Oops, they did it again
For there to be an equivalency, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date on which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not to be encountered in private life.
Albert Camus
Heliberto Chi Aceituno, 29, was pronounced dead at 6:25 pm Texas time (2325 GMT) Thursday (7-Aug) after receiving lethal injection at a death chamber in Huntsville, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement.
Chi was convicted of murder after killing his former employer in a 2001 Arlington store robbery. While the question of Chi’s guilt isn’t in doubt, this time Texas managed to justify their execution by basically claiming “Well, at least we didn’t kill a Mexican.”
Chi was originally arrested in California, where he should have had consular access before his extradition to Texas, and this execution violated not just the Vienna Convention, but a separate 1927 treaty between the United States and Honduras.
As a result of the execution, Honduran authorities are having to take special measures to protect the twelve United States citizens in their prisons from possible reprisals by fellow convicts.
(several sources: AFP, Houston Chronicle, Dos Centavos)
mexfiles.net 
If he was a Mexican, what was he doing in Texas longer than 60 days? He was an American as far as I am concerned. Any American who commits the crime of murder in any nation deserves the death penalty either the fast man-made death or a slow natural death via life in prison. The more humane thing is to let the criminals choose their punishment. This guy gets no sympathy from me other than the fact that he didn’t get to choose the meathod of his own death. That to me is the only injustice here. He definitly did not deserve deportation, no criminal does. All illegal immigrants deserve to be treated as American Citizens in all aspects of life. Except socialist benefits of course, no one but the physically disabled deserve a handout from taxpayers.
Chi was no choirboy, and 60 day residency might be a good idea for all I know, but the issue is whether the United States can be trusted to honor its treaties, not Chi’s nationality ( HONDURAN, not Mexican), nor his immigration status.
Chi would appear to be covered by that 1927 Treaty between the United States and Honduras. Article IV, paragraph 2 of the United States Constitution reads:
“All Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution [of any State] or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. ”
For Latin American governments, the issue is whether or not the U.S. can be trusted to honor its commitments in other areas, or whether it will defer to states when convenient.
I hate playing these shell games that use criminals and Justice as pawns. The US government is hard to trust, look at how many administrations have come and gone since 1927.
I don’t think that it matters, the US needs to violate treaties when the “citizen” of that country violates visa laws. At that point we should consider all illegal immigrants as citizens and only deport them after they have served their full sentance. This also means letting our dumb-ass citizens face justice abroad when a legitament crime has taken place, like that Sigapore incident in the 90’s where that American teenager spray painted cars and was sentanced to a caining.
This pressure on illegal immigrants rewards good behavior. I just wish that it was easier, cheaper, and faster to become a legal citizen. Terrorism is the concern that people in the US invest a little too much fear to justify this issue. Protectionism and Socialist based Xenophobia, you know the argument that illegal immigrants steal government services to me is unjustified. It completely ignores the greater evil of socialism and makes it sound like illegal immigrants are welfare recipients. Most of them are capitalists, I think that this was the reason that President Bush took their side despite the public backlash.
The more that Capitalism and Economic freedom is favored, the less that will be spent on the welfare state. Once this happens, illegal immigration will be favored. This is the battle that libertarians futily fight. Our cause won’t be mainstream for atleast 40 to 50 years.