The suicide of 18-year-old Joaquin Luna in Mission, Texas, over the Thanksgiving holiday, is a sad and senseless tragedy. Exploiting the suicide of a teenager for political gain is shameful. Embellishing on what a distraught young man wrote in his suicide note in order to create a martyr for you cause is nothing short of reprehensible. Yet, that is precisely what illegal alien advocacy groups, and even a member of Congress, have done since Luna took his own life. They and others have claimed in the media and the halls of Congress that Luna, who was an illegal alien, committed suicide out of despair over Congress’s failure to pass the DREAM Act.
Groups like the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights, a strident pro-amnesty group based in Los Angeles, seized on Luna’s death to demand passage of the DREAM Act. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, who represents the Texas district where Luna lived, took to the floor of the House to present his “Urge Support for the DREAM Act – Honor the Life of Joaquin Luna.” Other groups have joined the effort to represent Luna as a martyr for their cause.
Except that Luna’s 11-page suicide note did not mention the DREAM Act – a fact that has in no way dampened the effort by amnesty groups to exploit his death. It is impossible to fully comprehend the suicide of an 18-year-old, but as best Joaquin Luna could explain it to us and his family, it was not because Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act.
Clearly the limits on what he could accomplish in the United States as an illegal alien added to his sense of desperation. Even opponents of the DREAM Act empathize with the situation that Luna and many like him find themselves. Whenever anyone takes his own life, questions need to be asked. In this case, the first question must be posed to his parents: Mr. & Mrs. Luna, wasn’t it obvious to you that when you consciously broke the law and brought your young son to this country illegally that you were creating an untenable situation for him? It’s a question that millions of parents who have acted in the same way as the Lunas should contemplate.