That, readers, is a question we have been asking for months now as the number of trials for refugees committing violent crimes appear to be on the increase.
What did the Utah Burmese murder trial cost? What did the Albany Iraqi rape trial cost? What about the Somali terror trials in San Diego and Minneapolis? And, that Iraqi sex trafficking case in South Dakota? Interpreters alone cost the taxpayers a bundle!
From Lehigh Valley Live (Hat tip: the very busy ‘pungentpeppers’). Emphasis below is mine:
With prosecutors seeking the death penalty against a Bethlehem man accused of shooting his wife in the street in front of their children, a Lehigh County judge said today the cost of defending the man at trial could hit six figures.
But in the case of Win Min Htut, there is a question of how those bills will be paid.
Htut is charged with homicide, burglary and criminal trespass in the Dec. 17 killing of his wife, 37-year-old Thida Myint. Prosecutors said Htut killed Myint in the street in front of their Bethlehem home on the day a permanent protection-from-abuse order was granted against him.
Htut is represented by the public defender’s office, court-ordered by Judge Robert Steinberg. The deed for the family’s home in Bethlehem is in Htut’s name only, officials sad, and Htut has said he wants the house to be given to his three children.
In court today, Chief Public Defender Kimberly Makoul said Htut told his attorneys he does not want to spend any money on experts necessary for a death penalty case.
“Our client does not want any of his assets spent,” Makoul said.
Steinberg said this is not a new situation, in terms of case law, and that while Htut may not want to spend his own money, “it doesn’t mean the county has to absorb the costs.”
Here is my suggestion: The US State Department should be responsible for all of the refugee criminals that go before a court system. I know, I know, that is taxpayer money too, but at least if someone (brave!) introduced such a bill in Congress it would get the public’s attention.
Then of course there is the much more intriguing idea of billing the resettlement contractors when their refugees break the law!
Note to “welcoming” communities—consider the case of Win Min Htut when you open your doors to more refugees.
Pennsylvania is in the top five preferred resettlement states in America.
How many Burmese in the US:
Here is one accounting of how many we have resettled over the last 12 years from Burma and camps in Thailand. They are still coming.
*Burmese refugees resettled in the US since 2001: 97,713
*Chin Refugees resettled in the US since 2001: 30,453
*Karen Refugees resettled in the US since 2001: 57,962
*The rest ethnic groups from Burma in the US since 2001: 9297
This last number above would include Burmese Muslims/Rohingya