Dramatic Irony: Progressivem Sanctuary Jurisdictions Get Sued for Turning Illegal Aliens Over to ICE

I finally had some time to write a report about these two events.

In two sections of Sanctuary State California, pro-illegal organizations like the ACLU launched lawsuits because these agencies still turned illegal aliens over to ICE after they were arrested.

Didn't the ACLU and other pro-illegal organizations take any time to read SB 54? The counties and local municipalities can still turn illegal aliens over to ICE if they commit violent felonies. Of course, every single illegal alien should be deported, even if they do not commit any other crime besides entering the United States illegally.

Sheriff Gregory Ahern
Alameda County

First, check out what happened to the Alameda County Sheriff:

Eighteen years ago, Maria Ortega Rangel left her home state of Nayarit, Mexico and came to California in search of a better life. In Oakland, she got married, but in 2006 her husband was tragically murdered. The crime was never solved. Years later, she met another man, married a second time, and they had a baby girl.

She entered the United States illegally. The East Bay Times conveniently forgets that fact.

Until this year, she's never been in trouble with the law, but her current husband got her into a legal mess — but of the kind that California's sanctuary policies were meant to prevent. Now, she's lost her home, is facing deportation, and fears she'll have to take her daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, back to the poverty of rural Mexico.

Oh brother. The sob story is just rolling out on us, and all of us are supposed to just feel sorry for this lady. Hold on, though ...

Her problems began on Jan. 23, when Alameda County Sheriff's detectives entered her home with a search warrant. They found what they were after in Ortega's bedroom: a large quantity of heroin hidden inside a dresser.

There were DRUGS IN THE HOUSE. This is very serious.

Ortega cooperated with the detectives from the start. According to a report written by sheriff's deputy Aaron Bjork, Ortega told them the drugs belonged to her husband, who was not home at the time.

So, we have the reverse of what happened in the Garden of Eden. The wife puts all the blame on the husband. "It's his fault! It's his fault! I had nothing to do with it."

As if! She lived in the house all that time. She was "working" at her business, right? Really? How could she not know that her husband was a big-time drug dealer? Come on?!

The detectives arrested Ortega, and initially, the district attorney brought the full force of the law down on her. Prosecutors accused Ortega of drug trafficking. They recommended she not be allowed to post bail because any money she might access could have been "feloniously obtained." Alameda County Judge Roy Hashimoto signed off on the order. Prosecutors then charged her with four felonies, including possession with intent to sell and willful cruelty to a child because the drugs were kept in the house where her daughter also lived.

Four felonies. Reminder: SB 54 allows county law enforcement officers to turn over felonious convicts to ICE. So, what exactly is the problem?

Without getting into the extra details of the matter, the Alameda County Sheriff had this woman turned over to ICE and deported, and now everyone who is left-of-center wants the Sheriff to pay. He is getting so much grief for upholding the law, and doing so while representing one of the most left-wing county municipalities in the country. Crazy!

Then check out what happened in Huntington Park, CA.

The police picked up Mr. Jose Luis Maldonado Aguilar on June 15, 2019. He was arrested, booked, etc. A form was filled out, which informed ICE, and he was subsequently turned over to ICE. The funny is that, according to the ACLU report, we don't know what crime (crimes) Maldonado was charged with, or if he had even committed any crime at all.

This is a stunning turnaround for the city of Huntington Park. This city trumpeted to the whole world that they had appointed two illegal aliens to city commissions. It was this big-time "first", and they were patting themselves on the back.

Then, lo and behold, four years later, the police department is working with ICE, and sending illegal aliens over to get deported. What a joke!

This is quite an irony, to say the least. California's own laws cannot stop law enforcement from upholding the law!

VICTORY Huntington Park's Appointed Illegals Gone, Appointee Thrown Out (And Further Revelations)

From August 2015 until early 2018, I had been hammering the Huntington Park City Council for their perverse, immoral, and illegal decision to appoint two illegal aliens to city commissions.

Here's the first report that I had read about this miscarriage of the rule of law.

Here's my first statement to the city council on August 17, 2015.

This effort was the first of many later forays to political activism for me.

