- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory was so jumbled after a beating by immigration officers that he initially could not remember he had a daughter and still struggles to recall treasured moments like the night he taught her to dance.
But the violence he endured last month in Minnesota while being detained is seared into his battered brain.
He remembers Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulling him from a friend’s car on Jan. 8 outside a St. Paul shopping center and throwing him to the ground, handcuffing him, then punching him and striking his head with a steel baton. He remembers being dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he said he was beaten again.
He also remembers the emergency room and the intense pain from eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.
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I’m gonna say this: three cheers for his doctors. For someone who had his skull fractured nine times, he looks pretty good. Medically speaking, that’s not such a simple thing. I think his doctors deserve a lot of credit here.
His recovery will be long and painful, and will never end. The little bit of info mentioned indicates he is not out of the woods. This poor soul could literally just fall over dead from the long term effects of his injuries, and will never have his memories back most likely.
Of course, I understand all of this. The point I was trying to make was simply that, the fact that he’s gotten this far and seems to be doing as well as he is, his doctors deserve a lot of credit for that.
I wasn’t trying to criticize anybody
Oh, no! My apologies, I did not intend the combative wording.
I was, well, venting from my own horror, I guess? Shit’s fucked up.
Oddly, a lot of of the interactions here are combative, even if they are not intended to be.
No worries!
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Though his bruises have faded, the effects of his traumatic brain injuries linger. In addition to the problems with his memory, he also has issues with balance and coordination that could prove debilitating for a man whose work requires going up and down ladders. He said he is unable to bathe himself without help. “I can’t get on a roof now,” he said. Castañeda Mondragón, who does not have health insurance, said doctors have told him he needs ongoing care. Unable to earn a living, he is relying on support from co-workers and members of the Minneapolis-St. Paul community who are raising money to help provide food, housing and medical care. He has launched a GoFundMe. Still, he hopes to stay in the U.S. and to provide again someday for his loved ones. He differentiates between people in Minnesota, where he said he has felt welcome, and the federal officers who beat him. “It’s immense luck to have survived, to be able to be in this country again, to be able to heal, and to try to move forward,” he said. “For me, it’s the best luck in the world.” But when he closes his eyes at night, the fear that ICE officers will come for him dominates his dreams. He is now terrified to leave his apartment, he said. “You’re left with the nightmare of going to work and being stopped,” Castañeda Mondragón said, “or that you’re buying your food somewhere, your lunch, and they show up and stop you again. They hit you.”
He likely wouldn’t survive another meeting with LICE. :/
I live in Canada so am not dealing with anything like this at all. But holy fuck! Just reading about it makes my skin crawl.
What’s that phrase they like? One of ours, all of yours?
