Rep. Al Green Demands Day in Court for Victim Shot 5 Times by Border Patrol Agent

Ajouté : 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]I now recognize the gentleman from Texas, Ms. Green for 5 minutes of questions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And again, I compliment you for hearings, especially this one.

[00:00:11]And I thank the ranking member as well.

[00:00:14]Ms. Martinez, um you suffered great harm both physically and mentally.

[00:00:24]Are you of a frame of mind to walk through this with me today, or would this be too much for you?

[00:00:33]I could try.

[00:00:35]Is it true that you were on your way to church at the time you were detained?

[00:00:40]Yes, I was on my way to donate clothes.

[00:00:43]Is this something that you do um often, or is was this a rare occasion? Yeah.

[00:00:50]I do it often.

[00:00:51]Are you a church-going person?

[00:00:53]Not really, I just like giving back.

[00:00:56]And when you were stopped and confronted by this officer, did he give you warnings indicating that he'd like to talk to you? Did he try to de-escalate?

[00:01:08]No, he did not. He started swerving at my vehicle. He was getting in my lane.

[00:01:14]Now, it's been said that you were shot five times. Is this true?

[00:01:19]Correct.

[00:01:20]Here's what I'd like for you to do. Can you just point to one of the places where you were shot, please?

[00:01:27]I got shot right here.

[00:01:30]Okay, you you can stand if you'd like to.

[00:01:37]Right here.

[00:01:39]Right here.

[00:01:40]>> Is that an indication of where It traveled, and then I got hit on the side.

[00:01:46]And then I have my entry and the exit on my right thigh.

[00:01:56]And then this one traveled to the back of my leg.

[00:02:01]Please.

[00:02:07]Now, this If you'll go back to the microphone, I'd like for your testimony to be recorded.

[00:02:14]This officer made a statement, and I'll quote him, exact words as I understand it.

[00:02:20]I fired five shots, five rounds to be more specific.

[00:02:25]And she had seven holes.

[00:02:27]I saw the bullet go into your arm, and it made an exit.

[00:02:32]So, he's counting the number of times the bullet traversed your body.

[00:02:39]In and out.

[00:02:42]When the When you were first hit, the first bullet, were you aware that you were shot? No, I thought it was the pepper pellets.

[00:02:51]Cuz I seen like before everything that was happening that they were shooting uh people with the pepper pellets, so I thought it was a pepper pellet, but And then the second shot, did you Were you able to make a distinction between the second shot?

[00:03:07]>> So, at the end of these five rounds, were you conscious? Yes, I was, and I was able to drive a mile.

[00:03:16]And you drove yourself away from the scene of this >> yeah, cuz imagine if I would've stayed, I wouldn't be here to testify. I wouldn't.

[00:03:24]How far did you drive?

[00:03:25]A mile away. I drove a mile, and I stopped at a mechanic shop.

[00:03:30]While you were driving, did you examine your body? Did you look to see Well, what did you see as you were driving?

[00:03:37]>> I just saw blood gushing. That's how when I realized like I've been actually shot.

[00:03:42]Right here, this one was gushing.

[00:03:44]And my whole side was covered in blood, and I started feeling lightheaded.

[00:03:49]And that's when I realized like I've been shot, and I need to stop to call for emergency. And when you stopped, did you make the call to get help, or did someone else do it yourself?

[00:04:01]>> Yeah.

[00:04:03]Do you Do you think often of this horrible circumstance that you had to endure? Do you think about this?

[00:04:09]>> All the time. Do you lose sleep thinking about it? Sometimes I do.

[00:04:15]Do you have nightmares sometimes when you're thinking about it?

[00:04:18]At the beginning I did, but now, not really.

[00:04:23]I see tears welling in your eyes as you're talking to me now.

[00:04:27]Um it's it's still very painful, I take it. It is. It's hard like to manage all this, and like to even process of what happened.

[00:04:36]You know, I got being shot just for practically for protecting your community.

[00:04:44]Now, you've talked about accountability and transparency.

[00:04:49]Do you really want to see someone arrested?

[00:04:52]Do you want him arrested for what he did to you?

[00:04:56]Do you want a trial so that you can testify? Yes, cuz I want the world to like I want the world to see my pain, my trauma.

[00:05:06]Cuz it's not something to joke about, right? This is my life we're talking about my life.

[00:05:10]Well, that's where I was going to go next as I close, and I'm I'm out of time. There are many more things I'd like to ask, but uh he this officer indicated that he told his comrades uh to put that in your book, boys, the fact that he put seven holes in you with five rounds. No empathy, nothing.

[00:05:32]Like I was disposable to him. Yes.

[00:05:35]Well, I my my prayer is that you will have an your day in court.

[00:05:39]You deserve your day in court. This is not your day in court.

[00:05:43]Thank you. You deserve justice.

[00:05:46]Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[00:05:47]Thank