Arturo DeLeon-Reyes |(Source: Illinois Department of Correction)
CHICAGO—(ENEWSPF)—February 8, 2018
By: Frank Chapman
The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) stands in solidarity with Gabriel Solache and Arturo Reyes, who were tortured and framed by CPD Detective Reynaldo Guevara and freed after nearly 20 years of false imprisonment — only to be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for eventual deportation. We stand with the families and friends of Gabriel and Arturo whose bravery amidst the bitter upheavals of struggle led to their loved ones’ release and whose anguish at the uncertainty of their future now darkens the horizon of this victory.
CAARPR Field Secretary Frank Chapman said of this heinous betrayal: “We denounce the torture-to-deportation and torture-to-incarceration pipelines that have terrorized communities of color and been a stain on this city’s history for far too long. We denounce the actions of the IDOC in handing over Gabriel and Arturo to ICE. We denounce ICE for attempting to use false confessions obtained by police torture as a basis for detaining these two men. Above all, we denounce the hypocrisy of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who proclaims Chicago a “sanctuary city”, but stands idly by as factory workers like Gabriel and Arturo and other members of Chicago’s communities of color are tortured, framed, deported, harassed, imprisoned and murdered by the city’s police.”
In the face of such injustice and hypocrisy, we proclaim that true sanctuary for all communities in Chicago will be found only when the people have the democratic power to govern and discipline the police force. The Mayor and the City Council aid and abet these abuses of Chicagoans by allowing the police to oversee themselves, thereby inviting them to commit torture and other crimes with impunity, and to collude with ICE in conducting illegal deportations. By refusing to enact an elected, civilian police accountability council (CPAC) with the democratically sanctioned power to govern, discipline and fire police officers, the Mayor and the City Council turn a blind eye to well-known patterns of institutionalized racism, corruption and criminality within the CPD. This allows the Chicago police to weaken our democracy and undermine our status as a “Welcoming City.” We demand that the City Council cease holding the CPAC ordinance hostage in the Public Safety Committee and vote to enact it immediately.
The CAARPR also calls on ICE to immediately release Arturo Reyes and to allow both Gabriel and Arturo to freely determine whether to stay in the United States with the protected status they deserve as victims of crimes or to leave voluntarily. We call on both ICE and the Cook County State’s Attorney to henceforth desist from using confessions obtained through police torture as the basis for detention, imprisonment and deportation. We call on State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to immediately release all currently imprisoned police torture victims, including those brutalized at the hands of Detectives Guevara, Burge, Boudreau, Halloran, and O’Brien and all other officers associated with the known Burge and Guevara torture rings. We call on Rahm Emanuel to ensure that all freed police torture victims and all residents of Chicago receive the protection they deserve as part of a “sanctuary city” – including from police terror, harassment, and deportation. We further call on Governor Bruce Rauner to immediately pardon the hundreds of innocent men and women who languish in prison as a result of police crimes. And we continue to stand with communities across Chicago in their struggle to enact an all elected, all-civilian police accountability council (CPAC) whose embodiment of the democratic will to justice in the face of police impunity will demonstrate that the people are the true sanctuary in this land. All Power to the People!!
Source: www.naarpr.org
