The Case of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas

Hello, Hello, This is Christina and Carmen and this is the Spooky Tales, the podcast for all things as spooky, true crime, hunted places, myths, legends in Latin America. And I have to warn everyone right now, today's case involves one of the biggest criminals, because we can't be a true crime podcast if we don't talk about one of the biggest criminal gangs in the US. Yeah, one of the most violent criminal gangs in the United States who has operated with impunity and committed atrocities and terror across the United States and even past the United States. So I'm combining the two the two gangs, Oh, we're counting them together. They actually acted together for this case. So yeah, across United States Ice and Border Patrol. I was saying, yes, we are talking about them. Yeah, yeah, we are. So if that's something that you can't hear right now, understandable skip this episode. It's so infuriating, especially given today's horrible news. Today is January seventh, twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six. What day it was? It's not twenty twenty five anymore. Yeah, so today's January fifth, January seventh, twenty twenty six. I already said sorry. Seventh. Anyway, we found out today dot Ice shot a woman, Renee and Nicole Good, thirty seven years old. They shot her point blank in the face today in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yeah. Yes, and today's case. Actually, you will see the similarities between the case we're talking about today and what happened today the time of recording. But again, if you're not in the right headspace to hear it, skip this episode come back to it later. It is an important case to familiarize yourself with. But again, infuriating completely. Yeah. Also, sorry if I sound weird, I just got in middleline. So just if I thank you said everyone out there. I feel like I feel like I don't, but whatever I think you do. Okay, let's get into this. On May twenty eighth, twenty ten, a man was heard screaming a blood curdling scream on the Sandy Zero point of Entry when i'sis saw a group of Border Patrol agents gigging up on a man tasing him and when they attempted to intervene, their phones were taken and they were threatened. According to the Border Patrol, they were actually saving this man's life. He was actually the one heard in himself until he died. But before we get to that day, let's talk about the man. Anatasio and Nandez Rocaz was born on May second, nineteen sixty eight, in San Luis, Potosi. He had eight siblings, of which he was the third oldest. When Anatasio was fifteen, he immigrated to the United States to find work and help support his family, and he settled in San Diego, California, where years later, at the age of twenty one, he met Maria de Jesutzbuga, who would later become his wife. They went on to have five kids over the course of twenty years, Yami, Daisy, Fabian, and twins Danielle and Daniela. His friends described him as fun and jobio. He was a loving, attentive father, active in his children's lives. He planned family out into the beach park, the movies, He colored with his kids, and they tried to eat meals together as often as a cut as a family. He worked as a whole a little and picked up work in construction and demolition when he could, but on May tenth, twenty ten, unable to make ends meet, his desperation drove him to shoplift food from a grocery store. According to a PBS documentary titled Crossing the Line at the Border, he stole steak and tequila for a Mother's Day celebration. Yeah, maintenth is Mother's Day, so it makes sense. Yeah, and you know what, I die, I don't care that he's stole. I fully don't care that he's stole. And I don't care who has an opinion about us not caring that he stole. I don't give not one fuck. He was arrested and once in custody, his immigration status was checked, and after law enforcement found out he was undocumented, he was deported to Mexico two weeks later on May twenty eighth, and Asasio tried to re enter the United States with his brother. I mean, of course, this is yet another thing that does not matter to me, I know, And that's what I'm saying, Like, of course he did. His family was here, his life was here. Yeah, they should just let him in. I mean I'm saying, and again, I do not care who is mad at us saying that. No, truly, Like, go argue with yourself. It's like one time we got our Spotify comment that was like and what are people supposed to do, or what is the US supposed to do? Just let everyone in. I was like, I really don't care. I don't care. I think that they should let anybody whose countries they have fucked up in. I mean, and I am in agreeance. And that's almost the whole world. And whose fault is that? The United States? Yeah, that's not my fault. That's when it ta his fault. Yeah, I truly don't like. They're like, oh, you sound so dumb for saying borders should be open, and I was like, I don't care, and I will continue to repeat that. But Anastasio was quickly apprehended and taken to the true La Vista border patrol station and driven to the deportation gate at sanny Cidro. This is also known as the way Ski two section of the sanny carl point of entry. From watching the documentary and I'm talking about the HBO documentary Critical Incident Death at the Border. From watching the documentary, it looked like they started, or it seemed like the physical abuse started at the point of entry. But from reading the complaint which we'll talk about later filed with in International Commission, it actually began at the border station there at the border station, Anastasio was beaten, tortured, and suffocated by a border patrol agent. It began at the border station, but we'll get into that what happen there a little bit later. But once he was taken to the sunny Zerol point of entry, Anasassio was beaten, tortured, and suffocated by Border patrol agents until he stopped breathing. Anasasio was handcuffed during this and despite being unarmed and physically incapable of fighting back, border patrol agents punched, kicked, dragged taste, and hogg tight Anasassio. If that wasn't enough, they also denied an Asasio medical care. An Assassio sustained severe injuries, including five broken ribs and hemorrhagene of internal organs. A few days later, on May thirty first, twenty ten, an Assassio succumbed to his injuries and was taken off live support. He was forty two years old at the time of his death. From there, the Border Patrol tried to cover everything up, and a years long battle ensued, which uncovered a shadow organization within