Ahora también puedes explorar nuestro sitio en español. Si aún no lo has visto y prefieres leer en español haz click aquí.
In case you didn’t know, we now have a Spanish language website. So if you haven’t seen it yet and you prefer your content in Spanish, please go explore the site now.
John,
This month, Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, marks Latinx Heritage Month. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing the powerful stories of some of our Latinx clients — but first, we want to highlight some of the unique challenges that Latinx people face when it comes to our criminal legal system.
On a summer morning in 2004, Clemente Aguirre stopped by his neighbor’s house on his way home and discovered that 47-year-old Cheryl Williams and 68-year-old Carol Bareis had been brutally attacked. He tried to revive Cheryl, but it was too late.
Clemente came to the U.S. just over a year earlier, after fleeing violence in Honduras, where he feared retaliation for refusing to become a member of a drug-trafficking gang. Because of his immigration status, he was afraid he’d be deported if he called the police — so he didn’t initially report the crime.
Clemente Aguirre and his attorney Josh Dubin (right) the day he was exonerated of murder in November 2018. (Image: Phelan Ebanhack)
There are so many innocent Latinx people in the U.S. who, like Clemente, are more vulnerable to wrongful conviction because of concerns over immigration status. Please, take a moment today to read more about some of the struggles our Latinx clients have faced.
Para leer en español haz clic aquí.
When Innocence Project client Rosa Jimenez was still behind bars for more than a year after a federal court first ruled that her conviction should be overturned, she said, “Nothing has happened, because I’m not rich, I’m not white — I’m an immigrant, I’m nothing, I feel like I don’t have a voice."
Rosa was finally freed after 18 years, but not being able to speak English fluently at the time of her arrest made her long fight for justice even more challenging.
Rosa Jimenez at home in Austin, Texas, on March 4, 2021.
Though not all Latinx people face language barriers and not all people who face language barriers are Latinx, nearly 30% of the U.S. Hispanic population does not consider itself proficient in English, according to a Pew Research poll.
“They emasculate you, they degrade you, and they punish you because they think you’re acting that you don’t speak English," Clemente Aguirre told the Orlando Sentinel in 2018. He said that although prison staff thought he was pretending not to speak English, he really didn’t understand their instructions.
Here at the Innocence Project, we’re fighting to create a more fair and just criminal legal system and root out the systemic racism that pervades it — and we’re so glad to have you on our side.
Today, please read more about how our system uniquely impacts the Latinx community, and stay tuned for more stories highlighting some of our clients throughout the month.
Para leer en español haz clic aquí.
Thank you for your support,
– The Innocence Project Team
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