Pablo Manríquez writes:

On Saturday, federal agents shot Marimar “La Maggie” Martinez five to seven times in Brighton Park. Yesterday, she walked out of the hospital—bandaged, limping, but alive—flanked by her lawyer, Christopher Parente, and a crowd chanting her name.

That image—a Latina activist standing upright after federal bullets tore through her car and body—belongs to a long ledger of American overreach. CBP called it an “ambush.” Her community calls it what it looks like: an execution that failed.

The government’s story crumbles on contact. Prosecutors claim Martinez rammed a Border Patrol SUV and charged an agent. But Parente told a federal judge he has the body-cam footage, and it shows the opposite: a CBP agent taunting her—“Do something, bitch”—before steering his unmarked vehicle into hers and opening fire. Seven bullets later, Martinez drove herself a mile to a repair shop for help.

That footage exists. It’s time we all see it.

Because when federal agents shoot a U.S. citizen and the Department of Homeland Security hides the video behind “ongoing investigation” boilerplate, it’s not law enforcement—it’s propaganda. Chicago has seen this movie before. Ask the families of Laquan McDonald or Adam Toledo what happens when police footage stays sealed. [Continue reading…]