the Border Patrol and culminated at an international human rights court. Now we were to ask the Border Patrol agent what led to an Asasio's death. They would say that it was actually Anastasio's own fault that he died. Agents involved in his murder stated they were trying to save him from himself. Their literal words that they had to tie his hand behind his back because he was hurting himself and all the injuries that he succumbed to were of his own doing. So what happened on that day, it actually took years to be together. His family was left in the dark for a long time. They had to filed a lawsuit and then another to just get information. Their lawyer, Jean Iredale, requested evidence, which Border Patrol failed to turn over. They also failed Bord Patrol also failed to call San Diego PD, which should have been contacted the day of the incident as it happened. Really, instead, their own team called the Critical Incident Team CIT, swept in and got rid of all incriminating evidence, which is their job or was to cover up things done by Border Patrol and or was it just Border Patrol or his ice too from what I knew this Border Patrol, But more than that later, Let's get into the day first, Like we mentioned, earlier. Anastasio was apprehended on May twenty eight, twenty ten, and then transported to the Chuo Lavisa Border Patrol Facility and detention Center, which we'll just refer to either as detention center or to Larisa facility, either one. He was searched and then directed by Border Patrol agent Gabriel Ducing. The ucing Gabriel du Coin to throw his water away instead of throwing the bottle in the trash, Anastasio poured out the water from his jug into the trash can, and this made officer to Coin angry that he didn't just throw the bottle away, that he emptied it, so then the officer slapped the water jug out of Anastasio's hand, hands pushed Anastasio into a wall and then repeatedly kicked his ankles to make Anasasio stand with his ankles apart, but from the moment he was pushing into the wall and Assassio was already standing and with his ankle's apart, But the agent kept kicking and kicking, and Astasia cried out, why are you doing this to us? Why are you hitting us? We haven't done anything wrong, to which officer Ducoin replied, you don't want to be beaten. Then he handcuffed Anastasio and took him to an interview room. In that room, Anastasio complained that Officer Ducoin injured his ankle and that it was hurting, especially because he had previously broken this ankle. He also requested to appear before an immigration judge, but all of his complaints on requests were dismissed, and according to Border Patrol policy, officer Ducoin was supposed to inform his supervisor that Anasasio had a complain about mistreatment and request medical attention. He did neither. An Aastasio was then taken to a processing area where he was handcuffed to a bench. There, he requested medical treatment again. He asked for a phone call, and he attempted to assert his right to appear before an immigration judge, and once again complained about the mistreatment that he was receiving. After sitting on that bench handcuffed through hours, the facility supervisor, officer Ismael Finn, spoke with Anastasio, who once again requested medical care and complained about mistreatment. The supervisor dismissed these complaints again and then told his agents to immediately remove Anastasio from the United States, so agent Philip Krasile Wicks and get Real Ducoin were the ones transporting Anastasio. These two agents had already up to that point expressed anger and disdain towards Anastasio. They later not at this point, but they would later say Anastasio did not behave like a quote typical alien end quote during processing, that he did not comply like a typical alien, but instead because instead of quietly facing the wall when instructed to do so, Anastasio talked loudly, looked directly at the agents and complained about the treatment he was being subjected to, just because he spoke up about being hurt, like they want people to shut up and take it. Yeah, they both felt that Anastasio did not grant them the respect they deserved. You deserve it zero respect. You deserve full disrespect from anybody that's ses you. Yeah, they considered Anastasio disrespectful and problematic, and that's why he had been arranged for immediate removal, as opposed to his brother, who remained at the facility. Prior to entering the agent's vehicle for transportation, Anathasio was already seen limping, and that can be seen in the footage. Yes, the agents took Anastasio to an area known as Whiskey Too. This was the primary area of deportations, also called the Deportation Gate. It is an enclosed area and only federal officials have access to it. So when they arrived at Whiskey Too, the pair of agents removed Anastasso's handcuffs. When they removed his handcuffs, they stated that Anastasio lowered his hands down to his hips instead of raising them to the top of his head as he had been told to do. They also stated he was moving around too much. And so these two things were like acts of violence to the Border patrol agents. It was their excuse in their reason to act the way they did exactly. And so then they grabbed Anastasio, and according to them, a quote struggle ensued end a quote. So two not border patrol, but two Ice agents Andre Piligrino and Harinto Narra and Nessink intervened. These Ice officers you their steel batons to hate Anastasio, and their blows struck Anastasio in the chest. The Ice agents continued to hit Anastassio until the pair of Border patrol officers were like stop stop, oh, I didn't know that, mm hmm. And what they claimed happened doesn't add up. They have contradicting statements because they're made up, yes, because they're lying. Ice agents Pilogrino and Nara and nes Singh stated that Anastasio punched all four agents. Mind you, footage shows that he's handcuffed this whole time. We at this point, he had not been handcuffed yet. Oh ic ic Yeah, yeah, they unhandcuffed him. But however, it's one guy and for law enforcement personnel. So that's what they claimed, that he had punched all four of them. Border Patrol agents to Coin and krasile Wigs stated that Anastasio did not punch any of them. Each one of them stated that all five of them then fell to the ground after Anastasio punched them, and that Anastasio had landed on his stomach, and that's when Border Patrol agent Derek Llewellyn arrived. When they were all on the ground, that's when he Llewellyn handcuffed Anastassio's hands behind him behind his back. Then agents Decoin, krasau Wicks