Parents Blame Lax Immigration Enforcement for Son's Death

ACWORTH, Ga. -- Time is not a friend to the Inmans, Billy and Kathy.

"We miss Dustin so much," Kathy said Tuesday night.

Nine years earlier, to the day, on June 16, 2000, a driver rear-ended the Inmans' car, killing their only child, 16 year old Dustin Inman. Dustin's dad, Billy, was injured. So was Dustin's mom, Kathy -- forcing her to use a wheelchair to this day.

"He was one, good kid," Billy said Tuesday night of his son and best friend.

Billy's t-shirt had Dustin's photo on the front, along with the words, "In Memory of My Hunting Buddy."

"I've not been fishing since this has happened. Me and my son used to go fishing a couple times a week. We'd hunt, we coon hunted and deer hunted all the time."

Time has not restored the Inmans.

And time has not brought the other driver to justice:

Gonzalo Harrell-Gonzalez, then 32 years old, escaped, a few hours after the wreck.

"Gonzalo Harrell-Gonzalez is still on the loose," Billy said. "And this is a problem that can happen to you or somebody you know."

The problem the Inmans want solved -- illegal immigration.

Gonzalez was an illegal immigrant.

The Inmans gathered Tuesday night with friends at Dustin's grave in Acworth to pray.

The Inmans blame Dustin's death on the U.S. government, for not enforcing immigration laws -- for not keeping Gonzalez out of the U.S. or for not deporting him before he caused the wreck -- as much as they blame Gonzalez.

"First of all, they need to secure our borders and enforce the laws," Inman said. "They say that we're busting up families by deporting them," he added, then pointed to Kathy sitting in her wheelchair next to Dustin's grave -- "This is busting up the families, here."

The way Billy Inman understands it, "There's going to be crime everywhere. There's crime with whites, blacks, Hispanics, yellow, browns, everything. But most of them are accountable."

Gonzalez, he said, is harder for police to find because he is undocumented.

"They're just off the books."

The Inmans praise police for never giving up the hunt for Gonzalez.

And the Inmans understand what many people often tell them -- that crimes are committed by legal and illegal residents all the time, regardless of their residency status.

It's a viewpoint the Inmans just don't see. It's a debate that time has not resolved.

For two completely different views of what some Metro Atlantans believe "immigration reform" should involve, go to the website put together in the Inmans' name,

And go to the website of GALEO, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials.