JEANETTE TAMAYO KIDNAPPED, MOTHER & BROTHER ATTACKED

Nine-year-old Jennette Tamayo was kidnapped from her San Jose house on June 6 after her arrival at around 4 pm. A surveilance video revealed that the kidnapper waited outside in his car for the girl to enter the house. The girl's mother and 15-year-old brother arrived half a few minutes later and couldn't open the garage door to enter. When the brother ducked underneath the door he was attacked and choked by the intruder. The mother got in and tried to fight off the man, but he managed to escape with Jennette in his car. An Amber Alert was put into effect soon after. Police were concerned the Latino man who kidnapped Jennette was headed for Mexico, where he would be safe from American prosecution which is known to deal harshly with child kidnappers. Update: Jennette walked into an east Palo Alto convenience store a couple days after her abduction. Her detailed description enabled police to arrest the suspect just a few hours later, also not far from her home. After some reports that the man used at least three aliases, mainly Enrique Alvarez, writer Michelle Malkin confirmed that the kidnapper is indeed an illegal alien.

DANA PEVIA

• Dana Pevia was kidnapped from her North Carolina school bus stop in 1999 when she was only 11. In March, 2003, she was able to escape her captivity in Mexico and visit the American Consulate in Guadalahara. The officials there contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and through them reached Dana's mother Wanda was contacted. Dana returned home a few days later with her two children. The apparent kidnapper Hector Frausto, a "Mexican construction worker," was arrested in North Carolina on March 27. Dana was evidently forcibly kept captive by his family in Mexico for much of that time. She was only able to get away because she had the help of a sympathetic neighbor. The unasked question is why the obvious suspect's family in Mexico was not investigated four years ago. Was the unhelpful Mexican legal system being obstructionist yet again?

LAURA AYALA

Thirteen-year-old Laura Ayala went missing in March 2002, taken just a few feet from in her home in Houston. At this writing, there is no child and no body, although blood identified as being hers was identified in 2002 in the car of men believed to be connected with her abduction. Because of some evidence that she had been taken to Mexico, part of the search has been there. One complication was Houston's policy of "sanctuary" which disallows police from investigating a person's citizenship status. Illegal alien Walter Alexander Sorto was in police hands for traffic tickets but could not be deported because of the sanctuary policy: he is believed to be connected in Laura Ayala's disappearance which occurred several months after the ticket problem. Houston police office John Nickell testified before Congress (2/27/02) about how sanctuary laws inhibit the effectiveness of beat cops to deal with criminals and prevent crime.