and Pellegrino pressed on him while Anastasio was fased down. They held him by the legs, the waist and his side. This is when Anastasio began to cry out for help in Spanish. This drew people together on a pedestrian bridge that overlooked Whiskey two, and this is when the crowd began to record the incident. Meanwhile, two more Border Patrol agents arrived at the scene. They were Alan Boutwell and Kurt Sower, and these two joined the other five. So now there's seven trying to force Anastassio into the backseat of their suv vehicle, which they couldn't do because Anastasio had his feet against the door. Then they dragged Anastasio, who was still hot ncuoked, behind the suv. They placed him face down on the ground. Again, can I interject really quick with something? So I feel like some people might question, like, oh, well, why was he resist? Obviously you know this is what they say. Why was he resisting? Why wouldn't you put his feet against the door like that? But maybe in his head it's like a like a response fear response. Right, he probably thought and they these people did, right. He probably thought they were going to kill him. So he's like, why would I get in the car with them. Right, these agents already had it out for him from the station, and then these two are the ones instructed to take him out. I would be fearing for my life too. They were already abusing him at the station. Yeah, So now they dragged him behind the suv. They placed him face down on the ground again. Then, according to witnesses, they kneeled on the back of Anastasio's neck and his lower back while other agents continued to punch and step on his back and his head. According to witnesses, Anastasio never tried to harm the officers. And then two more vehicles arrived and I'm like, how many people is enough? Like this is just out of control. Yeah. One of the officers from this pair of vehicles got out of the vehicle, ran straight to Anastasio, who was still on the ground, and kicked him hard like a soccer kick, is how the witnesses described it. This is a fucking game to them. Yeah, no, they truly they And even now there's reports of ICE agents who literally like they view everything like as a game, Like they kill people, they harm people, and they laugh and then they know that it's gonna get go viral on social media and they're like excited about the potential of going viral. Yeah. Then Border Patrol agent Jerry Valles began to yell stop resisting, even though at this point Anastasio was handcuffed and not moving at all. And from that video there's like people screaming, like when it's it's saying he's on the ground, he's not moving. What do you mean, stop resisting? Yes, more agents have arrived by now, so now there's somewhere between fifteen to twenty five Border Patrol and Ice on the scene. Jerry Valles then warned the rest of the officers that he was going to use his taser. The group of officers then surrounded Anastasio, partially blocking the view of the eyewitnesses who were up on the bridge. However, someone did manage to record this and capture as Jerry Vallis tasted Anastasio multiple times while Anastasio was on the ground in a fetal position, still handcuffed. Border Patrol agent Jerry Valez used his taser at least four times, and this was proven by using the taser's log This is a program on the taser itself that records every time it's used and for how long. And according to that log, the first two shots for five seconds, the third was thirteen seconds, and the fourth was twelve seconds long. And at least two of those shocks were successful. The other two might have been not like success not hit him hm. The last shock was done in drivesten mode, which means direct contact without probes the taser's probes, and so the taser is then pressed directly against the skin. And when in drivesten mode, a taser should never be used on the head, back of the neck, the trachia, or the chest. And if you guess that officer Valles uses taser in drivestnd mode directly on on Astasio's chest, you would be correct. That is exactly what he did. Anastasio then convulse until the taser was removed. And there is a recording of this. There's a recording of all of this taking place. It's quite terrible. I'm not priority. Yeah, I will not be playing in an audio of that at all. Yeah, there was links in the show notes if you want to look at it again. It is quite horrible to hear, but you hear these desperate screens In Spanish, no no no qita, no the me no, no, no, ma, ma madre and in English, what did I do? Help me? Please, help me? You're treating me like an animal. No, no, no, take him off me, no mom, mother, Just these desperate cries again, and I'm like, you have to see someone as an object, as trash in order to hear these please and not stop. And so it doesn't matter the amount of training that they do, like they dehumanize migrants and brown people and anyone opposing them now at this point, as we have seen from today's news as not as humans, and so any police to humanity, it doesn't matter because they don't see you as equal to them, and so they just treat you however they want, yes, exactly, having the ability to ignore please like this, it cannot be reformed. There is no reforming this organization. As we have said time and time again. And between Anastasio's cries for help, officers can be heard yelling stop resisting, while the crowd is yelling leave him alone. He's not resisting. Why are you using exact excessive force? He is not resisting. And these people's screams sound desperate. They are watching someone be murdered. Yeah, After the final incident, of the taser being used, officers swarmed Anastasio and pressed him down with knees on his head and his back. As they did this, they also punched him repeatedly in the ribs again online video. At some point, they pulled his pants down and zip tied his ankles together, howg tying him. After they howg tied him like this, they all stood up and they nudged him so kicked him with their feet and Anastasio at this point was not moving at all. After they realized he wasn't moving at all, they still waited two more minutes before beginning CPR. Fifteen minutes after this, an ambulance arrived and after some back and forth, was finally able to actually attend to him and put him in the ambulance and take him to the Chula Vista Hospital. At the hospital, the extent of his injuries became apparent. There were bruises pretty much all over his body, bruises and cuts everywhere. He had five broken ribs, visible taser marks, one on one of his butt cheeks as well, so his brain had gone without oxygen for eight minutes. At some point during the repeated tasing and beating, he had a heart attack. