VivirLatino

I wrote about the case of Julio Maldonado and his cousin, Denis Calderon, who survived a horrible hate crime in Philly and now are being victimized again via the Department of Homeland Security.

…They are lawful permanent residents with American citizens as partners and American citizen children. Pero as two Latino immigrants in a changing neighborhood in Philly, they became targets for assault which made it easier for them to be doubly victimized, first by a racist gang and now by the Department of Homeland Security.

In 1996, Julio was visiting Denis at his home in Philadelphia when the two were victims of a racially-motivated attack by a group of white youths who insulted them with a racial slur. When the cousins responded to the slur, the youths began throwing beer bottles at them. The two cousins tried to escape, and then attempted to defend themselves… When the police arrived, they arrested Denis and Julio. They recovered two knives at the scene but did not test them for blood or fingerprints since no witness testified that Denis or Julio had used a knife. Denis and Julio were charged with aggravated assault. None of the white youths were ever charged with any crime.

Tragically, Christian Saladino died in 1998. Williams brought murder charges against Denis and Julio. The case went before a jury and the defendants hired a forensic pathologist who testified that the victim had a pre-existing blood condition and had not died from injuries sustained in an attack. Inconsistencies arose in the accounts of the witnesses and the jury acquitted both defendants.

Judge Smith, the original convicting judge, in his remanded evidentiary hearing decided the new evidence was material and ruled in favor of the defendants, vacating the guilty verdicts and calling for a new trial on the aggravated assault charges. In a reasonable system, that would have been the end of the story and you would not be reading about it today. But Seth Williams appealed the decision and the appellate court reversed Judge Smith because the cousins had failed to present the exculpatory evidence within the time prescribed by the statute of limitations. The cousins’ criminal attorneys appealed the criminal case up to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost on technical grounds.

Several years ago, DHS got involved and put the cousins into removal proceedings on the basis of the conviction which was then being appealed. Julio and Denis appealed their immigration case up to the Third Circuit and lost.

In 2005, Julio and Denis were charged and convicted with failing to cooperate in their own removal because they would not sign the papers necessary to request travel documents from Peru so they could be deported. They have been in federal prison on those charges since 2005. Julio’s release date was moved up a year due to good behavior. DHS has expressed its intent to deport him once he is released on September 12, 2009.

Julio is at a critical point now. Despite being a legal resident of the U.S, and despite the fact that he has refused to sign papers required to process his Peruvian travel documents, Peru has gone ahead and processed temporary travel documents that do not require Julio’s consent, allowing DHS to deport Julio this week. One way to stop this is DHS exercises its discretion to wait until Julio’s pardon request can be heard. **Please call DHS and Governor Rendell at the numbers below!**

***Please call David Venturella, Acting Director of ICE’s Office of Detention and Removal Operation, at (202) 732-3100 to request that DHS allow Julio to stay in the U.S. until his request for a pardon is reviewed by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.***

***Please call Governor Rendell’s office at (717) 787-2500 and ask the governor (1) to expedite review of Julio’s pardon request and (2) to ask DHS to wait to deport him until the pardon request is reviewed.***

Don’t forget that there is a petition you can sign for Julio and Denis here.