Reminder: 290 and 67. The 290 represents how many U.S. House of Representatives members it takes to override a presidential veto (all Representatives are up for reelection this year). It takes 67 U.S. Senators to override a presidential veto (35 Senators are up for reelection this year with 22 of those being Republicans—the ones we have to concentrate on the most). These numbers are very important this year at the ballot box because it will take this number of votes to help right this vast ship of a country for all of us, not just the billionaire class.
This week I continued to think about the things the Trump regime, his Republican Cabinet members, the Republican Congress have been doing in our name. What Trump is doing that is lowering our standards of living and the respect that took decades to achieve with other countries around the world.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez kept coming to mind. He was the man shot in the back by ICE agents in Austin, TX. ICE shot Perez in the back, essentially drug him from his car, and refused to take him to receive medical attention. Instead, ICE took him to a local concentration camp, still providing no medical treatment for a gun shot wound where the bullet was still lodged in Perez’s back near his spine, where overcrowding caused Perez to have to sleep on the floor. Only after a large public outcry did ICE take Perez to the hospital.
Another shooting, resulting in death, was Renée Good in Minneapolis. She was shot three times by an ICE agent, one of those shots being to the head. The Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide. An ICE agent, after Good was murdered (allegedly her killer Jonathan Ross), shouted the words, “Fucking bitch,” at her dying body. So far no one has been arrested for killing her.
Alex Pretti also came to mind. He was killed by a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agent. Pretti, as seen on video, was only trying to help a woman who was being pushed to the ground by these agents. CBP took Pretti’s gun from him, with video evidence showing Pretti as no threat, proceeded to shoot Pretti multiple times. So far no one has been arrested for killing him.
These may be the most reported incidents of shootings and killings by mainly ICE and CBP agents, but they are not the only ones that have occurred since the Trump regime began.
In total, there have been twenty-one shootings of which eight resulted in death of the victim, three of whom were U.S. citizens. To the best of what I could find, only one agent so far has been arrested for shooting or killing someone. ICE agent Christian Castro was arrested in Minneapolis for shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis through a closed door; he faces multiple charges including assault and making false statements to investigators.
That’s it, one agent, for one shooting, out of twenty-one.
Those are not the only deaths or shootings though of people in ICE custody. There have been fifty-seven deaths of people being held in the ICE concentration camps. Those who have died in ICE custody have ranged in ages as young as 19 and as old as 85. Eight of those were over the age of 60; I have a hard time thinking these elderly where among the worst of the worst that ICE is supposed to be arresting. No person should die in custody.
These death counts do not include those who have been deported to countries our own government have deemed as travel risks. Many of those being deported are children. Are the children too going to third world countries run by dictators? Are the children being placed in sex or other trafficking at their final destinations? Have we lost all empathy for twenty-five thousand human beings, children and the old alike, deported to places in which they face almost certain violence and death?
Where is our shame as a people and as a country in which these acts of violence are being carried out in our names?
How long will we tolerate our government hunting down our friends, our co-workers, our agriculture and construction workforces, our neighbors, and our families?
We can stand up for our fellow human beings who are not white, who may speak a different language, may celebrate different holidays, and may worship a different religion, at the ballot box on November 3. Our great country was founded on the principle of being able to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. The Constitution still stands as of this writing.
You have the power, collectively we have the power, to change the direction of where our government is headed, a direction in which all of us will eventually be a target of the Trump regime. Together we can bring us back on the path to live up to, and continue to perfect, to bring about, the ideals of our Constitution.
Only your vote can bring this about. So please, Vote!
P.S.—Make sure to check your voter registration weekly at vote.org (not Musk’s VoteSafe.org, which, based on reports, and my own opinion, is collecting data to be used in ways you might not like). Republicans across the spectrum are doing all they can to suppress your vote. Check your status to ensure you have time to fix it before showing up to vote, when it may be too late to correct.
P.P.S.—If you vote by mail, make sure to follow-up if you do not receive it when expected. Once complete, please do not mail it back through the post office. Drive it to the closest Drop Box where you live. If you aren’t able to drive, ask a friend, a relative, a neighbor, or if you have one, the local bus service, to take you to drop off your ballot at a Drop Box. Don’t let the Trump and Republican shenanigans stop your vote from being counted.
Leave a Reply