There was a lot of coverage of Bob Clark's death, and federal officials are actually doing something about the suspect. Even if he makes bail on the vehicular manslaughter charges, the only place he's going is immigration detention. (Given Mexico's attitude towards extradition, any illegal alien should be considered a bail risk, but judges don't see it that way.)

Immigration hold placed on man arrested in Los Angeles filmmaker's death LOS ANGELES: U.S. authorities have placed an immigration hold on a 24-year-old Mexican national arrested on suspicion of driving drunk and causing the crash that killed "A Christmas Story" director Bob Clark and his son.

The action means Hector Velazquez-Nava, an illegal immigrant living in Los Angeles, will be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and placed in deportation proceedings once his local case is completed. He was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol and gross vehicular manslaughter, and was being held on $100,000 bail.

If he posts bail, Velazquez-Nava will be taken into federal custody, ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.

But this news item tell the other side of the story:

The number of immigrants prosecuted annually tripled during that five-year period, to 30,848 in fiscal year 2005, the most recent figures available. But that still represented less than 3 percent of the 1.17 million people arrested that year. The prosecution rate was just under 1 percent in 2001.

The likelihood of an illegal immigrant being prosecuted is ””to me, practically zero,'' said Kathleen Walker, president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Federal prosecutors along the nation's southern border have come under pressure from politicians and from top officials in the Justice Department to pursue more cases against illegal immigrants.Records show 98 percent of illegal border-crossers not prosecutedBy ALICIA A. CALDWELL/Associated Press, April 7, 2007