Juan Coronilla-Guerrero’s wife told a federal judge that he could be killed if he was deported back to central Mexico. The judge decided to deport him anyway — and Coronilla-Guerrero was killed. Photo via the American-Statesman.
By Andy Hoover and Matt Stroud, ACLU-PA
For a decade, irresponsible public officials and other public figures have used xenophobic rhetoric to fuel a hateful anti-immigrant movement. Some — among them, former Hazleton mayor and now Congressman Lou Barletta and former DOJ bureaucrat and now Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach — have gained power by using fear of immigrants as a launching pad for their ambitions, even while their most extreme ideas continuously lose in court. That xenophobia charged our current president’s run to the White House, and its inevitable conclusion is now being seen around the country, as ICE and Border Patrol agents harass, intimidate, and arrest people wherever and whenever they can find them.
Advocates for immigrants’ rights have a fairer, more compassionate vision of America — as a place where people can seek refuge from extreme poverty, extreme violence, and political persecution.
On Tuesday, the Austin American-Statesman reported about the case of Juan Coronilla-Guerrero.
Coronilla-Guerrero was arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 3 when he showed up for a routine court appearance to address misdemeanor charges in Travis County, Texas. That he was picked up in a so-called “sensitive location” highlights how aggressive immigration enforcement has become.
In a federal hearing that followed Coronilla-Guerrero’s arrest, his wife described the gangland environment that she and her husband escaped when they left central Mexico for Austin. She warned a judge that her husband would likely be murdered if he were deported.
The judge wasn’t moved; Coronilla-Guerrero was sent back to his home country. His wife’s warning soon proved prescient: Three months after he arrived in Mexico, Coronilla-Guerrero’s body was discovered on a roadside near where he lived with his wife’s family.
As immigration enforcement gets more and more aggressive, we hear stories like this — of immigrants who are essentially refugees, begging to stay in the United States, and being arrested and/or deported regardless. NPR reported Wednesday about the parents of a two-month-old being arrested by Border Patrol agents while their child underwent a serious operation. In Pennsylvania, we hear frequent stories of immigration raids, ramped-up enforcement. When Hurricane Harvey devastated Texas’s Gulf Coast, a worry among undocumented immigrants was whether or not they could go to shelters without being arrested and deported.
Under Trump, Mexicans are “rapists” and we must build a “big, beautiful wall” to keep them out. Under Trump, the problem of immigration is not how to assimilate “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” but rather to lend a bullhorn to the “voices of immigration crime.”
But as that fearful, xenophobic philosophy spreads throughout federal law enforcement agencies — and as immigration-related arrests spike to record levels — the aggression of the fierce anti-immigrant movement championed by Trump, Barletta, Kobach, and their ilk creates new heartbreaking stories, new martyrs. Coronilla-Guerrero’s death shows the dangers of deportation itself. It highlights that claims that the United States is overrun by violent immigrants is a fallacy, a claim unsupported by data.
One wonders how those sympathetic to Coronilla-Guerrero will respond.
On to the links.
EXCERPTS
(Criminal justice news deserving of an in-depth look.)
A fascinating investigative report from USA Today delved into The Wall, and whether it’s realistic. Of course it’s not, but the details of its impossibility are fascinating. Photo via USA Today.
USA Today: “The Wall”
“‘Build the Wall.’ Three words energized a campaign. But could it be done? What would it cost? What would it accomplish? Our search for answers became this, a landmark new report, ‘The Wall.’ The task was massive. We flew the entire border, drove it too. More than 30 reporters and photographers interviewed migrants, farmers, families, tribal members — even a human smuggler. We joined Border Patrol agents on the ground, in a tunnel, at sea. We patrolled with vigilantes, walked the line with ranchers. We scoured government maps, fought for property records. In this report, you can watch aerial video of every foot of the border, explore every piece of fence, even stand at the border in virtual reality. Still, breakthrough technology would mean nothing if it didn’t help us better understand the issues — and one another.”
Philadelphia Weekly, City&State: “Uncovering Philly law enforcement’s secret bank accounts”
“The records depict a slush fund for DA and police spending that runs the gamut from the mundane to the downright bizarre, all enabled by laws that empower police to seize property from individuals sometimes merely suspected of criminal activity. In one instance, the forfeiture ‘bank’ helped top off the salary of a former DA staffer who once served as campaign manager to now-jailed District Attorney Seth Williams. (The office maintains these expenses were appropriate and eventually reimbursed.) Other forfeiture dollars paid for at least one contract that appears to have violated city ethics guidelines – construction work awarded to a company linked to one of the DA’s own staff detectives. (The DAO said it is now conducting an ‘internal investigation’ into these payments.) With little concern for public scrutiny, the clandestine revenue stream also paid for much more: $30,000 worth of submachine guns (equipped with military-grade laser sights valued at $15,000) for police tactical units; a $16,000 website development contract; custom uniform embroidery; a $76 parking ticket; $1,000 in raccoon-removal services; a push lawn mower; a pair of outboard motors; and tens of thousands in mysterious cash withdrawals – along with thousands of other expenses.”
