Earlier today, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neil announced that Officer Daniel Pantaleo would be fired, 5 years after he killed Eric Garner using an illegal choke hold. Below is a statement from Juan Cartagena, President and General Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF:

Presidential politics is not our forté at LatinoJustice. Laws and practices that shield the abuse of the criminal justice system on Latinx communities, are. When you start a national discourse with policing practices and accountability, you start exactly at the place where Latinx communities have yearned for change.

On January 8th, the Baltimore ICE field office took Roxana Orellana Santos into custody to prepare for deportation. Today’s action comes amid over a decade of litigation in which Santos sought to hold the Frederick County Sheriff’s Department liable for racial profiling and illegally arresting her. During this period, Santos has regularly kept all of her regularly scheduled immigration check-in appointments.