Question by Maricopa County: Do you feel sorry for this illegal or was justice served?
He was one of 107 Mexican men who had started out that morning in shackles at the York County Prison and had been placed by immigration officials on a chartered plane at Harrisburg International Airport for a flight to the border. The journey was part of a now daily exodus that has made the south-central region of Pennsylvania a critical hub in the federal government’s efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.

Now 37, Mr. Cruz had not been in his native country since crossing illegally more than two decades before. He was leaving behind his parents, siblings, a young daughter he hardly knew and a seven-year prison stint in Virginia that followed a 2002 night of binge drinking and a hit-and-run crash. He had no clothes except his brown prison jumpsuit and a pair of blue slippers.Mr. Cruz, who became a devout Christian during his time in prison, plans to continue his religious studies and spread the word of God as a Mennonite missionary in his homeland.When Mr. Cruz crossed the border as a teenager in the 1980s, it was “kind of easy,” he said last month while awaiting deportation. The United States had far fewer border patrol agents than it has today.

His parents were already living in Los Angles, and Mr. Cruz wanted to join them. Most of his four brothers and three sisters would make similar journeys.

After a decade living on the west coast, the family decided to move to Harrisonburg, Va., to get away from the growing dangers of gangs and crime in Los Angeles. In Virginia, Mr. Cruz found work in a poultry factory, where he put turkeys on hooks before they were slaughtered.

By then, Mr. Cruz’s older brother had developed a drinking problem. Mr. Cruz, a regular churchgoer, initially resisted such temptations. But he soon started drinking with his brother.

“It was just little by little,” he said. “Then I was an alcoholic.”

The pair also smoked marijuana, despite admonitions from their parents. Mr. Cruz attended rehabilitation programs, but he didn’t have any success until he left his family to live on his own in Phoenix.

There he met Rosario Mendoza, a devoted Christian who helped him recover from his addictions. She also persuaded him to reconcile with his parents and return to Virginia. Mr. Cruz brought Ms. Mendoza with him, and the couple had a daughter named Paula.

Mr. Cruz also reconnected with his old group of friends, and he again started drinking and using drugs.

In November 2002, an intoxicated Mr. Cruz tried to drive home after watching a boxing match. He struck a woman’s car and kept driving before crashing again. He woke up in the hospital with a broken shoulder and neck and chest injuries. He later learned that the woman in the car had been pregnant and suffered a miscarriage.

During his first night in prison, Mr. Cruz tried to hang himself with a sweater. Guards put him under suicide watch.

At the prison health clinic, a nurse gave him a Bible and told him, “I’ll be praying for you.”

Her words provided comfort. Mr. Cruz resolved to change. He pleaded guilty to criminal charges and accepted a 10-year prison sentence and the loss of his visa to stay in the United States, which his parents had helped him get a decade before.

At Green Rock Correctional Center in Chatham, Va., Mr. Cruz immersed himself in Christianity, attending Bible study and theology classes sponsored by Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University. He served as a translator at weekend services for other Latinos in the prison.

Best answer:

Answer by Tom
No. I feel justice was served. He is, after all, an ILLEGAL immigrant.

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