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with a noxic brain injury, which means death of brain cells due to lack of oxygen. He was on life support for a little bit until he went into a sister le also called cardiac standstill, which most of us would recognize as flatlining. He was pronounced dead at four thirty pm on May thirty first, twenty ten, and while in the hospital, border patrol was guarding his room. Oh, I was gonna ask if you are I don't know if bringing against this later, but in the documentary they Maria talks about how the police went to inform her that Anassasio was in the hospital, but all they told her was that he had gone into a fight. Oh, yes, that is in my notes. Ya okay, So yeah, in the hospital, border patrol was guarding his room and only allowed family to see him after the Mexican consulate and immigrant rights activists got involved. Before that, they did not let Maria, his wife, or Bernardo, his brother, into the room, and they had told her when they told her that he was in the hospital, they had only told her that he had been in a fight and nothing else. So, of course, when she was finally able to enter the room. The state in which she found her husband was truly shocking because of Border Patrol having guarded the room for so long, only Maria and two of the oldest kids were able to see him before he died, and even then, these kids' last image of their father was traumatizing. I saw the image of him in the hospital and it's impactful. It's hard to look at he looks, he's in a terrible condition, and his children, only two of them could see and actually see him and say goodbye, but still seeing this is traumatizing. The youngest three didn't have a chance to say goodbye. And before we get into the autopsy and what his death certificate said was the cause of death, let's talk about what was supposed to happen. After Anastasio had been taken to the hospital. The San Diego Police Department Homicide Unit should have been informed of what took place so that our criminal investigation could begin. This didn't happen. Border Patrol didn't inform SDPD of the incident until late morning in May twenty ninth, and Border Patrol and sdpt's initial reports described the Nastasio as a suspect, and the officers as victims of battery. Bullshit, how do you haven't describe a man in the hospital as the so crazy suspect. Yeah. A full day after the incident, SDPD secured the crime scene and took witness statements, which were all from Border patrol and ICE agents. These interviews took less than fifteen minutes, and not even all the agents involved were interviewed. And this includes the two that ICE agents that had arrived to Coin and the other one that had arrived and started hitting in with the batons. They weren't interviewed. They weren't no, okay, yeah, and their names were kept hitten for a very long time. Years yes, years. Yeah, it's literally until the civil lawsuit. Not even Actually I didn't think it was the when the DOJ started investigating, when the names were finally revealed, if I'm remembering right, well, I had an order of protection, So then was it the civil laws sophistication? I think it was a civil lawsuit. Okay, we'll get into this. Yeah. Also, while iceen Border patrols were beating and tasing Anastasio, they had calls for more backup. This backup then went onto the pedestrian bridge where people were shouting at them to stop, and they confiscated cameras and cell phones. And the San Diego Police Department didn't bother taking statements from these officers who did the confiscating, So they were not interviewed, And of course neither were the witnesses of the civilian witnesses who saw this. No, none of them were interviewed at first. Within days of Anastasio's death, the media was publishing articles referring to Anastasio as quote violent and combat Oh my god, I didn't know that. Yeah. And these articles also mentioned drugs or mental disorders playing a role in his death. And are you going to get into the autopsy? Yes, okay, And these were lies. Of course. They tried to say he was on meth, right, and that's what caused a heart attack. No, And the thing they were counting as meth was a medication given to him at the hostspital. Yeah, to treat him, but to bullshit. Yes. Then just several days later, on June ninth, Umberto navare Mendoza posted videos of the attack on Anastasio, as well as an audio recording of all of it. He had witnessed the attack and managed to hide his recording device from the officers who were confiscating all of them. Once the video was out, that's when the a s DPD actually took witness statements from civilians who saw everything from the bridge. Before that, they hadn't talked to any of them, and local press had also been reporting eyewitness accounts before as DPD even tried to reach out to witnesses who saw what happened. Umberto himself and two others were interviewed as part of the San Diego Police Department's investigation, and then in July of twenty ten, they referred the case to the US Attorney's Office in San Diego, who then, I guess just sat on it. I believe in that documentary they mentioned this and that the the choes to not prosecute right, which is sitting on it, right not to do anything about it. Okay, that makes sense. And right after he died, an Assassa's family had tried contacting the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. The DOJ refused to provide his family with any information about the investigation. The family continued to attempt to contact did DJ through a representative throughout the rest of twenty ten and twenty eleven. Then on April twentieth, twenty twelve, PBS, the very same PBS who is losing funding or is like officially out of funding, Yeah, as a result of this current administration. But local PBS places are still operating, Yes, but yeah, they lost their main source of funding, This very same PBS. They released a video of Border Patrol and Ice, you know, together beating Anastasio and the servicing of this video. It took a lot of work. Reporter John Carlos Frak, who has spent his whole career reporting on Board Patrol, he began to look into Anastasio's case shortly after his death, and he, like everyone else, noticed that there was little to no information from official sources. So he began to look for witnesses, and it took him a month of investigating to find a witness who had the video, but was afraid to come forward at first. She was even too scared to show him the video and instead she chose to just describe what happened. And