Still think we have an over-incarceration problem in this country, as the elites in both parties believe? Let me introduce you to Jose Reyes.

Over the weekend, Americans watched in shock and horror as images of a man throwing a 25-year-old woman on the ground on a Manhattan subway platform went viral over the internet. In a city that had been safe for a generation thanks to tough-on-crime policies, a criminal was undeterred from attempting to rape her in broad daylight on Saturday morning in one of the most public places in the city. On Sunday, police used the video to identify Jose Reyes, 31, as the suspect and issued an arrest because they recognized him from just a few months ago when he was caught and released after being charged with criminal mischief.

Even with national discussion centered around the lack of deterrent to such heinous crimes in the once safe subway system, it was still completely unexpected that this man would be offered just $75,000 bail and released after having been caught on camera attempting to commit such a violent crime. Even in New York, someone this bad would remain in jail pending the trial, right?

Well, bright and early Monday morning, Reyes was offered the option of release on just $75,000 cash bail at his arraignment. According to police, he had 14 prior arrests, including for robbery and assault on a police officer, and was caught with drugs on him. He confessed to knocking the victim down and forcing himself on top of her. But if he comes up with this relatively low sum, he could be free again. I guess we should count our blessings that this man wasn’t automatically released without having to post any bond, like so many other criminals.

Liberal cities are trying to bar police from using the facial recognition technology that was so instrumental in catching this suspect. It’s one of the many spheres of the criminal justice jailbreak agenda that is increasingly being adopted by both parties.

This is the America in which we now live. Even at the Republican convention, one speaker after another, many of whom sit at the highest positions of power within the administration, kept extolling the virtues of “criminal justice reform,” aka jailbreak of criminals – as if there are too many people incarcerated. Yet we’ve reached a point in this country where it is almost impossible to lock up violent criminals, no matter the seriousness of their crime, no matter the body of evidence, and regardless of their prior record.

If Reyes ultimately posts bond, how likely is it that the victim will be willing to press forward on this case? Aside from creating a lack of deterrent, easy-release policies pretrial make it harder to land a conviction because so many witnesses and victims are too scared to testify. As one New York state prosecutor told me last year, with these leniencies, “You’re gonna have more cases not getting resolved … more plea bargaining, if you will, and more people out of custody to continue to commit crime.” Someone with the history of Reyes, especially given the sensitivity of this case, should be held on much higher bond.

In addition, New York’s new bail law forces the prosecution to immediately turn over the addresses of witnesses and victims to the defense. Earlier this year, one MS-13 murder suspect who was released from jail was accused of murdering a witness in the trial.

These stories are not the rare exceptions; they are the rule. On Sunday, NYPD announced that Kariym Jackson, 39, a career criminal who is homeless, was charged for kicking a man down a flight of steps right at Penn Station. The victim died of his injuries. How could this man think he could get away with this crime at such a public place? Because he was already on parole despite his criminal record. The trend of parole over prison and pretrial release over jail time is turning this country into a violent third-world country.

These daytime attacks in New York City have become rampant.

People who survived the great crime wave of the 1970s are now moving out. Moving trucks are becoming a common sight in Manhattan’s once-safe upper west side.

What is going on in New York is a microcosm of the rioting and rampant crime across the country, where, so long as you are committing a politically correct crime in the eyes of our system, there is simply no deterrent against the act. While the rioting has certainly roped in thousands of people, the ones who commit the most heinous acts are almost always repeat violent offenders. Andy Ngo, who has covered Antifa violence as an on-the-ground journalist for years, reports that the man being investigated in the shocking murder of Trump supporter Aaron "Jay" Danielson caught on camera in Portland, Oregon, Saturday night was arrested for illegally carrying a loaded gun at a riot in July. He was released and charges were never pursued.

In other words, if you are defending yourself against the mob, you will be prosecuted, or if you are caught carrying in a state that unconstitutionally bans the right to carry, you will be charged so long as you are of a certain identity. But if you are a career criminal or part of BLM, there is a universal right to carry.

Where are the Republican demands for locking up repeat offenders? Where are the criminal justice reform bills for victims of crime? Where is the effort to defund pro-criminal cities? When is it our turn to fight back?

Anthony Fauci and his mini-mes in state health departments never gamed out the cost of a panicked reaction to the country’s mental health. But according to the CDC, one quarter of American young adults have thought about committing suicide since the beginning of this panic epidemic.

According to a brand-new CDC report titled “Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” 25.5% of 18-24-year-olds surveyed in late June had serious thoughts about committing suicide during the previous 30 days. Among 25-44-year-olds, that number was 16% – still shockingly high. On the other hand, it was just 3.8% among those 45-64 and 2.0% among those over 65. The levels of suicidal tendencies overall more than doubled since 2018 and nearly quadrupled for people between 25 and 44.

This survey harmonizes perfectly with another study I’ve highlighted that shows younger people are, ironically, more scared of dying of the virus than older people. The two are clearly related. They are suicidal because of the degree of panic and anxiety the government has caused both by overstating the threat of the virus and by the lockdowns and social isolation. The sad irony is that younger people are more likely to die in a car accident than from COVID-19.

When so many people seriously consider suicide, many of them follow through with it. In Fresno, California, for example, suicides were up 70% in June compared to the same period in 2019. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Help Line has seen a 65% increase in calls and emails since March, particularly among high schoolers.