HEADLINES
(Criminal justice news to be aware of.)
On Tuesday, five Pittsburgh city cops were filmed beating a man repeatedly and then Tasering him. While the officers — Andrew Jacobs, Brian Markus, Todd Modena, Robert Palivoda, and Francis Rende — pummeled the man outside PPG Arena, the man screamed, “I’m trying to help you!” over and over again. The officers responded, “Stop resisting!” Screencap via CityPaper.
Pennsylvania
- CityPaper: “Video of alleged police brutality incident in Pittsburgh draws ire, raises questions”
- WITF: “Raid targets Lackawanna County offices in jail sex probe”
- Franklin&Marshall: Support for marijuana legalization at 59 percent
- WESA: “Meet The Man Helping Pittsburgh Police Confront Their Racial Biases”
- Post-Gazette: “Jury selection begins in civil trial of Pittsburgh police officer who shot, paralyzed Leon Ford”
- Lancaster Online: “11 of Lancaster County’s juvenile lifers scheduled to be resentenced by Jan. 3”
- Times-Tribune: “In Scranton, recording interrogations will soon be a practice”
- PennLive: “Jeff Sessions’ fondness for civil forfeiture is a constitutional blind spot”
- York Daily Record: “Cops can take and keep your stuff, even if you’re not convicted. A Dover man fought back.”
- Associated Press: “State Oversight Board to Vote on Philadelphia Police Funding”
- Intelligencer: “Redacted medical marijuana permits need review, Office of Open Records orders”
- Philly.com: “How will Philly pay for its new police contract?”
- More Philly.com: “$400M prison a big upgrade, but no easy sell for Graterford corrections officers, inmates”
- Post-Gazette: “Legal precedent may influence review of police shooting”
- More Post-Gazette: “Juvenile lifer convicted in 1970 Pittsburgh slaying is resentenced”
- Newsworks: “Whistleblower lawsuit raises questions about legal representation of Philly’s troubled poor children”
- Philadelphia Eagles: “Eagles, Roger Goodell Come Together To Gain Perspective On Criminal Justice Reform”
National
- The Intercept: “Taser wants to build an army of smartphone informants”
- Quartz: “These images capture the dream life of prisoners in solitary confinement”
- ACLU: “Secret Algorithms Are Deciding Criminal Trials and We’re Not Even Allowed to Test Their Accuracy”
- Detroit News: “Detroit, cops sued over wrongful murder conviction” of Devontae Sanford
- The Conversation: “How the government can steal your stuff: 6 questions about civil asset forfeiture answered”
- Associated Press: “2 Louisiana slayings likely racially motivated, police say”
- Associated Press: “Appeals Court Upholds Seattle Police Policy on Using Force”
- Citylab: “The Next Wave of Outrage in St. Louis”
- Phoenix New Times: “After New Times Story, Motel 6 Says It Will Stop Sharing Guest Lists With ICE”
- InJustice Today: “Allegations of police corruption in Chicago present a big opportunity for Kim Foxx”
- Wired: “The Future of Forensics: A DNA-Generated Composite Sketch”
- Harvard Crimson: “We Are Educators, Not Prosecutors”
Trump Criminal Justice Watch
- Above the Law: “House Passes Amendment Rolling Back Jeff Sessions’s Civil Asset Forfeiture Expansion”
- Buzzfeed: “Jeff Sessions Is Essentially Killing A Project Designed To Build Trust Between Police And The Public”
- Politico: “California sues to block Trump’s border wall”
- Vice: “The US Soldiers Stuck in Immigration Limbo Under Trump”
- The Hill: “Giving military equipment to police will not lead to safer streets”
- More from The Hill: “Jeff Sessions’s evidence-free crime strategy”
- Denver Westword: “ICE Courthouse Busts Ten Times Higher Than City Knew”
- The Marshall Project: “When Backing the Blue Backfires: The DOJ’s most recent attempt to appear pro-cop actually hurts law enforcement.”
The Appeal is a weekly newsletter keeping you informed about criminal justice news in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and beyond. It is written and compiled by Matt Stroud, ACLU-PA’s criminal justice researcher.
If you have suggestions for links or criminal justice-related work that you’d like to highlight in The Appeal, or if you have suggestions for ways that we might improve, please email Matt at mstroud@aclupa.org. And if someone forwarded this email to you, and you’d like to receive it every Friday, you can subscribe here.
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