I mean, who can blame her? She was only twenty two and she was scared. She saw them be a man with no justification, no mercy. Of course, she was scared exactly, and she was actually visiting San Diego. She's a Seattle local. Oh, I didn't know, And it's in the PBS documentary because she's in it. She's not anonymous anymore and she's in the PBS documentary. I'm going to watch that. But yeah, she's a Seattle local visiting San Diego. And she was walking across the bridge and she was like, I heard sounds that someone was dying, someone was begging for help, and she took out her camera and began to record, and she's in the video. She can be heard yelling like leave him alone too. And she saw border patrol lining everyone up who was on the bridge and like take their phones. And she at the last minute removed her as D card, put it in her pocket and handed her phone over and that's why she still had the footage. And it took John two years to convince her to release the video, and when he finally got it, it was sent on a disk and an envelope with no return address. Like that's how scared she was, yes, exactly, and yeah, the video shows what we shared earlier. It shows the officers screaming keep walking to bystanders. They're ganging up on him. There's over fifteen of them. It shows him on the ground the whole time, contradicting officers were yelling that he stood up, tried to kick them. There's agents yelling quit resisting, and he's just on the ground. And yeah, it's showing them piling up on him, punching him, grabbing his pants. It shows all of this. And then they tried to surround him, right, the witnesses wouldn't sea and not to They were yelling, quit resisting, yes, to make it seem like he was. And even then, yeah, even then, his legs are pretty visible and he's not moving. Plus from the top, no matter how you surround, you can't hide, no, exactly. And at this point, now that the video is being circulated and it moved people to protest, especially in San Diego and in Mexico, protests were growing and so the DOJ had no choice but to act. At this point, even members of Congress were contacting the Department of Homeland Security expressing their concern, and so finally, on May ninth, twenty twelve, two years later, the family traveled to DC to meet with investigators who had barely opened a criminal investigation. And then the family remained in the dark. Jean Iredale took over the case for them, like she he was the family's lawyer, but he found Border Patrol was not cooperating with anything. Pori Patrol refused to turn over any evidence, any evidence that remained because they destroyed a lot of the evidence. They claim to not understand what I cannot breathe means in Spanish, so they didn't know he couldn't breathe. They also stuck to their story of being concerned that Anastasio was hurting himself and that's why he was being handcuffed. And the documentary shows the depositions that Jean conducted with the Border Patrol agents and he asks one of them about the you know, the I cannot breathe statements, and one of the agents respond saying, if you're talking, you can breathe them, he can breathe, And I was like, shut the fuck up, dude. They honestly, they pissed me the fuck off, obviously, Like this is so infuriating, but their carelessness, they don't give they don't care who they hurt or who they kill. Yeah, they really don't. And yeah, the only reason that this was even opened as a case was because of the protests in both the US and Mexico after PBS released the video, and so you know, they did these depositions and then just like nothing happened for a while. After five years since the day that Anastasio died, the DOJ announced that the investigation was being closed, and in their press releases they stated, so this is twenty fifteen now. They stated that they had reviewed hundreds of pages of evidence generated by SDPD investigators, and they initiated an independent federal investigation into the incident, which included federal law enforcement witness accounts, Mexican law enforcement winness accounts, civil witness accounts, medical personnel accounts, medical records, autopsy reports, official use of force training materials, and forensic evidence. But it's like, okay, do not see the video then, like, because that's very clearly it's very it's a video, like please, But the press release described the incident as Anastasio having been resisting and needing to be restrained, and that he had continued to struggle and kick agents, which again the video shows that he wasn't doing any of this, But that's what the press release from the DOJ investigation that's what they were releasing. The press release also stated that the medical examiner said that Anastasio would not have died if there had not been methamphetamine intoxication in like so methavetomine in his system. But that's they said this in their press release. But there was no It was a lie. He was not intoxicated with methamphetamine. No so like. This was not just an error, it was a strain up lie. Two separate autopsies were done and both essentially said the exact same thing. This was a homicide brought on by the variety of restraints, the number of persons who beat him, the fact he was prone and tasered, and if it were not for the repeated blows and tasers, Anastasio would still be alive. That was the conclusion of two separate autopsies. And yet in their press release they said, oh, he would have been alive if he didn't have methanist system, which again he didn't. On top of the DOJ closing the investigation, they also did not inform the family that the statue of limitations for assault was five years and they took so long with the investigation that the statute of limitations was up anyway, so they didn't even have They didn't wow, and that's because they took so long. They also in their press release stated that Border Patrol they couldn't legally prove Border Patrol acted with force or with malice, Like, oh, you're telling me, it's not force or malice for twenty five agents to gang up on one man who cannot physically fight back, and even if we could, it would be no match for twenty five people against one And it's not with force or malice. They tasered him numerous times, that they kicked him in the head, Like this is ridiculous. Yeah, and again, so they said that there's no like, there was no evidence to support that there was an abuse of force. But the reason there was no evidence is because Border Patrol themselves make sure there was no evidence in investigating Anastasio's death. Reporter john Frey Carlos is connected to Gen Budd, a former