President Donald Trump called the widow of California police officer Ronil Singh, who was allegedly gunned down by an illegal immigrant from Mexico during a traffic stop.
The White House announced the call on Jan. 3, saying the president offered his condolences. Trump also spoke with law enforcement colleagues of Singh.
“The President praised Officer Singh’s service to his fellow citizens, offered condolences, and commended law enforcement’s rapid investigation, response, and apprehension of the suspect,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Unlike Trump, most California lawmakers have not commented on the murder or reached out to the family of the fallen officer.
Reggie Singh, Ronil Singh’s brother, told Fox News that the Ronil Singh’s widow, Anamika, had a “good conversation” with President Trump.
Reggie Singh noted that the fallen officer spent time with his family Dec. 25 before heading out to his final shift.
“He was waiting for the son to talk, walk. It just breaks my heart he will never be able to see that,” Singh said.
Officials said that Ronil Singh, who was an officer with the Newman Police Department, pulled over Gustavo Arriaga on suspicion of driving under the influence in the early hours of Dec. 26. The illegal alien had two prior DUI arrests.
When Singh approached Arriaga’s vehicle, the Mexican native gunned him down and sped away.
A manhunt was launched and, eventually, the suspect was found. Authorities charged seven other illegal aliens with assisting Arriaga in his attempt to elude officers and flee to Mexico.
Arriaga appeared in court on Jan. 2 and was formally charged with murder. His attorney questioned his mental competency and claimed he needed a mental health evaluation.
Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson was among those questioning the pro-illegal immigrant policies that have proliferated in California, one of the most liberal states in the country, in recent years, connecting the murder of Singh with the laws.
“Why are we providing sanctuary for criminals, gang members?” Christianson said at a news conference on Dec. 28. “It’s a conversation we need to have.”
“If he wasn’t here then he wouldn’t have been driving drunk and it wouldn’t have been reported to officer Singh and the … enforcement stop potentially never would have occurred,” he added, noting that Arriaga had two prior DUI arrests and ties to the Sureño Street Gang.
Singh, meanwhile, was a legal immigrant.
“This is a man that I saw every day he worked. This is a man that I relieved on Christmas Day so he could go home and spend time with his family and his newborn child,” said Newman Police Chief Randy Richardson, reported KCRA.
“I think that what’s being lost here is yes, he was a police officer and that’s why all of you are packed in this room—because he was tragically taken from us. But what needs to be known is he was truly just a human being and an American patriot.”
