<
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/us-crimes-humanity-ice-kristi-noem-20250413.html>
"In a just and decent America, the law enforcement career of Charles Cross Jr.
would have ended more than a decade ago. A Milwaukee police sergeant, Cross was
briefly fired from the force in 2007 after kicking down his girlfriend’s door
and convicted of misdemeanor property damage, but top brass gave him a second
chance after he underwent treatment for alcoholism and depression.
This did not go well. The lawman was also on a so-called Brady list of city
police officers whom prosecutors found to have credibility issues. In 2012,
Cross’ Milwaukee career ended after he plowed into a home with his car,
intoxicated at double the legal limit, and he also came under investigation for
phony overtime claims.
But America’s rapidly expanding archipelago of gulags for detained immigrants
provided yet another chance for a disgraced ex-cop with a history of poor
judgment and dishonesty. Now 62, Cross, according to a report by the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel, has found work in California with CoreCivic, a private
contractor in the lucrative business of running detention centers for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
It turns out it was Cross, under the title “INVESTIGATOR,” who’d recently
signed papers claiming a gay Venezuelan makeup artist named Andry José
Hernandez Romero was likely a member of the gang Tren de Aragua, based upon his
tattoos. It’s a claim lawyers and family members of the 31-year-old Hernandez
Romero, who was seeking U.S. refuge from Venezuela’s repressive regime, have
ridiculed — insisting the tattoo is three kings paying homage to Jesus. But
that didn’t prevent ICE from shipping Hernandez Romero, without due process, to
a notorious hellhole prison in El Salvador where it’s not clear if or how he
can be released.
In one sense, the ongoing tragedy of Hernandez Romero’s deportation and
imprisonment, when there is no evidence he has ever even committed a crime, is
hardly unique. Not in a no-longer-recognizable America in which insane and
infuriating stories about unlawful detention, a lack of due process for
hundreds of migrants, and cruel mistreatment of international college students
or innocent tourists are becoming as routine as last night’s baseball scores.
But one detail about the case is very different. This time, we know the name of
one of the responsible parties for Hernandez Romero’s suffering, thanks to some
diligent journalism. Too often, the federal agents, police, or contractors
behind the growing inhumanity of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation
regime can hide not only behind the anonymity of their jobs, but literal masks
like those worn by the ICE officers who snatched Tufts grad student Rumeysa
Ozturk off a Massachusetts street.
I want to know who these people are because they are wantonly committing human
rights violations in my name and yours. Because when all this nonsense is over
— and I swear one day it will be, at the ballot box or in the streets or by any
means necessary, even though I might not live to see it — I want more than just
people feeling ashamed of their role in this spree of inhumanity.
I want justice."
Via Rod Mesa and Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
