A week after she graduated from a Vermont high school, an 18-year-old woman was detained by US Border Patrol officers Saturday in what immigrant activists have called a “violent and unlawful arrest” just miles from the Canadian border.
The woman, Heidi Perez, was accompanied at the time by her stepfather, Jose Ignacio De La Cruz, a leader of the Vermont-based Migrant Justice advocacy group. Both are undocumented Mexican nationals and now face deportation proceedings, according to Ryan Brissette, a spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection.
They were being held in separate Vermont prisons as of Monday morning. An attorney for De La Cruz and Perez filed emergency motions seeking their release and calling for the court to keep them in Vermont. Chief Judge Christina Reiss of the federal district court in Vermont granted the latter requests Monday, barring the government from removing either from the state for the time being.
Archived at https://archive.is/dg7y8
(b) A person commits the crime of aggravated operation without consent of the owner if the person, without the consent of the owner, knowingly takes, obtains, operates, uses or continues to operate the motor vehicle of another, and:
…
(1) The motor vehicle is not recovered within 24 hours of the time it is determined the theft occurred regardless of whether the operator is then in actual or constructive possession of the vehicle; or
(2) The motor vehicle sustains $500.00 or more in damage during the commission of the offense; or
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(C ) Uses the motor vehicle in the commission of a felony.
(D) Causes bodily injury to another while operating or exercising control of the motor vehicle.
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(a) A person commits the crime of kidnapping if the person:
(1) knowingly restrains another person with the intent to:
(A) hold the restrained person for ransom or reward; or
(B) use the restrained person as a shield or hostage; or
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(E) facilitate the commission of another crime or flight thereafter; or
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18 U.S. Code § 2119 - Motor vehicles
Whoever, with the intent to cause death or serious bodily harm [1] takes a motor vehicle that has been transported, shipped, or received in interstate or foreign commerce from the person or presence of another by force and violence or by intimidation, or attempts to do so, shall—
(1) be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both,
(2) if serious bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of this title, including any conduct that, if the conduct occurred in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, would violate section 2241 or 2242 of this title) results, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 25 years, or both, and
18 U.S. Code § 1201 - Kidnapping
(a) Whoever unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, or carries away and holds for ransom or reward or otherwise any person, except in the case of a minor by the parent thereof, when—
(1) the person is willfully transported in interstate or foreign commerce, regardless of whether the person was alive when transported across a State boundary, or the offender travels in interstate or foreign commerce or uses the mail or any means, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in committing or in furtherance of the commission of the offense;
(2) any such act against the person is done within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States;
(3) any such act against the person is done within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States as defined in section 46501 of title 49;
…
shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life and, if the death of any person results, shall be punished by death or life imprisonment.
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(c ) If two or more persons conspire to violate this section and one or more of such persons do any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
(d) Whoever attempts to violate subsection (a) shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty years.
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These are crimes, people.
Ummm if you are undocumented you probably shouldn’t be an immigration advocate. Just a thought.
You’re getting downvoted, but I’m choosing to interpret your comment as a simple pragmatic statement given the current ruling regime, so have an upvote.
It shouldn’t be a problem for a benign, non-violent, community-oriented undocumented immigrant to be an immigration advocate under normal circumstances, but these are not normal circumstances.
they’re getting downvoted because their tone is condescending (“just a thought”) and because this kind of comment shifts the blame from the oppressive side to the victim. if that at least was good advice, but it’s not even that since he’s stating something obvious, thus undermining their engagement and activism even more.
I’m interpreting their tone differently than you are, evidently.
Any comment that starts with “Ummmm” is meant to be condescending and bitchy. Hopefully this comment has helped you to learn how to properly interpret tone.
I don’t interpret “umm” that way, but I also think I tend to also add more vocal sounds like “hmm” and “ahh” to my comments. Tone is really hard on the Internet.
When it’s written? You absolutely should. That’s the way it’s intended. Every single time.
Any comment that contains “Hopefully this comment has helped you to learn how to properly interpret tone” is meant to be condescending and bitchy.
Exactly. Congratulations you’ve picked up on my tone. Glad I could help the group.
I’m so glad I could participate in this learning experience. Definitely in my day’s top ten moments.
If anything, this is why allies are so important. It’s the ally’s job to be angry and loud when the victims can’t.
Ty. If you are part of a targeted class it seems foolish to put yourself out there as an advocate for that targeted class. It’s not a shock to me that ice shows up for you first. I’d be getting out or staying inside and not leaving.
Hell, I’m a straight white cis dude and I’m thinking of fucking off. One of the reasons I am considering that is because I have family members who are visibly mixed race, and I would potentially serve as a safe harbor for them, or any friends and family who no longer felt safe in the states. Also, I work in an industry that’s being affected by all of our regulatory agencies being disintegrated, so it’s probably going to be a reasonable career move too, in the long term.
If you’re not part of a targeted class, it’s privilege to be able to choose not to put yourself out there, saving yourself the worry of individual visibility while also feeling no risk of ongoing class/race based oppression.
Unless your country is devolving into a fascist dictatorship and everyone will be carted off to concentration camps sooner or later for political expression.
Their comment and peoples reactions really shows a key issue in the U.S.
People choose to attack or shun anyone that has a hint of possibly supporting “the other side” even if a simple reply is just pointing out the facts of the situation and really doesn’t show a bias in one direction or the other.
There is probably a majority of people across the U.S. who are sick of politics and choose to ignore the news because of these extremist level hostilities from either direction.
Tldr be nice to Nazis so the proles don’t think you’re a dick
No it’s more like “look both ways before crossing the street.” Just because you have the crossing signal doesn’t mean a truck isn’t going to run the light and mow you down
Yeah, and if your here illegally time to get the fuck out. Are they not paying attention. They could very well end up in El Salvador or some camp. Plus the amount of torture they are probably inflicting on that young girl she will need years of therapy.
