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Investigative Reporter Laura Geller shows how an immigrant in this country illegally changed one local man's life.

Immigration reform has become a hot-button issue dividing the country. Politicians, lawyers, and activists give their opinions, but it's not often we hear personal stories related to the topic.

An immigrant, who came to the United States illegally, changed the life of a father in Virginia Beach on March 30, 2007.

I remember all of it, Ray Tranchant said. I'll remember it for the rest of my life.

Tessa Tranchant

Tranchant's 16-year-old daughter, Tessa, and her friend, 17-year-old Allison Kunhardt were two kids having fun on a Friday night.

The girls just had watched a movie. They ran out to pick up a pack of gum at the WaWa down the street. Ali was driving. She stopped at a red light on Virginia Beach Boulevard. The girls sat there, waiting for the light to turn green.

Tessa Tranchant's friend,Allison Kunhardt

Alfredo Ramos also was on Virginia Beach Boulevard that night. Police said Ramos, who was in the country illegally, was drunk behind the wheel. He smashed his car into the back of Ali's car. She and Allison died.

I got a call from a police officer that said, 'We need you to come to the hospital, he recalled. Your daughter's been involved in an accident.' I said 'Okay, I'll be there in five minutes.' I lived near there. Then, Tessa's mom called and was screaming and said, 'Tessa's dead!'

Two phone calls. Two lives lost. Many people changed forever.

It was that movie, like you're in a movie, 'cause everything is so surreal, Tranchant described. Someone met me there and escorted me back to where they were laying on a gurney with a blanket over them. I was in total disbelief that she is sitting there, dead.

Tranchant told told 13News Now, Alfredo Ramos was intensely inebriated He added, He had a .3-something alcohol-blood level.

Tranchant said he learned the true meaning of tragedy when Ramos went on trial for the deaths of Tessa and Ali, deaths he believes were preventable.

Court records showed Alfredo Ramos was convicted of public drunkenness in Virginia Beach and driving under the influence in Chesapeake in the months before the wreck, but that didnt prevent him from getting behind the wheel that night in 2007. It also didn't allow authorities to deport him to his home country of Mexico at the time. Tranchant said not once was Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contacted.

When asked if he thinks the girls would be alive if contact with ICE had been made, and if more had been done to keep Ramos from driving, Tranchant responded, I believe they would. He noted, I'm not God, and I don't know what happens in the big scheme of things, but at that moment, I know they'd be alive.

Tranchant has been working with the Trump administration on immigration reform. He's become an activist, even testifying before Congress.

I'm not against immigration, he stated. I'm just for legal immigration and that's what I stand for.

Every day he sees stories on the news of families ripped apart when ICE deports someone. Every day his memory goes back to the little girl he never got to see grow up.

He can stay in touch with his kids, Tranchant said. It may not be comfortable, but he can stay in touch with them. He can Facebook them. He can talk to them. He can talk to them on the phone. We can't. Our families are dead, so we don't have sympathy for that.

Ramos pleaded guilty to the crimes and has served 10 years of a 24-year sentence at the Greensville Correctional Center.

We requested an interview with him, and he agreed to one.

13News Now Laura Geller sat down with Alfredo Ramos, the man who took the lives of two young girls while driving drunk.

Alfredo Ramos entered the United States illegally, hoping to pursue the American Dream.

Instead, he ended the dreams and the lives of 16-year-old Tessa Tranchant and 17-year-old Allison Kunhardt in 2007.

Ten years after Ramos got drunk and crashed into the car in which the girls were, Ramos talked about that night, how he came to be in the country, and what he wants the families of Tessa and Ali to know.

13News Now requested an interview with the Greensville Correctional Center inmate, and he agreed to it.

Alfredo Ramos (Photo: Department of Corrections)

13News Nows Lucy Bustamante served as translator for the telephone conversation with Ramos who originally is from Mexico.

First, he wants to start off with saying that it's a blessing that your call came to him because it's been in his heart to be able to get the message to the parents of how sorry he is, Bustamante said.

