This
month, on 8 February 2017, Rosa Maria Ortega was sentenced to 8 years in prison
and fined 5000 USD on two counts, both sentences to be served concurrently. Had
she been born just four months later than she did, she would be free and with
her four children today.
USA had
annexed Mexican Texas in 1845
In
1979, Rosa was born in Monterrey, Mexico. Her mother carried her as an infant
through the Laredo USA-Mexico border. Laredo,
on the north bank of the Rio Grande river, is in Texas, USA and Nuevo Laredo,
on its south bank, is in Mexico. Over the years, this is one of the crossing
points where Mexicans have risked crossing into Texas. They may have a sense of
entitlement. After all, in 1845, the USA had annexed Texas. Before that, it had
belonged to Mexico.
Rosa’s
parentless growing up
In
1979, crossing the border was much easier than it is today, and Rosa’s mother
settled down in Dallas with Rosa. Rosa’s two brothers, born in 1981 and 1983,
were American citizens by virtue of their birth. In a few years, Rosa’s mother,
an illegal immigrant, was deported back to Mexico, but her children were
allowed to remain in the USA. In any case, apart from Rosa, the other kids were
American.
Rosa
had a learning disability, and gave up school after the sixth grade. She needed
to work and couldn’t afford to spend time in school. Without parents, the kids
couldn’t simply live on food stamps. As Mexicans often do, Rosa did all sorts
of lowly paid jobs, earning the minimum wage when lucky, or getting cash at
lower rates.
As
often happens with little educated Mexicans, Rosa married young, and by the
time she was 24, already had four children. Again, as sometimes happens with
husbands, after marrying and having four kids, the husband left Rosa, leaving
her to look after the kids.
Rosa
continued to work in as many jobs as her body and spirit managed; coming home
to her four children was her daily reward.
Registering
to vote
As a
conscientious person, she wanted to register as a voter. She applied and was
confused with a question on the form offering a binary choice. Are you a (a)
citizen (b) non-citizen? The form for driving licence had a choice that said
‘permanent resident’. This form didn’t. Except for the first few months as an
infant, Rosa had spent her whole life in the USA. Her accent was American, she
spoke with her children in English, she considered herself to be a proud
citizen of the USA. She ticked the box saying she was a citizen, and got a
voter ID.
Rosa
was a Green Card holder, and only the dread of filling dozens of forms had
stopped her from applying for citizenship. Her siblings and children were all
American citizens.
Rosa
was a registered Republican. In 2012, she voted for Mitt Romney. In 2014, she
voted for Ken Paxton in the Republican primaries. Following that election, Ken
Paxton became the Attorney General of Texas.
Meanwhile
Rosa was in love again. Her fiancé Oscar Sherman, a truck driver, and she were
seriously discussing plans about marrying, possibly in 2017. They moved to
Tarrant county, very close to Dallas.
When
you move counties, you need to register afresh to get a local voter ID. Rosa, a
diligent voter, reapplied for voter registration. She was denied registration,
because she was not a citizen. ‘But I have voted in the past,’ she said, ‘in
Dallas I was allowed to vote without difficulty, why not now?”
Arrest
and Trial
The
authorities noted her words, dug up her voting record. On Friday, 6 November
2015, she was indicted and arrested for voter fraud. Ironically, this
Mexican semi-literate woman was charged with a ‘white collar crime’.
Life is
full of strange coincidences. The person in charge of her case was Ken Paxton,
the attorney general of Texas, for whom she had voted in 2014. Clark Birdsall
was Rosa’s attorney. He was confident the case would be dismissed. Rosa was
genuinely confused about the difference between a citizen and a resident. She
had spent her entire conscious life in the USA. Her voting had no criminal intent;
she had not materially gained anything by voting; it had not influenced any
result. (In fact, Romney had lost).
Birdsall
decided he should get more women on the jury to gain sympathy for the single
mother of four children. The final jury panel was made of ten women and only
two men. (A blunder, women are ruthless and vicious when dealing with other
women, men are more humane – R.)
Mexican
Wall and Voter Fraud
Meanwhile,
Donald Trump was elected as a president. He planned to build the most beautiful
wall between the USA and Mexico. He would like to deport all illegal and
undocumented people to Mexico (irrespective of where they came from, believe it
or not). Before his election, he talked of possible rigging and after he was
elected he hollered ‘voter fraud’ as the reason he didn’t win the popularity
vote. On 25 Jan, his tweet said: “I will be asking for a major investigation
into VOTER FRAUD…”
Plea
bargain rejected
At the
beginning of this month, on 3 February, 2017, Rosa was told by her lawyer that
her case would be dismissed. Mr Birdsall had tried negotiating a plea bargain.
Rosa should agree to testify on voting procedures before the Texas Legislature.