Bord Patrol officer turned whistleblower who we actually mentioned a little bit in our last episode with Lonnie Schwartz having fired into Mexico. That was episode two fifteen, and so we did talk about her a little bit. She has a book about this whistle blowing and border patrol and stuff. She encouraged john Frey Carlos to find other officers willing to talk, but he found that as soon as he mentioned he was a reporter, every officer just ended the call. Okay. So then during the course of investigating and being connected with Jen Bud, Jen called john Frey Carlos, so he was connected with her, and then he was like, help me look into this. She suggested. You know, he reached out to agents who all hung up on him. I don't think I wrote it down, But during the course of being connected together meeting investigating, she looked into the Border Patrols handbooks on violence and whatnot, or just her general handbook, and she saw one mention of something called critical Incident Teams, and it talked about how they work, how they investigate border patrol incidents of violence to mitigate civiliability, meaning their own fault, their own doing wrongdoing. So then she says that she saw a tweet on Twitter from a Border Patrol chief in Tucson alluding to critical incident teams, and then so they're like talking. He's like, but do you know, She's like, no, I'm just suspecting because it sounds similar to this blah blah blah. So like whatever case this persident was talking about sounder similar to Anastasio's case. To her, yes, okay, So then she assumed cis involved the Critical Incident teams. So then this happened in Tucson, right, so then near Nogdalist whatever it was. So then John Frey goes out to Nogalist, talked to the police there and he found that the police department was not allowed to investigate the case that was similar to an Assatu's case. So then he and I can't remember if this is the same incident, but there was a woman who was shot in the head by Border patrol and I believe it's the same, insist okay, so they've done this shit before. Yeah, and she survived and she's like, yes, Border patrol shot me, she told John Fray. And so then John Fray Carlos goes to speak to Sergeant Angulu from the Nogalist police department and they told they can't talk about it. So then he leaves and he runs into a chief of the police chief be Movedness, and he's like, hey, I don't want to talk about any specific incident because I know you guys can't comment on it, but what is the general protocol involving Border patrol shootings? And so then the Chief Bermudas tells John Frank Carlos that as far as he knows, and he's been with them for a long time, he's the chief with the police, right as far as he knows, the police has never investigated any Border Patrol shooting incidents, and that he knew he knew of the existence of the critical Incident teams because this is a hush hush thing. Yes, Like when I mentioned Jen had looked up there are policy handbooks, she had meant she had found one mention of critical incident teams in an older version of the policy and not and knew as in this timeframe, and yeah, so one mention of them and then nothing else. So if it was very hush hush, and they're like they just knew that they had something to do with un sol, they kept looking into it. So then they chief police chief and is confirmed critical incident teams does exist, but he couldn't comment on the role. So then John Fray called the Border Patrol media person to ask about the existence of critical incident teams and the person's like, oh, I don't know. I don't know anything about that, but send me an email and I'll look into it. So this person literally didn't know this Border Patrol media person and leads on, I guess you could say imediately. He's on, they didn't know about the existence of critical incident teams. So they're like, well, send me an email and I'll look into it. And someone sends John Fray in an anonymous text and they're like, Hey, I heard you were asking about critical incident teams. Here's a PowerPoint and it's a presentation about the critical incident teams. So the Critical Incident Teams were established in September nineteen eighty seven, and their goal, as it's said in the PowerPoint, is to do concurrent investigations with local agencies. But it seems like they don't partner concurrently to investigate. They investigate themselves and they don't allow local agencies to investigate for mitigation for civiliability, prepare administrative report that preserves and protects the integrity of the Border Patrol, and then they investigate and prepare criminal cases against suspects for assault on bord Patrol agents. Which is why they referred to Anastasio as a suspect of assault on border patrol agents. So an anonymous former CIT agent actually came forward and he speaks synonymously on the documentary, but he came forward to john Frey Carlos, and he admits that it was a program created to investigate high profile critical incidents, and these incidents are deemed the critical by the chief patrol agent of the district. I guess you could say where the incident happens, but there are also times where the agents themselves could call for CIT basically and they would contaminate evidence even before CC showed up to cover up. And so the purpose is to protect against civiliability. And there's been way more cases where they are similar to an Assisio's case, and yeah, who survived. But Jen Budd looked into this. She looked up federal lawsuits in the PACER system to kind of look into cases that seem similar to Anastasios to then see if try to find out if CIT was involved in those cases. And it was the same story over and over again that the agents acted in self defense. And so looking into it, this led Jen to believe that anytime there's been an incident like a shooting or a death at the border, CAT has been involved. Interesting And so then in twenty twenty one, John Frey along with the john Frey Carlos I keep saying to this John Fray, but john Frey Carlos and Jenbud along with the Southern Well she was working with them and in conduction with the Southern Border Communities Coalition, and this is a group organization that was helping Maria and the family. They released the information they found on CAT to the media and so they found that CAT was interfering in fatal incidents, and they described the CIT as off the books investigative units or quote, shadow police units. And they found that the CAT would go to a scene, collect evidence that supports the Border Patrol, leave the evidence, but then destroy any other evidence to