The Chicago kidnappings have begun
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Federal prosecutors moved Thursday to dismiss charges against Marimar Martinez, a woman who was shot by a Border Patrol agent multiple times after allegedly using her car to assault and impede federal law enforcement six weeks ago in Chicago.
Martinez and co-defendant Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz pleaded not guilty last month to Justice Department charges that they used “their vehicles to assault, impede, and interfere with the work of federal agents in Chicago.”
Andrew S. Boutros, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, filed court documents Thursday morning to dismiss the charges.
Prosecutors said Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot Martinez in self-defense after she and Santos Ruiz allegedly rammed their cars into a federal vehicle on Oct. 4.
“After striking the agents’ vehicle, the defendants’ vehicles boxed in the agents’ vehicle, the complaint states,” prosecutors said in a statement when charges were announced last month. “The agent was unable to move his vehicle and exited the car, at which point he fired approximately five shots from his service weapon at Martinez, the complaint states.”
Martinez’s legal team had argued that it was federal agents who rammed her car with their vehicle and that the shooting was unjustified and an excessive use of force.
The motion to dismiss comes after it was revealed last week at a court hearing that the Customs and Border Protection agent who shot Martinez multiple times had bragged about it in messages to other officers.
According to Reuters, records presented at the hearing showed that in a group Signal chat with other agents, Exum wrote: “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”
In a message to another recipient, Exum sent a news article about the event followed by the message: “Read it. 5 shots, 7 holes,” Reuters reported.
Apparently the agent's bodycam video showed him ramming her car, not the other way around.
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"Small business owners in some of Chicago’s predominantly Latino neighborhoods say business hasn’t bounced back since Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and his team of agents left Chicago last week."
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Act 2 of This American Life this week was reported by a Mexican woman living in Chicago (in Gage Park, if that means anything to our Chicago locals). While she has papers, one of her family members is undocumented. Well worth a listen.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/875/i-hate-mysteries/act-two-3
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4,200 people disappeared by ICE
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We'll take the (small) victory.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by the Trump administration to deploy National Guard members to the Chicago area while a legal challenge moves forward, delivering a setback to President Trump in his effort to use federalized troops in Illinois to ensure enforcement of federal immigration laws.
The high court left untouched a judge's decision blocking the government from putting National Guard members on the streets of Chicago and surrounding areas. The Trump administration had urged the Supreme Court to allow the extraordinary move to deploy the troops over the objection of Illinois' Democratic governor, arguing that federal courts cannot second-guess the president's decision to call the National Guard into federal service.
But the Supreme Court declined the administration's request to freeze that order in a decision that appears to be 6-3. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-supreme-court-national-guard-chicago/
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We'll take the (small) victory.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by the Trump administration to deploy National Guard members to the Chicago area while a legal challenge moves forward, delivering a setback to President Trump in his effort to use federalized troops in Illinois to ensure enforcement of federal immigration laws.
The high court left untouched a judge's decision blocking the government from putting National Guard members on the streets of Chicago and surrounding areas. The Trump administration had urged the Supreme Court to allow the extraordinary move to deploy the troops over the objection of Illinois' Democratic governor, arguing that federal courts cannot second-guess the president's decision to call the National Guard into federal service.
But the Supreme Court declined the administration's request to freeze that order in a decision that appears to be 6-3. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-supreme-court-national-guard-chicago/
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64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz
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Absolutely disgraceful.
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I got this text from a neighbor last night. She's a middle school teacher in another school district; she and her husband have two kids, one of whom attends the school in question.
Hi wtg, a (name of school) parent was taken bv ICE this week when bringing his son home from after school program. A parent has organized a walking school bus to help get kids to school safely. I can't help since I'm teaching every day, but I thought you or other retired neighbors might be interested.
(link to sign-up site)
(photo of sign in front of apartment building where many Hispanic families reside and that is two blocks from the school)This sign is the meeting spot. Feel free to share the signup with others you think might like to help out.
They're scheduling a month's worth of volunteers and then will re-visit whether the service needs to continue.
All the slots are filled already.
