Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman shot by a Border Patrol agent in October, testified Wednesday before the Homeland Security Committee in Washington, warning federal lawmakers that if immigration agents aren’t held accountable, “more people are going to get hurt.”
Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot Martinez, 31, five times after a car carrying three CBP agents collided with her vehicle Oct. 4 near 39th Street and Kedzie Avenue.
She said she was driving to donate clothes to a church that morning when she noticed an SUV that seemed to be driven by federal immigration agents who “had been invading my Hispanic neighborhood in recent weeks.”
After seeing uniformed Border Patrol agents in the car, Martinez said she followed the SUV, honked and shouted, “La migra,” to alert her neighbors of their presence.
Her car remained “2 to 3 feet” to the left of the CBP vehicle when Exum veered into her lane. She made eye contact with Exum and “watched as he turned his steering wheel once again to his left and sideswiped my vehicle,” she said.
“I immediately froze, slammed on my brakes and stopped my car. The Border Patrol stopped just one to two car lengths ahead of me,” Martinez said. “At that moment, I believed I was in danger based on what I knew watching the news coverage of ICE agents … in Chicago.”
She drove forward, around the CBP agents as one agent pointed a gun at her, she said. She continued veering left until she struck a curb.
“I felt burning sensations in my arms and legs. Shortly after, I began to feel sharp impacts and burning sensation as I continued to drive past the Border Patrol agents. I could hear my back passenger window shatter,” Martinez said. “I looked down and noticed blood gushing out of my arms and legs and realized I had been shot multiple times.”
Wednesday was the first time Martinez testified before a committee. She was joined by the Rev. David Black, of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, who testified about when ICE agents fired pepper balls at him as he prayed outside the ICE processing facility in Broadview.
“What was done to me is only a reflection of what is being done to people in my community who have no pulpit and no platform,” Black said. “On a daily basis, I witnessed the fear and the suffering of those who are being targeted by this violent campaign.”
George Retes Jr., a U.S. citizen tear-gassed and arrested by ICE while on his way to work in Southern California last July, and Ryan Ecklund, another U.S. citizen detained by ICE in January in Minnesota, also testified at Wednesday’s hearing.
Martinez first appeared before Congress at a Feb. 3 public forum organized in response to the deaths of Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal immigration officers in Minnesota. She told lawmakers then that she wanted federal agents held accountable, wanted an apology and wanted the Trump administration to acknowledge she is “not a domestic terrorist.”
She reiterated that Wednesday, mainly asserting that she and “us Americans” want honesty, transparency and accountability from the Trump administration.
“Look at what happened to Renee [Macklin Good], look at what happened to Alex Pretti. It’s bound to happen sooner or later if we don’t hold these agents accountable for their actions. More people are going to get hurt,” Martinez said.
Wednesday’s hearing came at the request of committee Democrats who also asked White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and border czar Tom Homan to appear. Neither showed up. Of the committee’s 17 Republican members, only one — chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y. — attended Wednesday.
The Homeland Security Committee hearing was called to discuss the impact of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown that has now lasted 67 days, the longest partial government shutdown in history. Senate Democrats have blocked DHS funding and are calling for reforms of ICE and CBP tactics.
When questioned by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, Martinez said she thinks about the October shooting “all the time,” had nightmares shortly afterward and has “sometimes” still lost sleep over it. At one point, she stood up, removed her jacket and showed lawmakers where she was shot.
Martinez noted that after being shot, she continued driving about a mile to a mechanic’s shop, where workers helped her and called 911.
“Imagine if I would’ve stayed. I wouldn’t be here to testify. I wouldn’t,” Martinez said.
Exum apparently bragged to other CBP agents about shooting Martinez. In one text message previously shown in court, he wrote: “I fired five rounds, and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”
Martinez said Wednesday it’s “not fair” she was charged in relation to the shooting while Exum has not.
“I’ve been through hell and back, and I’ve fought for my freedom, I’ve fought for my voice,” Martinez said. “And these agents, Charles Exum has not even been held accountable for his actions. But when it comes to me, I had to fight. What about him?”
Toward the end of the roughly 1½ hour hearing, Martinez said she wants Exum to be charged and tried for the shooting.
“I want the world to see my pain, my trauma, because this is not something to joke about, right,” Martinez said. “This is my life. We’re talking about my life.”