Putting the Blame Where It Belongs--on a Drunk Driver
Tipping Point For Outrage In Hampton Roads Area, '07 Deaths of Teens Fuel Policies on Immigrants
By Karin Brulliard Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, June 5, 2008; B01
VIRGINIA BEACH
There have been no major flaps over day-labor sites here, or boiling controversies over immigrant boardinghouses or schools crowded with children who don't speak English.
But a group has formed to fight illegal immigration. Calls about the issue to the area's congresswoman have swelled. And Ray and Colette Tranchant want to sue the government over what they call its failure to enforce immigration laws.
The catalyst was a tragedy that roiled the Hampton Roads area and triggered stiffer local policies on illegal immigrants.
In March 2007, the Tranchants' daughter Tessa, 16, and her best friend, Alison Kunhardt, 17, were killed in a car crash caused by a drunk driver who had a police record and was in the country illegally.
"What happened in Virginia Beach is they woke up Saturday morning and realized no…