Transcription
What you are about to hear are stories of life in Donald Trump's America, and you will hear stories about death in Donald Trump's America, when you hear the testimony today from Renee Goodes' brothers who talked about the light she brought into this world before she was murdered by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who was put on that street by Donald Trump.
If on a Saturday morning you are on your way to church to donate some clothes as Miramar Martinez was, this is what can happen to you now in Donald Trump's America. The border patrol vehicle stopped just two car lengths ahead of me. It seemed like time stopped. I knew from watching the news coverage of other border patrol encounters in Chicago that I was in danger. I watched the vehicle of agent Border Patrol agent killing Silverio Villegas Gonzalez just three weeks prior. I knew I had to get to safety before I was dragged from my car and likely beaten or killed. I drove forward and went around the Border Patrol agents who jumped out of his car and pointed his gun at me. I moved to the far left lane, striking the curb on the far left side. Ketsy, the next thing I knew, I felt a burning sensation in my arms, legs, and that I had been shot by pepper balls, which I also seen these agents fire at people in our community.
As I continued to drive past the border patrol agents, I could hear my back passenger window shatter and I felt bullets continue to pierce my body. As I attempted to drive to a safe location, I began to feel lightheaded. I looked down and I noticed blood gushing out of my arms and legs, and I realized I've been shot multiple times. As I I became lightheaded, I became worried. I will pass out and endanger other drivers on the road. I managed to drive a mile from where the incident happened. And I I pulled into a parking lot of a mechanic shop and I called 911. I told the 911 operator that Border Patrol agents had just shot me and I needed help. I recall some of the workers from the shop sitting me down in a chair as I was waiting for help, but I was losing this battle. I saw my life flash before me and slowly began to think this was the end for me, and before losing consciousness, the next thing I remember is the EMT putting me on a stretcher, taking me to the hospital.
At the hospital, I remember seeing multiple agents standing around, watching me be treated for my wounds. My arms, legs, and chest were all wrapped in bandages. I had seven bullet holes in my body. I remember the agents rushing the nurses to finish up so they could take me with them. I still felt dizzy. I was not able to fully process what had happened to me. After being at the hospital for less than three hours, I was I was discharged from the hospital and took custody of the FBI. That could be you, that could be your sister, that could be your mother. That could be anyone now in Donald Trump's America.
She was hit by five bullets, creating seven gunshot wounds because some of the bullets had created exit wounds before re-entering the body, possibly passing through her arm and then into her chest. That's how you get more wounds than the number of bullets fired. And that agent is very proud, very proud that his bullets did that kind of damage. She was still bleeding after those three hours in the emergency room, and Donald Trump's agents dragged her out of that hospital and put her in jail that Saturday night to spend the weekend in jail. I was in a car accident once where I broke some bones, and I was in the hospital for 12 days. And I didn't have a single bullet wound. When Donald Trump's agents try to kill you, they really try to kill you. And if they don't kill you on the street, they will try to kill you by dragging you out of the hospital if they can. And that is not a mistake. Dragging a wounded young woman out of the hospital, that is a willful attempt to kill her. But Miramar Martinez is a miracle, because Miramar Martinez just wouldn't die.
The news in the jail that evening had my story and was being called a domestic terrorist. They said I, quote on quote, rammed federal agents. I was in shock. If they only knew I was a month away from paying off my truck, and I will never intentionally damage my vehicle, much less be crazy enough to hit a law enforcement. On Friday, I was teaching the young children at the Montessori school, and we were singing and dancing and getting ready for spooky season, preparing fall activities to do the following week. And on Saturday, my own government was calling me a domestic terrorist, and I was in federal detention centers with the bullet holes all over my body. And then in court on the next Monday morning, Donald Trump's prosecutors wanted to keep Miramar Martinez in jail awaiting trial, in jail indefinitely. The judge saw a courtroom full of parents from the school where she's a teacher and her family there supporting her. And the judge listened to the evidence, and he immediately released her.
And then agent Charles Exum drove the car that he jumped out of that day from Chicago to Maine. That's right. He willfully removed the important evidence in the case, the vehicle which he claims Miramar Martinez tried to ram, and he drove that car across the country to get it out of the case. There must have been absolutely no damage on that car. There must have been no evidence on that car that could possibly have helped their case. And then Donald Trump's invasion force and Donald Trump's federal prosecutors just dropped the charges against Miramar Martinez and thereby proved that they were lying, that she never tried to ram their car, because they never would have dropped the charges for that. They proved by dropping those charges there was absolutely no reason to fire a single shot at her. The A 30-year-old Montessori school teacher, who Donald Trump's liars called a domestic terrorist, was never charged with a crime. They tried to murder her, but never charged her with a crime. Who are the domestic terrorists in that story? None of the victims of the Trump-encouraged violence.
My name is Aliya Rahman, and I am a resident of South Minneapolis. I'm a Bangladeshi-American, born in northern Wisconsin, and I'm a disabled person with autism and a traumatic brain injury. Not all autistic brains do this, but mine fixates on sounds, numbers, and patterns. On January 13th, on the way to my 39th appointment at Hennepin County's Traumatic Brain Injury Center, I encountered a traffic jam caused by ICE vehicles and no signs indicating how to get around it. I had not wanted to pull into a blocked, chaotic intersection, but verbally agreed to do so and rolled down my window after an agent yelled, MOVE! I WILL BREAK YOUR EFFING WINDOW! His first instruction. Agents on all sides of my vehicle yelled conflicting threats and instructions that I could not process while watching for pedestrians. Then the glass of the passenger side window flew across my face. I yelled, I'm disabled, at the hands grabbing at me, and an agent said, too late.
I felt immersed in a pattern, and I thought of Genoa Donald, an autistic black man killed by police during a traffic stop in 2021. I remembered Mr. Sliberio Gonzales, who was killed by ICE in his vehicle last year. An agent pulled a large combat knife in front of my face, which I thought was for cutting me, and later learned was used to cut off my seat belt. Shooting pain went through my head, neck, and wrists when I hit the ground face-first and people leaned on my back. I felt the pattern, and I thought of Mr. George Floyd, who was killed four blocks away. I was carried face down through the street by my cuffed arms and legs while yelling that I had a brain injury and was disabled. I now cannot lift my arms normally. I was never asked for I never read my rights, and never charged with a crime.