Ramos took us back to the night of March 30, 2007.

He says that he was by himself most of the day and around nine o'clock at night he decided to call it quits at the local bar he was at, Bustamante relayed.

Ramos got behind the wheel of his car and smashed into the car in which Tessa and Ali were. The girls were stopped at a red light on Virginia Beach Boulevard in Virginia Beach. Tessa and Ali died in the crash.

We asked Ramos if he knew he was too drunk to drive at that point.

At that time, he was aware that he was that drunk, but he was much younger, and he felt invincible, Bustamante translated.

Ramos wanted Tessa's and Ali's families to know it was never his intention to hurt anyone.

He says that the vice that he was involved with was alcohol, Bustamante said. He had that vice because of the hardship of coming to this country and leaving everything behind.

Ramos gave us the details of what he did to get to the United States including all the illegal things. With more than 10 years left to serve on his sentence after which time hell be deported back to Mexico there is no reason to hold back.

Like many who come here illegally, he crossed the border hoping for a better life.

He didn't have anything in his country, and he came for what he thought was the American Dream, Bustamante said.

Ramos told us he walked four days through the desert from Sonora, Mexico to Mesa, Arizona.

Ramos, like others who are here illegally, found that pursuing the American Dream, doesn't come easily. There is an irony to the situation.

When they come to this country, in order for them to work, they need identification and because they're illegal they have a hard time getting any sort of document to support their ability to work, which was their goal in coming here to begin with, Bustamante stated.

Ramos found out about a group of people in North Carolina who had the equipment to make identification documents. He drove there and paid cash to get the paperwork.

They knew they were getting a fake ID, but it was good enough to be able to provide them what they needed to start working, said Bustamante.

We asked Ramos if, after all thats happened, he wishes he had entered the U.S. legally.

He says if he would have had the means to do it, he would have done it legally, but that there is an entire population that cannot afford to go through the legal door, Bustamante explained.

To those who come to the United States to chase the dream he once pursued: The message to younger people that may have the privilege of being here is don't blow it like he did, said Bustamante.

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After His Daughter's Death: Father advocates immigration reform ... - 13newsnow.com

Opinions about the new administrations approach to immigration reform varies widely among Greenhouse Growers Top 100 Growers. Many say they are very concerned about the potential impact on agricultures guestworker programs. Others say the entire guestworker program needs to be overhauled to be simpler and easier to use for growers, and hope that this will be part of the reform efforts. And some seem to be generally in favor of the current methods.

I am in favor of securing the borders but want a simple system for legal residency. Dale Buist, Countryside Greenhouse and Farm Market

All this talk has made huge waves in the migrant labor workforce. Continuing this path will create an even greater shortage of employees willing to do our type of work. Mark Worley, Speedling, Inc.

[Trump] is only enforcing and not reforming. We will lose a lot of our best employees if this continues/expands. Lisa Wenke Ambrosio, Wenke/Sunbelt Greenhouses

Alarming. More work needs to be done to measure any impact in immigration reform. Jose Rodriguez, United Nursery

The border needs to be secured with real guestworker programs. Not working currently. James Russell, Armstrong Growers

Immigration reform is needed, but we must first enforce current laws on the books in an orderly and compassionate manner. There is risk for the current guestworker programs, but we need to focus on enforcing current laws first before enacting any new ones. Abe VanWingerden, Metrolina Greenhouses

I think our borders should be closed. if people are here illegally, there needs to be a way for them to get right at a cost to them, not the American people, or go home to wherever they came from. It will impact us, but this needs to be done. George Lucas, Lucas Greenhouses

Uncertain labor future at the moment no clear plans from the new administration yet. Erik Van Wingerden, Myriad Flowers International

Dont feel there will be an impact on guestworker programs. Cathy Kowalczyk, Willoway Nurseries

Guest workers: Expand on the program. President Trump we are behind getting rid of illegal criminals. Richard Wilson, Colorama and La Verne Nurseries

