Trump’s ICE goons are in Virginia now, as evidenced by the video of the beatdown of a Guatemalan immigrant outside a hospital in Suffolk that has gone viral.
Four of the goons repeatedly punched Victor Perez Martin in the video, captured by a passerby on July 6.
Not that the regime is taking ownership of what it did here.
To set the tone, here’s comment on the beating from the Department of Homeland Security, which implores you not to believe your lyin’ eyes:
On July 6, ICE officers arrested Victor Alfredo Perez Martin, an illegal alien from Guatemala, during a targeted enforcement action. While attempting to make the arrest, the subject began to run towards the Sentara BelleHarbour hospital in Suffolk, Virginia. Perez Martin actively resisted arrest. ICE officers gave lawful commands which the illegal alien refused to follow.
Now, here’s the video:
You can see for yourself, from the jump, Perez Martin is not resisting.
The first agent has Perez Martin, whose hands are up, over his head, in a headlock, moves him into a head and arm throw, before a second agent grabs Perez Martin in a guillotine choke, with the first agent shifting to rabbit punching Perez Martin in the lower back.
A third agent then enters the fray, and grabs Perez Martin’s left arm in a juji-gatame, an armbar submission hold, allowing the second agent to hit Perez Martin with knee strikes into the back.
At this stage, the first agent is hitting Perez Martin, and there’s no other way to say this, he’s hitting him in the dick, a series of straight rights to the dick.
A fourth agent then joins in, and double-legs the already prone Perez Martin onto his stomach.
The Four Horsemen of 1980s-era pro wrestling fame couldn’t have done a better job.
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DHS is also claiming that Perez Martin declined medical services, “which he declined” – this is in dispute – and that he “accepted voluntary departure on July 6” and “will be removed from the U.S. as soon as possible.
That’s also in dispute: WAVY-10 News in Norfolk reported that efforts are ongoing to fight removal.
Immigration attorney James Reyes, who was retained by community members to represent Perez Martin, told the TV station that the “voluntary departure” document that Perez Martin is said to have signed was done under duress, and that he has filed a petition for habeas corpus in the Eastern District of Virginia, and that the next step would be pursuing bond in an immigration court.
Per Reyes, Perez Martin has been in the U.S. since 2021, that he has worked here in the States for the past five years as a construction worker, and that he has no criminal record.
Just to be clear on this, the mere presence of a brown-skinned man from Guatemala in the United States without legal authorization is not a crime, but rather a civil violation of federal immigration law.
Trump’s goons have no legal right to play backyard wrestling federation on a guy just because he’s here without authorization.
Congressman Bobby Scott, who represents Suffolk in the U.S. House, said “the kind of activity in that video is not any different than what happened in Minnesota, and in Minnesota, the Department just flat out lied about what happened.”
“We need some straight answers out of the department,” Scott said. “How does this kind of thing happen? What did happen? And why? How does this kind of thing happen?”
Spoiler alert: we’re not going to get straight answers.
“The brutality on display in footage of ICE agents beating Victor Perez Martin outside a Virginia hospital is sickening,” said ACLU of Virginia Policy Director Chris Kaiser, noting that the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation that would have protected people at sensitive locations like healthcare facilities.
He left unsaid what happened to that legislation: it was vetoed by our supposed Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger, who replaced the bills with a toothless executive order directing the state to create guidance on how state workers can navigate certain immigration enforcement in certain sensitive locations and to create an online “Know Your Rights” resource.
Ahem.
This isn’t just a Trump’s goons problem.
“Even people who originally supported President Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda now say they disapprove of ICE’s vicious conduct, and it is unconscionable for the Commonwealth to allow federal agents to racially profile and assault Virginians. This problem isn’t going away. Virginia leaders must stand up to ICE now before anyone else is hurt,” Kaiser said.
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Chris Graham
