Luis Bracamontes

Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamontes is a convicted murderer who killed police officers in Northern California. On 24 October 2014, Bracamontes opened fire on three Northern California sheriff's deputies, killing two and wounding the third while a civilian was also wounded in the shooting. Bracamontes is a citizen of Mexico and a convicted drug dealer who was in the United States illegally. Bracamontes was sentenced to death in 2018.

Luis Bracamontes
Born (1970-06-08) June 8, 1970
Details
VictimsMichael Davis and Danny Oliver
DateOctober 24, 2014
Target(s)Police officers in Sacramento
Killed2
Injured2

Bracamontes' case earned attention during the 2018 midterm elections when the Trump administration ran an ad blaming Democrats for the murders by Bracamontes. Fact-checkers found the assertions about Democrats in the ad to be false and the ad was described as racist.[1] Cable channels such as Fox News, CNN and NBC stopped airing the ad and Facebook banned it from its platform.[2]

Arrests and deportations

Bracamontes was an illegal immigrant who had been previously deported twice. He was first deported in 1997 after being convicted in Arizona on charges of possessing narcotics for sale. In 1998, he was arrested again on drug charges in Phoenix, but was released "for reasons unknown" by former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio,[3] a Republican and immigration hardliner whom President Donald Trump pardoned after a contempt of court conviction on 25 August 2017.[4]

Bracamontes was arrested and deported to Mexico again in 2001.[5][6]

Shootings and criminal conviction

Bracamontes was using the name Marcelo Marquez when he shot and killed two sheriff's deputies and shot and injured a third deputy and a civilian.[5][6] Detective Michael Davis and Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver were killed in the Sacramento area shooting.[7] Bracamontes was sentenced to death.[8]

Responses

The shooting came to national attention in debates over the Obama administration's policies on immigration in the fall of 2014.[9] The shootings came to national attention again when President Trump invited Jessica Davis and Susan Oliver, the widows of slain officers Detective Michael Davis and Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver, to attend his first address to a joint session of Congress on 28 February 2017.[7]

Trump administration advertisement

Approximately one week before the 2018 midterm elections, the Trump administration ran an ad that linked Bracamontes to Democrats, accusing Democrats of letting Bracamontes and other dangerous undocumented immigrants into the United States. The ad drew widespread and bipartisan condemnation and was compared to the infamous Willie Horton ad during the 1988 presidential campaign. Republican Senator Jeff Flake said the ad was "a new low in campaigning" and "sickening", Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich said "all Americans should reject this ad and its motives" and Representative Carlos Curbelo condemned the ad as part of a "a divide-and-conquer strategy".[10][11][12] Fact-checkers at PolitiFact, The Washington Post and The Sacramento Bee found that the assertions "Democrats let him (cop killer Luis Bracamontes) into our country" and "Democrats let him stay" were false.[13][14][1] CNN refused to air the ad, describing it as a "racist anti-immigration commercial". NBC and Fox News aired the ad, but later said that they would not air it.[2] Facebook pulled the ad from its platform, saying it violated the community standards.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Trump's new immigration ad was panned as racist. Turns out it was also based on a falsehood". The Washington Post. 2 November 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  2. O'Sullivan, Donie (5 November 2018). "Facebook pulls Trump campaign's racist anti-immigration ad". CNN. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  3. Steinbuch, Yaron (2 November 2018). "Cop-killing immigrant entered US under Republicans' watch, too". New York Post. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  4. Moore, Lindsay; Flaherty, Joseph (25 August 2017). "Sheriff Joe Arpaio gets pardon from Donald Trump". The Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  5. Ryan, Harriet (25 October 2014). "Suspect in killing of Northern California deputies was previously deported, authorities say". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  6. "California: Suspect in Killings Was in U.S. Illegally". The New York Times. The Associated Press. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  7. Park, Madison (28 February 2017). "Trump's special guests for congressional speech hint at a focus on immigration". CNN. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  8. Stanton, Sam (25 April 2018). "Cop killer Bracamontes gets tossed from court, then gets death penalty". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  9. Medina, Jennifer (28 October 2014). "U.S. Immigration Laws Face New Scrutiny After Killings". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  10. Rucker, Philip; Sonmez, Felicia (1 November 2018). "Trump ratchets up racially divisive messages in a bid to rally support in the midterms". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  11. "Trump revives 'Willie Horton' tactic with ad linking illegal immigrant killer to Democrats". The Washington Post. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  12. Darden, Hannah (31 October 2018). "President Trump stirs controversy on Twitter with video of Sacramento cop killer". The Sacramento Bee. ISSN 0890-5738. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  13. Greenberg, Jon; Valverde, Miriam (1 November 2018). "Trump claim about Democrats and cop killer is Pants on Fire". PolitiFact. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  14. Stanton, Sam (1 November 2018). "Fact check: Trump's claim that Democrats let cop killer stay in U.S. is false". The Sacramento Bee. ISSN 0890-5738. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
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