The H-2A program needs to be revised to allow more workers into the country to meet the labor needs of greenhouse, nursery and traditional farmers. Jason Parks, Barks Brothers Farm

In a tight labor market, immigrants do not take Americans jobs; they do the jobs most Americans do not want. Bernie Heimos, N.G. Heimos Greenhouses

We hope the program runs smoother in the initial crossing. Has so far. Wayne Cousins, Casa Verde Greenhouses/Petitti Garden Centers

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The Top 100 Growers Speak Out on Changes Needed in ... - Greenhouse Grower (blog)

On Tuesday, protesters outside the Turkish embassy in Washington were beaten up, allegedly by security guards for Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Video showed protesters being kicked and stomped, sometimes in the head. Eleven people were injured, including a D.C. police officer. Two men were arrested, and police are seeking more suspects though if they are members of Ergodan's security detail, they may have diplomatic immunity. The Trump administration has stayed silent on the violence in the nation's capital.

Also Tuesday, in The New York Times' bombshell story about then-FBI Director James Comey being asked by Trump to lay off the investigation over Russian meddling in the 2016 election, there was this disturbing tidbit: Trump, an associate of Comey's said, told Comey to think about putting reporters in prison for publishing classified data. Marty Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, told The Times that Trump's request was "an act of intimidation."

On Wednesday, after a speech to the graduating class of the Coast Guard Academy in which he complained about his treatment by the media, Donald Trump was presented with a ceremonial saber. With the mic still on, John Kelly, Trump's Homeland Security secretary, joked to Trump, "Use that on the press, sir." Trump laughed.

Each of these examples, in isolation, would be troubling coming from "the leader of the free world," as we often call the president of the United States. But these are just the latest examples of a clear pattern of disrespect and distrust from a man who has called the press an "enemy of the people."

PEN America, the human-rights organization that defends writers, recently issued a report detailing the attacks on the press in the first 100 days Trump has been in office. For lovers of free expression and good journalism, it reads like something by Stephen King.

In the report, PEN America listed 76 instances of Trump or his people undermining the press by attacking either the media in general or specific outlets as "fake news," or by restricting access to government officials. The administration has placed gag orders on government employees, threatening them with their jobs if they talk to reporters.

Other actions don't just affect journalists, PEN America reports. The administration has removed information from government websites. It has accused people at marches, rallies and town halls of being paid professionals, an effort to delegitimize peaceful protest. It requires travelers to give U.S. border agents access to their electronic devices, including passwords to their social media which could have a chilling effect on free expression.

The reason these attacks from Trump are so dangerous is the same reason the Founding Fathers made the press the one profession mentioned in the Bill of Rights. It's because without a free press, vigorously keeping a check on the government, there would be no democracy and no United States of America.

Sean P. Means writes The Cricket in daily blog form at http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/moviecricket. Follow him on Twitter @moviecricket. Email him at spmeans@sltrib.com.

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Sean P. Means: Trump's attacks on First Amendment aren't just saber-rattling - Salt Lake Tribune

Representative Val Demings may be the first Democrat to admit to how the left views the First Amendment. The Florida Congresswoman replied to a critical comment by saying, My First Amendment Right is different from yours. Any honest political observer has to admit that this is a salvo in the war the left and Democrats are currently waging on free speech. They try their best to silence any speech that does not fit their dogma, and Demings, intentionally or not, just revealed the game plan.

Whether it comes in the form of campuses silencing speakers who offend their student snowflakes or via government officials regulating elections, efforts to stop or limit opposing viewpoints should be deeply troubling to all. Most troubling are the movements being led by Democrat lawyers and liberal law professors, the very people who traditionally have been defenders of the First Amendment.

The American legal system tells us that Justice is blind, but someone should tell that to the Democrats who propose election speech initiatives that only benefit their side. A great example is Sen. Chuck Schumers, and other Senate Democrats, sponsorship of the very-misnamed We the People reform package. This package would restructure the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to include three members of the Presidents party and two of the opposition party, a change from its current composition of three Democrats and three Republicans with the possibility of deadlock as a check on power.