In exchange, the charges against her would be set aside. Of course, Rosa agreed
to it. Her sense about her country’s justice and fairness was reaffirmed. In a
week, this nightmare should be over, in a few months, she would be able to
marry Oscar.
However,
last minute, the Tarrant County criminal district attorney, Sharen Wilson, (another
woman) vetoed the deal. She insisted on a “trial that would showcase her
office’s efforts to crack down on election fraud.”
The
jury panel of 10 women and 2 men deliberated, not for too long, and on 8
February, pronounced Rosa guilty on two counts (illegal voting in 2012 and in
2014). For each count she was given 8 years imprisonment, and a fine of USD
5000. Fortunately for Rosa, both sentences would run at the same time, rather
than consecutively. After her spending 8 years in prison, she would be deported
back to Mexico. A convicted felon, a non-citizen, is sent to the country she
came from.
Ken
Paxton, the attorney general, triumphantly summarized: “The case shows how
serious Texas is about keeping its elections secure.”
*****
Analysis
Citizen
vs. Resident
In most
European countries, permanent residents are on par with citizens as far as
voting rights are concerned. In England, even Indian passport holders with PR
(Leave to Remain) status can vote in all elections. EU citizens, Irish citizens
and commonwealth citizens (including countries such as Pakistan and Nigeria)
with resident status can also vote in England. USA has almost 15 million Green
Card holders. More than half of them haven’t, like Rosa Ortega, converted that status
into citizenship, though eligible. What’s the point of depriving them of their
voting right?
Rosa and other green card holders can own property; serve in
the military; get a job; pay taxes. But they can’t vote.
A person doesn’t change by changing documents that identify
her.
The
political franchise process in the USA has been slow. Before 1870, only white
men who paid taxes were allowed to vote. In 1870, non-whites and in 1920 women
were allowed. Poll tax was removed in 1964, not before John Kennedy was voted
in by taxpayers alone. In 1971, the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18. As
much as I know, that was the end of electoral reform in the USA. Nobody has
made any attempts to include green card holders as voters. You have Rosa Ortega
imprisoned for 8 years for voting diligently, and there is no punishment for
the 50% of eligible voters who don’t vote.
Eighth
amendment of the US constitution
The
eighth amendment prohibits excessive fines or cruel or unusual punishment.
Justice demands the sentences are proportionate and equitable.
Let’s
look at some sentences given in the same county and jurisdiction in the past
few years. (a) Javier Luis, 27, was sentenced to five years last year
for murdering Jose Arista. (b) Christian Fuentes, 21, was sentenced to five
years in 2015 for sexually assaulting a drugged woman. (c) Jason
Tomilson, 30, was sentenced in 2015 to one year for videotaping
people undressing in a restroom, and probation for possessing child
pornography. (d) Adam Cardinal, 27, was sentenced to four years for
a road rage shooting (e) Desmond Campbell, 23, was sentenced to five
years for robbing three men at gunpoint and striking them with his
weapon.
In
short, Rosa’s crime is adjudged more severe than a murder, sexual assault,
illegal videotaping, road rage shooting, and robbery.
As far
as voter fraud cases in the same court are concerned (f) Hazel Woodard pleaded
guilty to voter fraud where she had made her son vote on behalf of his
father. In 2015, she received a two year probation. (g) Sonia Solis, who
voted five times in five different names on absentee ballots, received six
months home confinement and a five year probation.
Of course,
Hazel Woodard and Sonia Solis were white and full-fledged American citizens. (And
these rulings were carried out before Trump became President).
Letter
and Spirit of the Law
The
United States of America, for centuries, has been an icon for the rest of the
world in matters of liberty, justice, independent judiciary and independent
media.
The
purpose of justice is to serve the spirit of the law. When laws are well
written, the letter and the spirit are capable of delivering the same verdict.
But fairness demands that human judgment is used to uphold the spirit. If it
were not that, computers and robots can interpret and deliver judgments based
on the printed letter of law.
The
case of Rosa Maria Ortega is a stark example of how the US judiciary is in
danger of getting influenced by the political thuggery of the new
administration.
Ken
Paxton, the attorney general who presided over this case, is himself charged
with two first degree felonies for securities fraud. In October 2016, the Texas
high court refused to halt the fraud trial against him. His trial will begin
next month. It is possible his sycophant handling of this case could reprieve
him.
More
worrying is the limited coverage by the US media. Wall Street Journal wrote an
editorial on Rosa Maria Ortega saying: An individual case of voter fraud is
not a violent felony. And then the US media went silent. No petitions, no
appeals, no protests. Rosa is imprisoned and not likely to come out for eight
years. She may not have money for appeals. Her lawyer seems to have given up. Oscar
Sherman can’t marry her, and is denied custody of the children because they
were not married.
USA,
for years a self-professed champion of Human Rights across the world, has callously
committed a blatant Human Rights Violation. This may only be a beginning.
Ravi
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