Just think of the number of young people turning to drugs in their anxiety. Drug overdose deaths are up 47% this year in Davidson County, Tennessee, for example, where there have been 354 fatal drug overdoses from March through July 25. That dwarfs the number of coronavirus deaths in Nashville.

Perhaps these feelings of desperation in young people are also fueling the rioting and looting. What happens when you tell an entire generation of Americans that they are going to die, especially because of the simple breathing of fellow Americans? We have created a tinderbox of young people who are suffering from anxiety and even suicidal tendencies. Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, on my podcast last week, painted a picture of what he is seeing from a law enforcement perspective. He said that they are dealing a greater degree of edginess and violence in domestic disturbances as a result of this national panic.

“Because people were out of work, kids were home, there was a lot of uncertainty, the media was feeding you with so much conflicting information – when we would go on a domestic call where we used to talk those people down, it now immediately escalated into a fight,” warned the Arizona sheriff. “You could just see people’s emotions were much higher because we put them in a state of uncertainty and a state of panic and fearmongering.”

He noted how the government is making it even worse by forcing law enforcement to get involved in enforcing these ridiculous coronavirus mandates. “When you make people feel like they are not safe and the world is coming to an end, all of those things combined create more anxiety and feelings of anger in people so when we show up and now all of a sudden that anger has a chance to be released, it’s clashing with law enforcement. Now when you start to have law enforcement engaging with normal citizens and trampling on constitutional rights, you are now pushing that again, creating more intensity and creating more potential situations for blowback.”

Sheriff Lamb has a message for the politicians: “You guys are only making decisions based on public health, but you are totally disregarding public safety. Your decisions are creating multiple public safety issues.”

If only we had the desire and technology to create a dashboard and count all of the suicides, drug overdoses, violence, and depression cases created by the propagation of panic. “If it saves only one life …”

Julie Smith, 41, her 5-year-old daughter Scarlett, 12-year-old son Jaxon, and their grandmother, Josephine Fay, are the latest victims of someone who should never have been allowed to remain in the country. But the destruction of this American family in Florida will not serve as an impetus for action on immigration enforcement and illegal alien reckless drivers the same way the impending Supreme Court decision on DACA will spawn a clamor for amnesty.

Lucas Dos Reis Laurindo, 26, is now charged with careless driving for a crash just south of Orlando that killed four members of the Smith family three weeks ago while they were vacationing in Disney World. According to Florida Highway Patrol, Laurindo rear-ended the Smiths’ minivan at a high speed on the evening of February 18, causing the van to turn over. Three members of the Massachusetts family were killed instantly, and 12-year-old Jaxon died the next day in the hospital.

The charge has not yet resulted in a criminal arrest, just a ticket. However, according to local media in Massachusetts, Laurindo was arrested by federal authorities on a “visa violation.”

When I inquired with ICE about his status, I was referred to Customs and Border Protection because he was apprehended by border agents in Florida. He is being held under federal custody at Glades County ICE facility. According to WFTV, Laurindo is a Brazilian national who was apprehended on February 21 when he attempted to board a flight to Brazil.

Josephine’s husband Bill, Julie’s husband Shane, and their daughters Shalie and Skylar, all survived the crash. Now they are left without their spouses and siblings. A GoFundMe page has been set up by family members for the survivors.

While the fact that this man was here illegally doesn’t make the actual deaths more or less painful or grievous, it does make them more avoidable. Because of a lack of enforcement of all the laws passed by Congress in recent decades, illegal aliens have little to worry about if they overstay their visas and remain here illegally.

The single biggest magnet in this country is the ability of illegal aliens to work, over 30 years after Congress made it illegal for them to work in exchange for amnesty. How many people have to die before Congress finally fulfills its promise? Meanwhile, the Trump administration has backed away from E-Verify, and Republicans in the Florida legislature are watering down Governor Ron DeSantis’ plan to mandate E-Verify.

Last November, I reported on another Floridian, James Zakos, killed by an illegal alien who should never have been working in the state. Ulises Mondragon Umanzor was charged with killing an American motorist while driving a forklift and running a stop sign. Had E-Verify been in place, Zakos would still be alive, because this repeat offender would never have been able to get a construction job.

It’s truly hard to overstate the scope of the public safety threat posed by illegal alien reckless or drunk drivers. When ICE tells us that in fiscal year 2019 alone, there were 2,500 homicide charges or convictions among those subject to detainers, it doesn’t even include many of these vehicular manslaughters. As is the case with Laurindo, they are often not charged with manslaughter, just some form of reckless driving. There were 74,523 DUI charges and convictions, as well as 68,236 other “driving offenses” among those arrested by ICE last year.

I’ve been told by ICE officials that these driving offenses are usually serious, not just run-of-the-mill speeding tickets. It’s hard to imagine how many people are needlessly killed by illegal alien drivers who aren’t even included in the homicide tally by ICE. This is especially true because ICE doesn’t have access to the vast majority of those committing these offenses, given that most illegal aliens live in sanctuary jurisdictions.

But 5-year-old Scarlett and her American family are not the focus of Congress. There is no effort to ensure that visa overstays are deterred and removed. There is no effort to deal with criminal aliens or the cartels at the border. There is no desire to clamp down on sanctuary cities beyond what Trump is doing administratively. Isn’t it time for an American DACA?