Homeland Security says it doesn’t detain citizens. These Californians prove it has
Call it an accident, call it a plan. But don’t make the reprehensible mistake of calling this a lie: It’s a fact that federal agents have detained and arrested dozens, if not hundreds, of U.S. citizens as part of immigration operations, regardless of what Kristi Noem wants us to believe.
At a congressional hearing Thursday, Noem, our Homeland Security secretary and self-appointed Cruel Barbie, repeated her oft-used and patently false line that only the worst of the worst are targeted by immigration officials. This comes after his department spent weeks posting online on increasingly far-right social media accounts that claims of rounding up and sequestering American citizens were “fake news” or a “hoax.”
Homeland Security “Stop the fearmongering. ICE does not detain or deport U.S. citizens.” post recentlyd on old Twitter.
On Tuesday, at a different congressional hearing, a handful of citizens, including two Californians, told their stories of being captured by faceless masked men and taken to holding cells where they were denied access to phones, lawyers, medications and a variety of other legal rights.
Their statements accompanied the release of one person Congressional report of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Here, 22 American citizens, a dozen from the Golden State, told their own shocking, horrifying stories of beatings and detentions by armed agents who could only be described as undercover police, who did not identify themselves and often appeared to lack the basic training needed for safe city policing.
These stories, and the brave Americans who stepped forward to tell them, are history in the making; I hope it is a date we will regret but will not forget.
Backed by unprecedented amounts of funding, immigration enforcement is about to get even bigger. Noem and her agents revel in impunity, trying to erase and rewrite reality as they go; Meanwhile, our Supreme Court is crushing precedent and common sense to further strengthen this presidency. There is little hope that power will be contained by the midterms.
Under these circumstances, it is an act of both courage and patriotism for these people to chronicle their stories, because they now know better than most what it means to have the chaotic brutality of this administration focused on them. It is our duty for the rest of us to hear these things and peacefully protest not only the trampling of rights but also our government’s demand that we believe lies.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said as the hearing began: “I have always said that immigrants who have the privilege of becoming citizens are also among the most patriotic people in this country. I know you all love your country. I love our country, and this is not the America we believe in or have fought so hard for. Every human being, every U.S. citizen, has rights.”
L.A. native Andrea Velez, whose arrest was reported by my colleagues, was one of those who put herself in harm’s way to testify.
Velez, who is less than 6 feet tall, is a Cal Poly Pomona graduate and was working in the garment district in June when ICE began its raids. His mother and teenage sister had just dropped him off when masked men emerged from unmarked cars and began chasing the brown people. Velez didn’t know what happened, but he lifted his work bag in defense when a man attacked him. The bag did not protect him. He also did not tell agents that he was a U.S. citizen.
“He handcuffed me without checking my ID. They ignored me because I repeated over and over again that I was a US citizen,” he told committee members. “They didn’t care.”
Still unsure who the man was who forced her into an SUV, Velez managed to open the door and run to an LAPD officer to beg for help. But when the masked man realized he had broken free, “he ran screaming, ‘He’s mine’.” congress report he says.
The officer returned him to the unmarked car and began a 48-hour ordeal that resulted in him being charged with assault on a federal officer; The charges were eventually dropped after his attorney requested body camera footage and alleged witness statements. (The minority staff report was released by Rep. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.)
“I never thought this would happen here in America,” Velez told lawmakers. “DHS … loves to brand us as criminals, to strip us of our dignity. They want to portray us as the worst of the worst, but the truth is, we are people with no criminal record.”
This if you’re brown, you’re going down tactic is likely to become more common now that it’s legal.
In the Noem Vasquez Perdomo case taken in September, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that it is reasonable for officers to stop people who appear foreign and engage in activities associated with undocumented people (such as soliciting a job at Home Depot or attending an event held in Spanish) as long as officers allow the person to leave “immediately” if they can prove their citizenship. These are now known as “Kavanaugh stops.”
Putting aside how racist and problematic this policy is, it seems “immediately” open to discussion.
Javier Ramirez, who was born in San Bernardino, testified that he was “a proud American citizen who never knew the weight of his criminal record.”
The father of three was working in his car park in June when he noticed a strange SUV idling on his private property with a group of men inside. When he approached, they jumped out, armed with assault weapons, and grabbed him.
“This was a terrible situation,” Ramirez said. But then the situation got worse.
One of the men shouted, “Get him. He’s Mexican!”
In the video taken by the surrounding people, Javier can be heard saying “I have a passport!” He can be heard shouting. according to the congressional report, but the agents didn’t care. When Ramirez asked why they were keeping him, an agent told him, “We’re trying to figure this out.”
Like Velez, Ramirez was taken into custody. He told investigators that he had severe diabetes and was denied medication until he became seriously ill. Although he requested a lawyer, he was not allowed to contact a lawyer, but the interrogation continued.
Five days after his release, he had to seek further medical treatment. He was also charged with assault on a federal agent, obstruction and resisting arrest. The false charges were also later dropped.
“I shouldn’t have to live in fear of being targeted just because of the color of my skin or the other language I speak.” he told the committee. “I share my story not only for myself, but for everyone who has been treated unfairly and whose voices have been silenced.”
you know poempeople. For the vulnerable, it starts “when they arrive.” Fortunately, although people like Ramirez and Velez are vulnerable due to their pigmentation, they are not docile and will not be silenced. Our democracy and our security as a rule of law depend not only on us listening to their stories, but also on standing peacefully against such abuses of power.
Because these abuses only end when people decide they are fed up not only with the lawlessness but also with the lies that reinforce it.
