in their possession? If they are truly not aware of this requirement they should not be driving. If they are aware of this requirement and refuse to comply they should be jailed. It really is that simple.

And what holder of the treasured “Green Card” is not aware that federal law requires the Green Card holder to actually carry the Green Card with them when in public? If they are truly not aware of this requirement they should not be in this county.

Three of the four laws Jorge is accused of violating are simple cut-and-dried issues that anyone could and should be able to obey with even minimalist effort. This isn’t rocket science, it is but three pieces of paper, two of which every driver in Oklahoma is required to possess when driving on public roadways.

So what brought Jorge to the attention of Tulsa cops and led to his spending six days in jail?

The Tulsa World report implies it was the VIN of the borrowed vehicle Jorge was driving.
The Tulsa County District Court records reveal something different.

In addition to the four charges, three state and one federal, the Tulsa World acknowledges, there is another state charge. An offense which will result in police officers anywhere stopping a motorist when they see it occur.

That alleged offense is failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
And that offense will result in police officers looking at VINs, driver’s licenses and insurance verification forms.

Why the Tulsa World article omitted this important piece of information is unknown. That it was omitted is without question. Could it be that had this information been included in the article the ‘Poor Jorge’ nature of the article would have been diminished? Probably.

Another issue the “more than four days of work” Jorge missed as a result of being jailed. More than four carries with it the implication of less than five. Had it been five days the writer would have said five. Therefore odds are that Jorge missed about four and one-half days of work during which he would have supposedly earned $500.

Before or after taxes, we don’t know – so let’s work with what we have.

$500 divided by four days would be $125 per-day. Divided by five days would be $100 per-day and divided by four and one-half days would be $111.11 (rounded) per-day. If Jorge’s construction job entails an 8 hour work day this means he’s making about $13.88 per-hour. If it’s a 10 hour work day it would mean he’s making about $11.11 per-hour.

In either case, Jorge is making pretty good money by Oklahoma standards.
So why is it that Jorge can not seem to abide by Oklahoma and federal law?

That’s another question the Tulsa World does not seem to want to answer…

References:

Tulsa World Report – Detained despite green card: Legal, but not safe

Tulsa Court Records – STATE OF OKLAHOMA v. JORGE HERNANDEZ