Chicago teacher Marimar Martinez, shot by federal agents (Photo: Screen capture)
Marimar Martinez is one of several people who've been shot by federal agents in recent weeks. And she and her attorney are speaking to the media about the Chicago native's experience and the ongoing battle against the Department of Homeland Security's lies about the incident.
Martinez is also speaking to Congress about her clash with federal agents.
Discussing his client on CNN, lawyer Christopher Parente said that they are both clear-eyed that nothing they do or say will change President Donald Trump or his administration. What they do hope is that telling her story will expose the misinformation coming from DHS.
"I think what we've seen as a country is that ICE is not a reliable narrator of these events," Parente said about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. "And so while ICE tries to tell their stories in their way, which is not true, she was here to be able to tell the actual truth. And we were able to push back on the U.S. attorney's office and get them to dismiss all the charges against her."
CNN host Pamela Brown noted the claim by DHS that Martinez rammed her car into federal agents proved false when "the agent involved actually admitted that it wasn't a ramming."
"But still, DHS accused [Martinez] of aggressively and erratically pursuing a border patrol agent, hitting his car during those protests back in October," Brown said.
The CNN host played surveillance video showing the incident. The border patrol agents are seen driving a white vehicle. It stops and the grey car Martinez is driving goes around him on the left side. Two seconds later, he unloads five rounds.
"Tricia McLaughlin [assistant secretary for public affairs] from DHS is still, to this day, putting out this testimony that these agents, these statements that these agents were boxed in, that they couldn't move," said Parente.
"You can see she's going from left to right, which is consistent with her statement that she drove around him and also consistent with the bullets going through the rear passenger window, as well as one bullet, we believe, going from the back to the front," he narrated.
That "is in direct contrast to this DHS statement that she at the agent," he continued. "And you know, DHS, even though you said the agent testified in court that there was no ramming. Tricia McLaughlin and DHS are still putting out press statements saying that she rammed them. They don't even seem to know what their own agents are saying in court."
He explained that this is the main reason she needs to tell her story so that the truth gets out and her case is documented.
"When people look back at this time in history, there's at least some record of the actual truth of what happened here," he added.