alleviate responsibility and liability for Border Patrol. And they have no authority to exist, mind you, right, So then john Frey Carlos also met with Senator Alex Padilla to share this CIIT and information and he's like, yeah, they have no approval or funding from Congress, like this is a shadow organization within the Border Patrol. And on November sixteenth, twenty twenty one, there was a congressional oversight to question the depriving of Homeland Security to question them about the existence of CIIT, and so they questioned the head at the time was something I don't know, it's first thing, but majorcas and two former senior Border Patrol officials agreed to be in viewed about I guess maybe their contact with THET and internal affairs. No, sorry, they were with internal affairs. Oh okay, but yeah, after the congressional oversight hearings, the Biden administration did eventually officially on paper at least terminate CIT. Is there a possibility they exist because they existed before in the shadows? Yeah? Yeah. So in the documentary, two former senior Border Patrol officials that were internal affairs agents were interviewed and they mentioned I believe it's I'm not sure, but there was not always an internal affairs in bar Patrol. And so one of them, they're both named James, but one of them is basically like he saying he was taken aback to learn that there was no internal affairs before and he was taken it back to the agent's response to internal affairs, and one of them talks about how Border Patrol consider themselves more like military and paramilitary than law enforcement. And so then he would tell them, hey, law enforcement has to abide blah blah blah blah blah whatever, like reason with them, like, hey, cooperate with me, you know, and they would be like, you don't understand. You've never worked green. And this is the thing. It's a in group, it's a they made this their whole identity. And it's something we talked about in the Border Patrol series that we did over at Estorias Unown as well. Honestly, like, if you're just now questioning if this organization should even exist, we highly suggest you check out those episodes on our history podcast Estorias Are Known. It goes to the beginning of Border Patrol and it's like five episodes deep diving into them. But this mentality, one, this brainwashing is so dangerous. People are talking about right now talking about how thuggish the Sly are, but it's like it's not. It's always been like this, This this mentality mentality has been ongoing. I mean like literally in that series that most of the research came from doctor Kelly Litel and none. This book Migra, a US History on a history and US Border Patrol, But even before a decade of their existence, there was a call for a reform because of the extreme violence that Border Patrol agency perpetrated mm hmm. And that was within the first ten years of the Border Patrol, yep. And there was a reform where supposedly they got rid of all the old timers that had this you know, violent mindset, but in reality, they kept a lot of them on as trainers, and this violent mindset never went away. It's embedded in the legacy of Border Patrol and now ICE, because ICE is a division of that you know yep. So one of the internal affairs agents said that they were briefed on Anascio's case and that agent confirmed that anasthetia was on his back when he was tasered, and he confirmed that the critical incident team was reporting directly to the porpitual chief in San Diego, and one of the internal affairs agents was directed to submit a false report on the incident. And they also said that the CIIT illegally obtained the autopsy report before anyone else had access to it, and then they used that autopsy to construct their own story. So they read about the math and they said, Okay, he was on meth but in reality, but they're so stupid and they didn't recognize that that was a medication he was given at the hospital, right. It was the medication peneleprine. Yeah, and this often causes a false positive for a meth and so they just took that and around with it to construct their story because they had to make something up right to not seem culpable. And so I thought this was important for them to come out and say the truth because every other agent that was interviewed about this in the documentary, including the current chief, they're like, oh, well he was excuses right, Oh he was resisting. Oh I don't know too much about it, but I just know he was resisting like things like that. And then there are like, no, I was brief on this and he was on his back when he was taard and c AT directed me to submit a Polish reports. So yeah, yes, thank you for that rundown. And you know, even after all this, like not being told what was going on after the case was closed by DOJ and Assasi's family did not give up. When the criminal investigation went nowhere, they pursued a civil lawsuit, which they won February twenty seventeen. And this does not at all mean that justice was served. It was pursued because the criminal case was closed, and it was in the civil lawsuit that the family finally learned some of the names of some of the officers involved, not even not all of them at all. There had been a protective order in place to withhold their names because they're like they're always protected. Hence why they're walking around in masks right now. In between the criminal investigation and the civil lawsuit taking place, the family also filed a petition with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, or the IACCHR, and they had the help of Alliance San Diego and international law experts from UC Berkeley like Roxanna Alfhalls. And the IACCHR is the only court currently in which you can sue the United States for human rights abuses. They do not have the authority to put anyone in prison, but they do hold moral and political sway and can encourage the creation of hard law protections. The IACCHR is what is considered a soft law and change in policies and stuff like that. Yeah, and so on. May tenth, twenty seventeen, the IACHR announced that it would be moving forward with the case, and it gave the US government a chance to respond to the allegations of extra judicial killing, torture, and obstruction of justice. And the Trump administration did respond, arguing that the IACHR did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. But they did, and they did. They did take the case, and they had jurisdician to do so, and so in twenty nineteen August twenty nineteen, they spoke with Maria Burga and others and this was the trial. During this she testified, quote, I