Man dies of COVID in ICE custody held for a registration violation.
In 1985, at age 19, Martin Vargas Arellano was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor under 14. The victim, according to his attorney, Margaret Hellerstein, was his stepsister, and the relationship was consensual. In 1993, Vargas was convicted of domestic violence, but has had no other convictions for violent crimes since then.
Vargas was arrested in April 2019 for petty theft and failing to register as a sex offender. “His serious crimes were more than 30 years ago. He was gravely disabled. He used a wheelchair much of the time. He was on insulin. This was not somebody who was capable of a violent offense,” Hellerstein said.
Yet, he was held in custody despite his pleas to be released for compassionate reasons in light of COVID and his serious health conditions. Despite his pleas he died and his attorney believes there was a cover-up by the government to conceal the seriousness of his illness. The court agreed and ordered ICE to provide a written response by noon today.
Another illustration of how an arrest for “failure to register” can lead to tragic consequences.
I hope his family bring an enormously expensive lawsuit against the government for this entirely unnecessary detention and unnecessarydeath.
Maybe that will bring more attention to the injustice of the Registry and it’s unnavigable rules, regulations, restrictions requirements, etc.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. How many times on the news do we hear about someone being harassed for minor mistakes, only for it to end up with someone dead. When officers over react they turn a small thing into a deadly one. The more someone is harassed the more nervous and suspicious he becomes of an Officers intentions and the more likely things will get out of hand, also. This is a side effect of an overreaction. Dead is dead no matter how it comes down.
A response from ICE?
Those responsible here for this preventable death should all face hard Prison time for murder by proxy.