Fwd: Two Migrants Shot, One Fatally, Along Roadway in Rural Texas - The New York Times
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Molly Molloy
Sep 30, 2022, 10:06:06 AM9/30/22
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Thanks to Charlotte for sending this from the NYTimes. Also posted below is a more detailed article from the Texas Tribune.
Note that one of the shooters was a warden at the Sierra Blanca Detention Center, a privately-owned immigration prison in the town of Sierra Blanca east of El Paso. Over the years, this detention center has been involved in many investigations of abuses of people detained there. I have visited asylum seekers there many times and have seen the conditions.
Excerpt:
Sept. 29, 2022 By J. David Goodman
………………………………………...HOUSTON — Two unauthorized migrants were shot, one of them fatally, by two men in a pickup truck that approached them as they walked along a roadway in West Texas, according to court documents filed on Thursday.
After the shooting, which took place on Tuesday evening, the truck was found parked at a home in Hudspeth County, a rural area east of El Paso that runs from the border with Mexico to the state line of New Mexico.
Two men were arrested in connection with the shooting, law enforcement officials said: Michael Sheppard, the warden at a local privately run detention center, and his twin brother, Mark Sheppard.
Both men were charged with manslaughter, according to affidavits filed by investigators in the case. Neither could be immediately reached for comment.
The killing came amid a sharply escalating national debate over the treatment of migrants and how to respond to a record number of asylum seekers and other arrivals at the southern border.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has been busing thousands of migrants, who are awaiting asylum proceedings, north to cities run by Democrats, saying he was doing so to relieve the pressure on resources in often poor rural counties along the border. And earlier this month, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida arranged for 48 migrants, who had been in San Antonio, to be flown to Martha’s Vineyard.
The migrants who were shot on Tuesday were many miles from the border, according to the affidavits, crossing through the desert in an apparent attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement or border officials.
They were walking in a group along a roadway near Sierra Blanca around 7 p.m. when they stopped at a water tank, according to the affidavits. As the pickup truck approached, the group, which included at least four people, tried to hide. The truck drove by and then stopped and backed up, according to the filings.
The driver then left the pickup truck, according to the affidavits.
During interviews with federal agents, the migrants said that they had heard one of the men shout in Spanish for them to “Come out,” peppering his language with profanity, before revving the engine of the truck, according to the affidavits. The revving of the engine led the migrants to believe that the truck was leaving, at which point, they told investigators, the two shots were fired, according to the affidavits.
The driver leaned on the truck’s hood and fired two shots at the group of migrants before climbing back in and driving away, according to the affidavits.
One shot hit one of the migrants in the head, killing him; another shot hit a female migrant in the stomach, the official said. She was taken to a hospital, where she was recovering, according to a statement from the Texas Department of Public Safety, which is investigating the case.
Michael Sheppard worked as the warden of the West Texas Detention Center in Sierra Blanca, a site run by LaSalle Corrections, a company that operates more than a dozen private detention facilities in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia, according to the company’s website.
A spokesman for the company, Scott Sutterfield, said in an emailed statement that Mr. Sheppard had been “terminated due to an off-duty incident unrelated to his employment” and that no further details could be provided because of the “ongoing criminal investigation.”
Representative Veronica Escobar, whose district includes El Paso and who has been vocal about combating anti-immigration sentiment, called on the Department of Justice to begin an investigation into what she described as an apparent hate crime against migrants.
Edgar Sandoval contributed reporting from San Antonio. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/us/texas-migrants-shot.html
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/29/texas-migrant-shooting-arrests/
Warden of West Texas immigration detention center arrested in migrant’s death was previously accused of abusing detainees
The brothers reportedly told law enforcement they were looking for animals to shoot. One man was killed and a woman was injured.
by Alejandro Serrano, Uriel J. García and William Melhado Sept. 29, 2022 Updated: 10 hours ago
A K-9 unit sits outside the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office in 2010. Two men are accused of manslaughter after two migrants were shot in Hudspeth County this week. Credit: Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas TribuneSign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
EL PASO — Two men shot two migrants, killing one and injuring another, earlier this week while the two victims stood along a West Texas road getting water, authorities said. One of the alleged shooters is reportedly a warden for a privately run immigration detention center.
Two brothers were arrested in connection to the shooting that occurred Tuesday on FM 1111 in Hudspeth County, approximately four miles south of Sierra Blanca, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. They were identified as Mike Thomas Sheppard and Mark Edward Sheppard, both 60.
The San Antonio Express-News reported that Mike Sheppard was the warden of the West Texas Detention Center, run by the Louisiana-based LaSalle Corrections, a company that operates jails, prisons and immigration detention centers. Sheppard began working as a warden in 2015 at the West Texas facility, which has been the subject of several allegations of violence against immigrants, according to The Intercept.
The brothers, who were charged with manslaughter, were in a truck when they pulled over and shot at a group of migrants, according to DPS. Agents from the U.S. Border Patrol’s Sierra Blanca checkpoint were also called to help the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office “locate a female gunshot victim” around 9:15 p.m., a spokesperson for the federal agency said.
Hudspeth Sheriff Arvin West did not immediately return an email Thursday.
