An Emily Litella moment for the right: Shooting suspect not illegal immigrant

An Emily Litella moment

Well, well, well.

After a week of breathless blogging -- and Sunday morning pontificating-- from the right, an Emily Litella moment...

Never mind.

As I've said from the start, the suspect's immigration status is irrelevant. But the right wing couldn't resist using it as a way to whip up more anti-immigrant hysteria. (Let me just say as an aside, to my friends on the left, that it was a little lonely out here sometimes during the last week.)

From JS Daywatch:

Suspected park shooter a legal US resident

The man who police believe fatally shot two people and wounded three others in South Shore Park on Memorial Day appears to be a legal resident of the United States, federal immigration officials said today.

Octaviano Juarez-Corro is a "legal permanent resident of the United States with a green card," said Gail Montenegro, spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Chicago.

Montenegro said Milwaukee police had run a search on the immigration database, located in Chicago, but local detectives maintained last week that Juarez-Corro was in the country illegally.

Police Capt. Tim Burkee was surprised by the miscommunication, but reiterated they still suspect Juarez-Corro has fled the country.

"We don't know for sure because we don't have good intelligence there," he said. "And we don't have the legal authority to go into Mexico and get him even if we have a warrant."

Burkee said that whether the suspect is a legal or illegal resident of the United States, he is still a citizen of Mexico, and more likely to escape prosecution there because Mexico does not extradite citizens wanted for American crimes that might receive the death penalty or life in prison.

A "provisional warrant," issued by the federal government, rather than the typical "governor's warrant," issued by the state, could grant law enforcement the authority to retrieve Juarez-Corro. But that process could take months, said Burkee.

Earlier post: Speaking Spanish? Must be illegal.

Jay Bullock: Let the retractions roll.

Timothy Rock: Mistakes happen -- a lot.

UPDATE: Who's sorry now?