We the People Rising
protests Huntington Park City Council
for appointment of two illegal aliens to city commissions

Just for context, it was in Huntington Park that I was arrested--without cause or justification, mind you. The city council had no right to remove me because I had not disrupted the meeting in the first place. That was my first, and hopefully last, stint in a jail cell. Two hours of resting, and then I was released ROR.

At any rate, I still attended Huntington Park city council meetings, protesting the appointment of the two illegal aliens. Later on, we crowed victory when President Trump finally repealed DACA. Some of the Brown Supremacists and open border bigots who had counter-protested against us also showed up, but they had egg on their face that evening.

Looking back on those days, I can see that I had bee struggling so hard to make outcomes occur, as though everything happening in this life depended on me. That was a hard aspect of my character that God had to refine out of me, but refine me He did.

At any rate, why am I bringing up Huntington Park now, since all of that is yesterday's papers?

Well, for starters the two illegal aliens who had been appointed to to the two commissions?

They are gone! Francisco Medina and Julian Zatarain are GONE!

Check the Huntington Park City Commission website below:

Some of the team from We the People Rising continued to protest at the city council meetings and at the different commission meetings for the two illegal aliens. The ruckus which followed was quite something to behold. The chief of police, Cosme Lozano, and other police officers would show up to escort the illegal alien to his car while members of the team would follow them out with signs and recording devices.

At any rate, now they are gone. So much for their big splash into the national media. The councilmembers in Huntington Park turned their city into a laughing-stock of crime and corruption. It is now one of the worst, if not the worst city to live in, according to Business Insider.

Forget "worst", it's The Most Miserable City!

You cannot make this stuff up!

Oh, but it gets better!

The foolish elected official who had defied federal law by appointing two illegal aliens, Councilman Jhonny Pineda, was just thrown off the Huntington Park City Council, too.

In fact, he placed dead last on the voting list after the March 3, 2020 election!

Dead last! You can't make this up, either. All of this is quite vindicating.

Thank God for President Trump and his enforcement of immigration laws, borders, and policy.

Let's face it: the Trump Administration has been more than a pre-emminent ally in pushing back on all of this open borders, illegal alien, and sanctuary city nonsense.

In fact, Trump just notched up a considerable victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which announced that the Trump Administration has every right and power to cut funding to all cities not in compliance with immigration laws, nor working with federal immigration enforcement partners like ICE.

Spiritual Revelation

The lessons I learned from this whole process:

It was really tough for me to trust God to handle all of these evil people. Over a two-year period, I woke up nearly every day convinced that if there was evil in the world, it was up to me to fight it. It took all the setbacks which rolled out from (false arrest, false conviction, unjust sentencing, etc.), but today I feel just like Job:

"I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee." (Job 42:5)

God is really taking care of me, and He has been on the job, on the move working before and behind me all this tikme. Jesus saves me every day, but for the longest time, I would wake up every day convinced that everything in this life depended on me. "It's up to me to get the ball rolling. It's up to me to start the day, and to get everything done." Today, I see how active, how alive Christ Jesus is in my life! He gets the day rolling, and I just jump into His River of Life.

I also learned how important it is for us to pick our fights. Wherever we want to be active to accomplish an outcome, we have to:

a. get the support for the locals (lots of locals)-- or forget it

b. We have to figure out the goals that we want to see accomplished--and how to leverage the power to get it.

c. Plan ahead to build our numbers. That is so key!

Because of all that I went through with We the People Rising, I must say I learned a great deal about activism, and how to work with others to marshal support and accomplish real outcomes. Now I am a full-time activist for MassResistance!

I remember in early January 2016, when I shared with other activists that it was probably best for us to pull up stakes and move on from Huntington Park. What were we accomplishing, exactly, in that city? At the time, I wish I had followed that piece of advice.

I then recall in early 2018, when I did not have a car to my name at the time. I realized that I had been going to those city council meetings in large part because other people had been pressuring me. At that point, I literally did not have the money, the resources to keep going. One person who had been expecting me to stay on that issue even offered to pay $100 so that I could rent a car to go to Huntington Park. At that point, I had to give up and say "I can't go this time." 

"If you don't go, then we are going to abandon this project and work on something else," was the person's response. I realized then that I could not be bullied into this. There was no time, money, resources for me to keep doing this. At that point, the person I was speaking with dropped the matter, and that was the end of it.

