Amazing that the word "Immigrant" is used in this headline—well done, Akron Beacon-Journal!

Immigrant held in shooting death of bank executive

Detectives say man suspected in four homicides confessed to February slaying of Akron woman

Published on Friday, Apr 08, 2011

Jacquelyn Hidler (left) and Muziwokuthula Madonda.An immigrant who studied ministry and traveled the United States in search of riches for his impoverished parents in South Africa is suspected in four homicides, including this winter's slaying of a FirstMerit executive in Akron.

Muziwokuthula Madonda, 33, is a suspect in a string of homicides that started with the February robbery and shooting death of bank Vice President Jacquelyn Hilder.

On Thursday, Akron police Detectives John Bell and Michael Schaeffer confirmed that Madonda confessed to Hilder's death during a nearly three-hour interview last week in Houston.

Madonda was arrested in Texas on March 27 after fleeing New Mexico, where he is suspected in the robbery and slayings of two men whose bullet-riddled bodies were found stacked atop each other in a motel room.[More]

There's a tendency to think that immigrants who come here in search of a a better life will get that better life by either becoming small shopkeepers, or getting jobs. (There's also a tendency to think that all serial killers are white, but that's another story.)

Immigrants will become small shopkeepers in America if they were the kind of people who were small shopkeepers at home. They will get jobs in America, if they were the kind of people who had jobs at home. And if they were the kind of people who committed armed robbery and murder at home...then that's what they'll do in America.

The crimes that Muziwokuthula Madonda is accused of are common occurrences in South Africa. See here and here for stories of women who fought back and survived. But there are a lot who haven't.

Policymakers should not assume that refugees from various conflict-ridden places around the world are virtuous victims. They may be people who want a better life enough to kill for it.