After he passed away while in federal custody, Democrats are supporting the death of an undocumented immigrant who was convicted of murder over twenty years ago. Charles Leo Daniel, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago who stayed in the U.S. illegally exceeded the expiration of his U.S. visa., died under unknown circumstances on March 7 in the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.
Daniel was first incarcerated after being found guilty in 2003 of the brutal murder of his landlord roommate with a “bloody butcher knife.” Court papers indicate that police arrived at the scene to discover Daniel “covered in blood.” Daniel claimed self-defense, but the court determined that “testimony to be lacking in credibility” and “found the forensic evidence inconsistent with Daniel’s account of how he had stabbed” the victim, Raymond Lindsay. The court originally sentenced
Daniel to “220 months prison and 24 to 48 months of community custody.” A unanimous decision given in 2007 confirmed that sentence after concluding that “the court did not misapply the law of self-defense.” sentenced Following an immigration judge's ruling in 2020 to expel Daniel from the country, he was transferred into the custody of the Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, where he passed away.
Shortly after his death, scholars at the University of Washington promptly claimed that the circumstances of Daniel’s detainment, including “the second-longest stretch in solitary confinement of any person in ICE custody since 2018,” caused him suffering and may have contributed to his death. The UW activists urge Congress to send “written information requests of the agency’s Congressional liaison.”
“If members of Washington’s Congressional delegation have chosen not to make use of this tool to date, now is the time to start, in the interests of transparency, accountability, and supporting the leadership of Washington communities who are using every tool at our disposal in our effort to stop the abuse of our neighbors,” the “research update” concludes.
A few weeks later, a
dozen Democrat Senators sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Patrick J. Lechleitner, the ICE official performing the duties of the director, on March 29 demanding an end to the “misuse of solitary confinement in immigration detention.” Senators Elizabeth Warren and Dick Durbin, two of the signatories, also
opposed the use of solitary confinement for those convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot. However, they did not send a formal letter demanding better treatment for detained Americans than for undocumented border crossers. The letter from the Democrats to ICE does not mention Daniel’s name, but it does use similar language as UW to pressure ICE into reducing penalties for foreigners who violate U.S. law and murder Americans.
On March 21, Rep. Pramila Jayapal also criticized ICE for “overreliance on detention” and even suggested that “nearly 67 percent of people detained in ICE custody have no criminal record and many more only have minor offenses such as traffic violations.” While mentioning Daniel by name, she did not mention Daniel’s criminal record alongside his violation of U.S. immigration law. Instead, she expressed sympathy to his family for the “unacceptable tragedy.”
“Most importantly, I express my sympathy to Mr. Daniel’s family and loved ones. His passing is a terrible event and there should be responsibility and a complete inquiry to comprehend exactly what happened at the Northwest Detention Center,” she stated. statement Democrats are focusing on Daniel’s demise
got increased attention
from The News Tribune. The pro-illegal migration group La Resistencia also saw their fact-free “harassment” and “intimidation” during protests outside of the Tacoma detention facility publicized in a positive manner. claims of Neither article brought up Daniel’s criminal past. Democrats are coming together regarding the death of an undocumented immigrant who was found guilty of killing an American.
Neither article mentioned Daniel’s criminal history.
