The release of text messages yesterday from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents about the shooting of Marimar Martinez this October offer yet another alarming testament to the widespread culture of brutality and cruelty in the federal immigration agencies being deployed to terrorize people in cities across the United States.
That Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership praised and rewarded one of its officers for this level of violence is evidence we can’t count on DHS to hold itself or its agents accountable.
“It is more important than ever that civil rights attorneys seek accountability through the courts, said Lauren Bonds, Executive Director of the National Police Accountability Project. “It is only because of Martinez’s attorney demanding their release that we have access to these damning records, a reminder that we can and must take DHS and the federal government to court.”
I am Renee Good. I am Alex Pretti. I am Silverio Villegas-González. I am Keith Porter. They should all be here today.
– Marimar Martinez