The FEC is set up to limit partisan restrictions of speech by one party or the other by making the FEC evenly split between the parties, with the votes of four commissionersa minimum of bipartisan agreementrequired for it to take any action. This legislation was an obvious effort by Schumer and Democrats to chill or limit the political speech of Republicans, libertarians, Green Party members, and even non-establishment Democrats when they thought Hillary Clinton was a lock to win the White House. It comes as no surprise they have not reintroduced the proposal under President Trump.

No one should doubt the lefts ideals on speech go only one way. Democrat members on the FEC went after Fox News for get this too much speech in allowing too many candidates in a Republican primary debate the network hosted, while ignoring CNN when it did the same thing. Fortunately, the three Republicans on the commission blocked their colleagues, followed the law and were ideologically consistent in opposing efforts to go after CNN and Fox, so nothing came of the Democrat witch hunt.

One of those Democratic commissioners, Ann Ravel, who has since resigned, even proposed regulating the internet, including individual Facebook and blog posts. She even voted to regulate internet speech despite a longstanding FEC policy not to regulate such speech. Is there any doubt that three Democrat commissioners under the Schumer FEC plan would fine and regulate Republican posts while ignoring Democrat posts? (In fairness, Democrat party leaders would also go after an outsider candidate like Bernie Sanders over an establishment candidate like Hillary Clinton. Remember the leaked DNC emails?)

More frightening than limiting and regulating the speech of everyday Americans trying to speak on political issues is government seeking to punish and prosecute those who want to speak out against them. Make no mistake, the IRSs political targeting of Tea Party and other conservative non-profit groups beginning in 2010 was an attempt to silence opposition voices that were not friendly to Democrats or government power.

The left continues to double down and stop opposing speech even among its own members. Consider the liberal outcry against the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Yes, Democrats oppose integrity in the electoral system, apparently.

Marc Elias, Hillarys lawyer and now the lawyer of choice in Democrat fights against free speech, leveled a warning to any Democrat who serves on a commission to study vote fraud and how to make elections better. He said: No Democrat should serve on Trumps new voter suppression commission. Period. Similarly, Bob Bauer, President Obamas lawyer and Elias current colleague, said: [E]lection administration experts should keep their distance from the commission. Professor Rick Hasen, promoter of liberal talking points, wrote on his Election Law Blog Not sure what Democrat or election professional would be on a commission with Secretary of State Kris Kobach or former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Hasens probably correct: its safe to assume few Democrats are courageous enough to cross Elias.

And remember, freedom of association is part of our First Amendment rights. But according to Elias, Bauer, and Hasen, a Democrat cannot even associate with Republicans without repercussions.

Fortunately for the country, some Democrats are willing stand up to the bullying from the Democrat legal establishment. The commission does include Democrats, including arguably the most qualified election official in the country and longest-serving Secretary of State, William Gardner of New Hampshire, the only truly purple state in the Northeast. Gardner has done such a good job in the opinion of the people of New Hampshire that he has survived the changing tides of Republican and Democrat leadership.

The real problem for Elias, Bauer, and Hasen is they fear that Gardner will be an honest broker, not a blind partisan, who will look past who is President and how much the results of the commission benefit Democrats. He will assess the true state of elections in this country, determine public confidence in election results, evaluate election integrity, and very likely not simply regurgitate Democratic talking points.

One wonders if the establishment left fears free speech in our electoral process so much because in a free debate, they will lose. And lets not forget that Democrats, including Elias, are privately very concerned about ineligible voters, but only when their favored candidates victories are at stake.

To his credit, Bernie Sanders showed that at least some Democrats still support free speech and intellectual discussion, even if they are increasingly outsiders within their own party. Sanders condemned the successful effort to stop Ann Coulter from speaking at UC Berkeley: But you know, people have a right to . . . give a speech, without fear of violence and intimidation. . . . To me, its a sign of intellectual weakness . . . . Confront her intellectually. Booing people down, or intimidating people, or shutting down events, I dont think that that works in any way.

