The senseless death of an 18-year-old Air Force Academy cadet candidate kayaking on Grapevine Lake over Memorial Day weekend is a reminder of the strength of everyday Texans and a lesson in the failure of American politics.
Immediately after a jet ski driver recklessly struck Ava Moore, people on the lake that day sprang into action. They tried to render aid before paramedics arrived. And when the jet ski’s suspected driver, Daikerlyn Alejandra Gonzalez Gonzalez, pulled onto the beach and tried to flee, people in the crowd did all they could to stop her, knowing the seriousness of what had happened.
We then saw the best of law enforcement, represented at a news conference after Gonzalez, 21, and Maikel Alexander Coello Perozo, 21, were arrested in a Dallas home where detectives had tracked them.
Texas Game Warden Captain Joseph Quintero led a professional and detailed explanation of the facts as they were known, answering questions that clarified what happened that day. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement leader then explained that both Gonzalez and Coello had entered the country without authorization two years ago, been processed and released on their own recognizance pending an immigration hearing. Coello came through a port of entry, while Gonzalez crossed the border illegally and was arrested, according to authorities.
During the news conference, officials delivered a statement from Moore’s grieving family. Their words were filled with thanks, love, forgiveness and, of course, pain. What they offered at the worst moment of their lives was an extraordinary expression of grace and decency.
The words and actions described above deserve reflection in light of the failure of our political leadership, both in the face of this crisis and over many years.
The inability of multiple presidential administrations and of Congress to address a broken immigration system that saw our laws flouted year after year led to a belief among migrants that the United States simply did not police its border.
Immigrants like Gonzalez and Coello understood that they could step foot anywhere on U.S. soil, claim asylum, and be released with a court date. They could then live for years with little or no accountability for the credibility of their claims.
Assuming the statements of ICE accurately describe their lack of legal status, neither should have been in the country in the first place. Their asylum claims, if any, should have been quickly adjudicated. America’s immigration laws must be enforced so that they are respected.
But if those laws must be respected, so must all rule of law. When Gov. Greg Abbott took to social media and callously wrote, “Welcome to Texas. Here’s your Death Penalty,” he diminished everything law enforcement was doing at that very moment.
We live in a system of laws, where people are offered due process and where the meting out of punishment is the most serious and somber end of that process of determining guilt.
The death penalty, the power of the state to take a human life, isn’t material for cowboy-tough tweets from the elected leader of our state. It belittles our justice system, and it undermines the work of law enforcement on the ground. Quintero was forced to answer a question about Abbott’s crass statement and explain that the charge issued against Gonzalez so far was manslaughter, a crime that doesn’t amount to a death penalty case.
Politicians can learn something from watching how people doing the actual work comported themselves over the last few days. They were professional, straightforward and sober-minded. They can learn something from the Moore family, who found words of grace in their suffering. They can learn something about not playing to the mob, the lowest common thought, and instead about reaching higher to elevate us all.
Ava Moore’s death is a deep wound, and she deserves justice. We have confidence she will get it, not because of those we have elected, but because of those who serve and live among us.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here.
If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at