preventable?

Driver accused in crash that killed director pleads not guilty
The man at the wheel of an SUV that killed Bob Clark and his son had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, police say.
Valerie Reitman & Andrew Blankstein, LA Times
4/6/07

Velazquez-Nava, 24, had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit when the crash occurred early Wednesday on Pacific Coast Highway, police said. He is a native of Mexico who federal authorities said was in the U.S. illegally.

Law enforcement sources said Velazquez-Nava pleaded guilty in 2005 in Los Angeles to a prostitution-related charge and was sentenced to two years' probation. He could face at least four to 10 years imprisonment if convicted of vehicular manslaughter.

Um, if he was in the country illegally why wasn't he deported in 2005?

And the answer is . . .

L.A. police immigrant policy faces another test
A group of city residents is preparing a challenge to the longtime LAPD policy that prohibits officers from inquiring about suspects' status.
Patrick McGreevy & Richard Winton, LA Times
4/11/07

The Los Angeles Police Department's landmark Special Order 40, which prohibits officers from inquiring about the immigration status of suspects, has come under an aggressive assault by anti-illegal immigrant activists who argue that it ties the hands of police.

I'm not in favor of building walls or the mass repatriation of undocumented immigrants but why once somone is arrested can't their citizenship be established? Citizenship seems like an easy question to ask and the answer should be relatively easy to verify.