DOJ Would Like To Drop Charges Against Marimar Martinez, ICE Shooting Victim
Trump’s war on Chicago appears destined to end in a whimper. While he kicked off his invasion of Chicago with memes and a call to arrest J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson, his out of control federal agents have reportedly begun to leave the area. That suburban ICE facility you’ve heard so much about?
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Johnson in a hearing Tuesday said there are currently only four people being held at the Broadview facility, a drastic reduction that comes weeks after detainees there testified they had been crammed into rooms filled with more than 100 people for multiple days.
The decline in population comes as federal immigration agents sent to the area as part of the Trump Administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” enforcement efforts have begun leaving Chicago ahead of a possible return in the spring.
Good, get the fuck out of here.
But while the feds were playing war against the domestic enemy of Chicago, they certainly did plenty of damage. Raids disrupted neighborhoods, businesses, and even parade celebrations. The terror in pockets of the city and surrounding area was palpable. Oh, and CBP fucking shot a lady, claiming that she had rammed the cars of federal agents, was armed with a firearm, and boxed agents in putting them in danger. Here is what the DOJ said occurred back in October:
“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.”
Sounds pretty bad. Really bad, even. Certainly not the sort of thing that the DOJ would just want to drop a month or so later, right?
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.
Andrew S. Boutros, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, filed court documents Thursday morning to dismiss the charges.
So, how did we go from prosecutors stating that Martinez rammed federal vehicles with her car, boxed them in alongside other drivers, was armed, and that all of that is what led to a CBP agent shooting her several times in “self defense”? That one is easy, actually: CBP was lying about what happened.
Martinez’s lawyer, Christopher Parente, indicated during proceedings that he saw the bodycam footage from CBP agents and that it clearly shows that the CBP car swerved into Martinez’s vehicle, not the other way around.
“When I watched the video after this agent says, ‘Do something, b—-,’ I see the driver of this vehicle turn the wheel to the left. Which would be consistent with him running into Ms. Martinez’s vehicle, okay,” Parente said. “And then seconds later, he jumps out and just starts shooting.”
The gun that DOJ referenced everywhere but in the actually charging documents? Yeah, Martinez has a handgun for which she is licensed to conceal and carry in Illinois, and that firearm never made it out of her purse in this entire incident. CBP had no idea she was armed until after she’d been shot.
Oh, and the CBP agent gleefully bragged about just how efficiently he put holes in Martinez’s body.
During a Nov. 5 court hearing, CBP Agent Charles Exum, identified as the agent who shot Martinez, was questioned by Parente about text messages he sent to friends and family after the incident in which he appeared to boast about his shooting skills.
“I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book, boys,” one of those messages said.
When pressed by Parente about the text messages during his testimony, Exum said, “I am a firearms instructor and I take pride in my shooting skills.”
Parente then asked, “So you’re bragging that you shot her five times and gets seven holes, five shots? Are you literally bragging about this?”
Exum responded, “I’m just saying five shots, seven holes.”
And I’m just saying that such assholery is obviously part of the reason the government didn’t think it could win this case.
But what this case should do, if nothing else, is serve as exhibit A in every single conversation anyone anywhere has in which someone points to statements by the government as justification for any of the fascistic bullshit the Trump administration is pulling currently. The feds lie. They lie regularly. And while DOJ can do its best to silently slink away from this whole episode, you can be damned sure civil litigation is already being drawn up.