Two months prior, I can say that that was a very dark time for me. I had no car, no steady income, no idea where I was going, what I was doing, plus the legal matters that I was facing. It seemed like such a dark time. Now, I look back on all of those hardships, and I see that God was really trying to prod me, to give up all my self-efforts, to give up striving in the flesh to make outcomes work, as though everything in this life depended on me. At the time, I had no wide-ranging, strong revelation of how great He is, how much He is watching out for me.

There were so many inner tensions that were prompting me, that were pressuring me. It seemed that every major political matter depended on me in some way for the right and righteous outcome to take place.

After I rejected my colleagues offer to go to Huntington Park again, things started to ease up in my life. I finally said "No" to a friend and a fellow activist, and I did not allow a sense of unrest to prod me further, this unrest that was born out of "If you don't do this, then no one will do it."

It's amazing the good that followed me after that time.

Slowly but surely, I was able to get a more stable income. I was reading God's Word much more, as well. Around that same time, I was going to other city council and county board meetings to urge

elected officials to take a stance against SB 54, California's notorious sanctuary state law. Finally, We the People Rising and other pro-enforcement groups could celebrate victories taking place throughout Southern California. From there, by the grace of God, my regional and national profile increased.

Then in the first week of July 2018, MassResistance hired me and I got a new car (well, a used car, but it was certainly new for me).

Things really took off from there for me since then.

And now, nearly two years later, everything that I had been hoping for has finally come to pass. I remember hearing God telling me: "You need to stop demanding that you can take action, gain satisfaction over your enemies your way. Sit back, relax, and let me handle it."

And handled it He has!

I would not let go or change anything that happened between August 17, 2015 (the first time that I spoke out at the Huntington Park City Council meetings) and today. Not one thing. He makes all things work together for my good, after all! (Romans 8:28)

Convicted for Doing Nothing Wrong, Sentenced for No Reason, Yet Still Joyful with No Regrets

(The use of this cartoon will make sense very soon)

So, on October 25. 2018, I was found guilty in a court of law for ... sitting in a city council meeting.

The prosecutor lied to the jury.

The judge suppressed evidence.

Of the eleven witnesses I had lined up to testify, only two were permitted to testify. What gives?

The jury had no idea what was going on. They just went along with the basic principle that if a cop tells you to do something, you just have to do it. Really? What if he wanted to take my money. Am I then obliged to turn over the cash?

I was found guilty ... of sitting in a city council meeting. Officially, I was convicted of two counts of California Penal Code section 148a1, "resisting arrest" or "failure to follow the lawful order of a police officer."

I contend to this day that the order for me to be removed from the Huntington Park City Council chamber was an unlawful order. I was called out of order for no reason, and then someone in the audience blurted out, lied to the city council elected officials, and they in turn went along with the lie just to have me removed.

I refused to leave. They had no right.

What's done is done.

I left the court house that Thursday afternoon, puzzled that this had happened. "How could I be found guilty for sitting in a city council meeting?"

A number of my friends from We the People Rising joined me at the court hearing. They witnessed three bailiffs stand in the courtroom when the verdict was announced, and then I stood up to hear the verdict.

"On count One ... Guilty!"

"On count Two ... Guilty!"

I was just shocked, puzzled, but no tears, no screaming or yelling. The court officers were preparing for the worst, but the worst did not happen--at least in my emotions.

I left the court room, since sentencing was postponed until Tuesday, the next week. My attorney took the heat so that I could go to a work event in Texas over the weekend. I was not going to stop living my life just because someone declared me guilty on the most flimsy of premises.

That evening, I went out to eat with the friends who had come with me. I didn't really let anything hit me yet. Just like when you find out that someone close to you has died, the full pain of this loss does not hit you right away. You don't realize what the loss is going to look like until the memories start rolling in, and then the realization that the person with whom you shared those memories is now gone forever.

That night, I went home. I went home, and I was just overwhelmed with grief as soon as I entered my home.

I cried for an hour that night. I could not believed that this was happening to me.

How could this happen to me? How could this be allowed to happen? Lord Jesus, I had prayed for your favor, I asked for your grace to get me out of this, to ensure an acquittal, to stand up to the abuses of the corrupt city council, the police, the system.

