Duckworth Meets with Woman Shot Five Times by Trump’s DHS, Marimar Martinez, Underscoring Need for Oversight on DHS

Duckworth Meets with Woman Shot Five Times by Trump's DHS, Marimar Martinez, Underscoring Need for Oversight on DHS

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today met with Marimar Martinez to discuss Martinez's ongoing legal efforts to force the release the Border Patrol agents' body camera footage from and text messages regarding her shooting. Martinez-a proud Chicagoan and U.S. citizen-was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood in October and then falsely branded a domestic terrorist by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Martinez today is testifying as part of a bicameral Congressional public forum on the violent tactics and excessive use of force by DHS agents. B-roll and photos of today's meeting are available on the Senator's website.

"Donald Trump and his enablers have made it clear that they view our communities-whether that's Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland or Los Angeles-not as the vibrant cities that they are, but as targets for their violence and intimidation," Duckworth said. "Since day one, ICE and Border Patrol agents have been the face of the Administration's assault. Marimar Martinez's story, as harrowing and horrific as it is, is sadly not an isolated incident. Untrained and highly aggressive agents shot Marimar and continue slandering her name while hiding evidence that could prove they are lying. If this sounds familiar, it's because it is exactly what they later did to Renee Nicole Good and to Alex Pretti-and it's become standard operating procedure for the Trump Administration.

"This is one of many reasons that it's critical we have thorough, independent investigations of both the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice regarding all the use of force incidents that keep occurring during these reckless immigration enforcement surges, and that we push for real, meaningful reforms to ICE and Border Patrol. The American people deserve transparency, oversight and accountability."

Duckworth has continued to push for independent investigations into DHS and Department of Justice (DOJ). The Senator first called on the DHS and DOJ Office of Inspector Generals to investigate officer-involved use of force incidents more than 100 days ago, following a series of shockingly violent assaults and reckless shootings by Trump's masked agents against American citizens in Illinois, and Duckworth reiterated and expanded her request following the brutal killing of Renee Good. Shamefully, just days before Trump's agents murdered Alex Pretti, the DHS and DOJ OIGs-both of whom Trump appointed-denied Duckworth's request.

After being shot by the Border Patrol agent, Martinez was later charged with assaulting the agents who shot her. All charges were dropped by the U.S. Attorney's Office six weeks later, following the DOJ admitting in federal court that DHS misrepresented facts and tampered with critical evidence, before dropping all charges against Martinez. Martinez and her attorney have been pushing to have the body camera footage and other evidence in the case released for public scrutiny in the wake of Renee Good and Alex Pretti's murders. Federal prosecutors have been working to prevent the evidence from being released but announced Tuesday they will no longer oppose the release of body camera footage.

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