still hear the cries of my husband calling for help. The border agents who killed him must have thought he didn't have a family or a community. They were wrong. Here we are and we will fight for justice for Anastasio and all other victims of border agents until the system changes end quote. And in a landmark ruling on April twenty eighth, twenty twenty, almost a decade after his killing. Yeah, almost a decade, yes, sorry, I can't do math. Almost a decade after his killing, the IACHR ruled in favor of Anastasio's family. They ruled that the US had violated the rights to life, health, justice, personal integrity, and humane treatment during deprivation of freedom. They also stated that Anastasio was subjected to torture, which he was The commission recommended that the US reopen the DOJ investigation, and this has yet to happen. But this was a meaningful not only for Anastasio's family, but also for the many who have been abused and killed at the hands of both Border Patrol and ICE, hundreds hundreds of people. In documentary they mentioned that after Anastasio's and I don't know how how far how recent they counted, but after Anthatia's death, at least two hundred people have died at the hands of Board Patrol. Oh yeah, we've shared similar statistics in our episode two fifteen, and like one is one too many, but here we are at two hundred plus. The current Commissioner of the US Customs and Border Patrol is implicated in the killing of Anastasio. He was the chief, He was the one in charge of the critical incident. He was, say theory, the critical Incident team that interfered with the investigation. Under his direction, they did the following, some of which we have already mentioned, but they took control of the incident scene and collected evidence now SDPD. They erased witness cell phone video and dispersed witnesses. They requested that a hospital doctor tests an Assassia for drugs. They unlawfully used in the administrative subpoena to acquire those medical records. They provided police investigators the wrong video footage from surveillance cameras. They allowed surveillance footage of the incidents to be taped over. They participated in all of the witness interviews conducted by police. They intervened in the autopsy and took their own photos. They altered the Border Patrol arrests record before giving it to the police. They wrote their own investigative report used to mitigate the liability of agents. And that is the person currently in charge of patrol, the person who was in charge of that investigation by C. T. Scott something. You wrote his name down, Rodney Scott. Rodney Scott. This is the person currently in charge of Border Patrol. He is the commision of the Customs and customs and border whatever. He's the commissioner. Yeah. And when he was questioned about Anastasio, was it for the documentary, how arrogant that he still appeared in the documentary instead of just not commenting or denying to appear. Anyway, He was questioned about Anastasio's case for the HBO documentary and he said the following about Anastasio quote, it was an illegal alien. He right, he didn't say it, did he? However, it's typed up, is how he said. That's insane. Quote. I did they ask him about the incident, like, have you heard of the case case? Okay, yeah, that would make more sense. Okay, it was an illegal alien that Border Patrol agents arrested. They were sending him back south. He kind of flipped out, multiple agents responded, and ultimately he ended up he ended up passing away, just like that of his own volition. Yeah, he passed away. It was his fault he passed away. Actually, he ended up passing away, you know, just like anviently. Yeah. Plunos and Rodney Scott denied ci T was on the scene and denied there was a cover up at all. And like we said earlier, Congress did announce a formal investigation into CIT in twenty twenty two, but in May of that year. But in May of that year, by the announce that they would eliminate cit And like we said earlier, who knows if this actually happened like it made have happened on paper, But they could very well still be existing in the shadows, just like they had been four years before all of this came to light. And that wouldn't be the most surprising thing, just thinking about, like say, the School of Americas which was quote unquote officially closed but then reopened under a different name Windzek, So yeah, that wouldn't be that shocking. And this is the exact type of investigative unit that would have responded to what happened today. Yeah, m hm. And part of me also wonders like if di Biden administration chose to eliminate it so that there would be no vestigation. No, really, and investigation is warranted. Yes, how many deaths have they covered up? Yeah, we don't know because there's no investigation. Yeah, and that was the case of Anastasio Ernandez Drojas, one that we should all be familiar with, especially right now. Yeah, Yeah, that was heavy for sure. It was it was go get some ice cream or something or I don't know, sign petitions and protests and then go get ice cream something yeah, but yeah, we first we are sorry for or how whatever this brought up for you, it brought up the same for us. But again, it's a very important case and it's hard to talk about, it's hard to read about, it's hard to learn about, but it deserves to be told. And even the family themselves are like, the settlement was not justice. Justice will be first of all, this should never happen, right, But justice to the family, as they have said, would be for this to never happen again, and for things like this to never happen again. We have to talk about the injustice and the atrocities that have already been committed by bor patrol and ice because people don't know that they have always been like this, right, Today's murder by ice agents is nothing new, right, And if people aren't surprised, then they should look into the history of borbae Ie because they have always acted as menaces to society. They have murder and raped women and children and men, and yeah, they have acted with impetuity. They have never been convicted of a murder despite killing hundreds of people. Yep. And so this is just a call, right, like these type of murderers organizations shouldn't exist exactly. And that is where we will leave you with those words, and we'll be back next week with a different topic. As always, Goodbye as Book tells Us. Hosted by Christina and Carmen, Produced and edited by Christina, researched by Christina Carmen and with the help of Don Shout out with Don. 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