A Judge Not In Waco

[Elderberry]

The Aging Rebel 5/23/2018


The mass arrests of witnesses to the Twin Peaks Mass Murder in Waco three years ago was such an Assault on the ideal of justice that it is difficult to list all the villains.

That has to be the reason the two judges who have “adjudicated” all the cases, 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother and Matt Johnson of the 54th District Court have generally escaped the contempt and animus they deserve.

A recent federal case in New York illustrates what a real judge might say about an analogous arrest and detention.

Suspicious Clothing

A 16-year-old Honduran boy living in Brentwood, New York was stopped by Suffolk County Police, handcuffed and taken into custody while he was riding his bicycle on May 30, 2017. He wasn’t told the reason for his arrest but the Department of Homeland Security did issue a warrant for his arrest that day, probably after he was already in custody. “Immigration authorities immediately portrayed him as a gang member, based on SCPD’s vague and generalized observations.”

For example, “a May 30, 2017 memorandum” classifies the boy “as a ‘likely MS-13 member’ because: (1) he ‘has been identified as a likely member of MS-13 by [SCPD];’ (2) his ‘clothing and accessories are indicative of membership in MS-13;’ and (3) he ‘is regularly found associating with confirmed MS-13 gang members.’”

The boy’s crime was that police thought he looked like a “gang member” and he was alleged to have associated with “gang members.”

Incarceration

“The following day,” the boy, who is referred to in court documents as “EHE” was transferred into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and taken to John F. Kennedy Airport, where he was allowed to speak to his mother by phone for the first time since his arrest.”

More: http://www.agingrebel.com/16585