The vehicle linked to the shooting belonged to LaSalle Corrections, according to the Express-News. Border Patrol helped trace the truck and investigators discovered the vehicle was assigned to Mike Sheppard, according to the newspaper.
Scott Sutterfield, a spokesperson for LaSalle Corrections, said in a statement that Sheppard no longer worked for the company.
Browse all newsletters at texastribune.org/subscribe.
“The warden at the West Texas Detention Center (WTDC), Sierra Blanca, TX has been terminated due to an off-duty incident unrelated to his employment,” Sutterfield said.
A 2018 report found officials at the Sierra Blanca facility had grievously abused 80 men who were detained at the center. Over a week, the men faced beatings, racial taunts and sexual abuse at the hands of the center’s officials who were under the leadership of Mike Sheppard at the time. The Intercept reported the allegations more than four years ago.
Mike Sheppard was accused of punching a man in the face and kicking him while he was handcuffed on the ground in solitary confinement, according to The Intercept.
Before the 2018 incident, the West Texas facility came under scrutiny from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention Oversight, citing health services deficiencies and a lack of training on how to use nonlethal weapons. Inmates at the time resorted to using plastic bags for toilets and had to kill a rattlesnake found in their sleeping quarters when officials failed to respond.
Sutterfield did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Thursday about those previous allegations or Mike Sheppard’s continued employment after they were made.
As The Intercept reported in 2018, a report from three entities detailed African detainees’ allegations of abuse. It found that officers used racist epithets and engaged in hate crimes. It was unclear late Thursday what, if any, action federal officials took after the report was released and published in The Intercept.
It was not clear why Mike Sheppard and his brother were accused of manslaughter as opposed to another potential criminal charge this week. A DPS spokesperson referred further questions about the shooting to prosecutors in El Paso, where jail records show the two brothers were being held.
Court records, however, did not show either of the men had been formally charged as of Thursday afternoon with a crime.
A county court clerk in El Paso said there were no documents available yet because the men were recently booked.
The wounded individual, identified by DPS only as a female, was taken to Del Sol Hospital in El Paso, where she was recovering.
Jeanette Harper, an FBI special agent in El Paso, confirmed the agency had provided resources to Texas Rangers for an evidence recovery scene but deferred further comment to DPS as it was the leading investigative authority.
The New York Times, citing “affidavits filed by investigators,” reported the group was walking around 7 p.m. when they stopped at a water tank. The group hid when a truck approached.
The migrants later told federal agents they had heard one of the men shout in Spanish for them to “Come out,” according to the Times’ report. Eventually, the driver revved the truck’s engine, fired a gun, climbed back into the truck and drove away.
The men, per the Times, said in interviews with law enforcement that they had been out looking for animals to shoot.
Mark Sheppard said that they had stopped the truck because they believed they had spotted a javelina, according to the Times. He denied yelling anything.
In an unsigned email response Thursday evening, the El Paso district attorney’s office told the Tribune to contact DPS for the affidavits.
A DPS spokesperson said they did not have copies of the records to release.
Robert Downen contributed to this story.
Disclosure: New York Times has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Molly Molloy
Sep 30, 2022, 11:04:03 AM9/30/22
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New story from Ryan Devereaux reporting for The Intercept. And, a photo I took at the West Texas Detention Center employee parking lot in April 2019...
Texas Jail Warden Charged With Killing Migrant Was Previously Accused of Serious Abuses
Mike Sheppard, who ran a privately operated ICE jail, oversaw alleged abuses and hate crimes so severe that a federal prosecutor involved the FBI.
The warden of what was once one of the nation’s most notorious immigration detention facilities was arrested this week after allegedly killing one migrant and wounding another in the desert of rural West Texas.
Michael Sheppard — who until this week oversaw U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s West Texas Detention Center in Sierra Blanca, Texas — and his twin brother, Mark, were arrested late Wednesday night, the New York Times reported.
According to affidavits filed Thursday, at least four people were walking along a roadway deep in the desert when the 60-year-old Sheppard brothers approached in a pickup truck around 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
The group of migrants took cover near a water tank. According to the surviving witnesses, the men in the vehicle shouted profanities at them and told them to come out in Spanish. They revved their engine. The driver leaned across the hood and fired at least two shots. One man was struck in the head and killed. A woman was shot in the gut but survived.
In interviews with authorities, the Sheppards said they were simply out hunting — at first claiming that they were looking for grouse, and later that they were after javelina. They said they made no effort to determine what they had shot and left the scene for a county board meeting. The pair were arrested the following night and charged with manslaughter.
For Michael Sheppard, it was the latest in a string of allegations of violence against immigrants going back years, with claims so severe that a federal prosecutor at one point sought the attention of the FBI.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Ryan Devereaux
Date: Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 8:22 AM
Subject: Re: [frontera-list] Fwd: Two Migrants Shot, One Fatally, Along Roadway in Rural Texas - The New York Times
From: Ryan Devereaux
Date: Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 8:22 AM
Subject: Re: [frontera-list] Fwd: Two Migrants Shot, One Fatally, Along Roadway in Rural Texas - The New York Times
Hi, Molly. Here’s some more coverage that I published last night — background on the warden and his jail.
On Sep 30, 2022, at 7:06 AM, Molly Molloy <molly...@gmail.com> wrote:
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