Of course, that sort of intellectual discussion and competition is what establishment Democrats fear most. Dissent is not allowed among todays establishment Democrats, which may be why they rigged the primary to defeat Sanders and continue to fight every effort to protect the right to speak freely regardless of political party or ideology.

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Democrats Think Their First Amendment Is Different (And Superior) - The Daily Caller

On the same day the president of Northwestern University told the Wall Street Journal it was sometimes appropriate to restrict speech on campus, disruptive students prevented an in-class speech by an official from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

An ICE spokeswoman was scheduled to talk to a Northwestern sociology class on Tuesdayone half of a two-part lesson, now cancelled, that would have also included a speech by an undocumented immigrant.

Protestors initially stood outside the classroom chanting F**k ICE. They were then admitted to the classroom, where they interrupted the talk and aggressively confronted both the ICE representative and the professor who had invited her, the student newspaper reported. The ICE officer left without completing her speech.

That same day, the Wall Street Journal published an interview with Northwesterns president, Morton Schapiro, where he defended safe spaces and said that offensive speech targeting specific individuals or groups might, in some circumstances, be considered assault, not free speech.

You want to protect the First Amendment, obviously, but it isnt absolute, Schapiro said. People reduce it to slogans or free speech at all costs.

Schapiro also said: I will just say that if you shut down freedom of speech, you better have a really good reason. I think if you shut down anything, you better be really sure that you have a moral and legal justification to do it. Thats my view.

The protestors came from MEChA, a campus Chicano group; Black Lives Matter, the Immigrant Justice Project, the Asian American Pacific Coalition and various LGBT campus groups, the Daily Northwestern reported.

On Facebook, MEChA defended shutting down the ICE officials talk:

Dialogue with any ICE official legitimizes their position as state actors of violence.The presence of an ICE PR agent whose sole purpose is to make ICE look good and recruit students implies university complicity and encouragement of the actions of this organization. We do not engage in conversations with ICE in any way, shape or form regardless of their position.

Citing security and privacy concerns, Beth Redbird, the professor who invited the ICE official to speak, said she had cancelled a scheduled talk by an undocumented immigrant. Her class focuses on inequality in American society with an emphasis on race, class and gender.

In a discussion with students, Redbird defended her decision to invite the ICE representative, the Daily Northwestern reported. All they did was come here today to answer questions so you know whats going on, so that you are informed and so you can make decisions. If you want to make change in a community, you need to know whats going on, she said.

In a jointstatement, Schapiro and Northwesterns provost said they were deeply disappointed in students disrespectful, inappropriate behavior Tuesday.

While we understand the point of view expressed by the students protesting the guest lecturers invited to speak here, the resulting disturbance not only limited the academic inquiry central to our campus, it also forced invited speakers to leave and violated the rights of other enrolled students who were present to learn. Free expression must be protected and should be countered with more debate, close examination and critical thinkingnot censorship, their statement said.

The university also said it was reviewing the facts around the protests so it could take appropriate action.

Earlier this week, the Northwestern chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine hosted Rasmea Odeh, a woman convicted for a terrorist attack; her group, the PopularFront for the Liberation of Palestine had planted a bomb in a box of candy, which killed two college studentswhen it detonated agrocery storein Jerusalem.Pro-Israel groups on campuscondemned the event as an affront to the sanctity of life, saying it crosses a moral line.

In a statement, Northwestern Hillel announced it would hold a silent vigil for Odehs victims outside of the venue. This will be a silent, non-confrontational vigil, the group said. We will not attempt to disrupt the event in any way.Our goal is not to protest free speech, but instead to mourn the victims ofthe convicted terrorist who is speaking on our campus.

Schapiro joined about 150 students, professors and staffers who attended the vigil.

Jillian Kay Melchior writes for Heat Street and is a fellow for the Steamboat Institute and the Independent Womens Forum.

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Northwestern Students Shut Down Speech as President Says First Amendment 'Not Absolute' - Heat Street