And yet ... this?! WHY?

I had never cried so hard. It hurt my lungs, I was in such grief. With all of this cascading over me, I called the first I could think of ... my employer Brian Camenker. He had been through this whole trial with me. I have never had so great an employer as Brian, and a better career than working for MassResistance.

He was with me as I cried out in pain. It was such a devastating loss. He shared with me similar challenges, pains, losses that he had faced in his life. He also talked about the overcoming spirit that he and his own father had demonstrated many times over.

Brian shared with me part of an elegant quote from President Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Yes, I had been in the arena. I had welcomed victories, and I was not bracing a defeat. 

The anxiety I felt was great, too. Had I been mistaken this whole time? Did I miss God? Did I get this all wrong or something?

I was panicking somewhat at this point, too. Was I all alone in this world? Since God did not rescue me from a guilty verdict, was He someone whom I could not trust for anything now? Those doubts were the most crushing, and were certainly the deepest reasons for my despair.

I ended up calling two other people, friends of mine who had joined me at the courthouse that afternoon, and ate dinner with me that evening. One of them said "It will be OK, buddy." Another one admitted to me his own run-in with the law, and how the event brought him to his knees to ask Jesus Christ to be His Savior.

Quite a powerful, yet quiet admission that this man had made to me. I realized that I had to come to God directly with this. I had to not run from Him, or act as if He was not there for me. I needed to rest and recognize "There is a reason for this."

I went to my event in Texas. It was so hard not to focus on "The Sentencing!"

But then I began to return to the gift of righteousness which we receive (and keep receiving!) because of Christ Jesus (Romans 5:17).

No matter what is happening, no matter whether I understand what God is doing, or not doing, I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). At no time could I doubt or wonder whether God was for me. Truth be told, however, I could not understand what was going on.

That recognition of my righteousness in Him--apart from works, from feelings, from circumstances--began to ease my heart and soul.

The sentencing was going to be interesting, that was for certain. More to come.

VICTORY: Huntington Park Corrupta Graciela Ortiz Shut Out in Bid for LAUSD School Board

Here's another happy victory for Los Angeles County residents, even though there is so little to celebrate at this time.

After LAUSD School Board Member Ref Rodriguez was forced to step down for campaign finance violations, the seat opended up a multi-candidate free for all.

One of the candidates running to replace Ref Rodriguez?

Graciela Ortiz of Huntington Park.UGH!

This corrupta has no business serving anywhere or in any capacity on a governing board. She oversaw and approved the appointment of two illegal aliens to city commissions. She has been head-deep in local and LA County corruption for the last four years. She works with "Puppet-Master" Efrain Martinez, who presided over her swearing-in as the new mayor in 2016.

Please help us!

I could not stand the idea of her having any kind of chance of getting elected to the school board--of course, in the long run it doesn't matter who serves, since it's another liberal Democrat who will do more harm than good for the students.

Thankfully, Ortiz was shut out of the Top Two run-off, and the margin was oh so close!

Check out the report from MyNewsLA.com for more information:

Repenning Places 2nd to Secure Runoff Slot with Goldberg in LAUSD Board Race

Former teacher and mayoral aide Heather Repenning appears to have finished in second place Friday and secured a runoff slot for a vacant seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education.

With 100 percent of the votes now reported to be counted, Repenning has 31 more votes than Huntington Park City Councilwoman Graciela “Grace” Ortiz. A second place finish means the right to enter the runoff with the top vote getter, former LAUSD board member Jackie Goldberg, who far outpaced the competition in the March 5 election with 48.17 percent of the vote, although a recount of the final results is possible.

Goldberg dominated the 10-candidate field, but with less than 50 percent of the vote, she fell short of the majority needed to avoid a May 14 runoff election.

An updated vote tally released Tuesday showed Repenning with 4,334 votes, or 13.13 percent, compared to 4,299 votes, or 13.02 percent, Ortiz. The final tally was 4.341 votes for Repenning to 4,310 for Ortiz and 15,929 for Goldberg.

On election night, Ortiz originally emerged in second place with a 54-vote lead. But as county officials continued tallying mail-in, provisional and other ballots, Repenning jumped into second place late last week with a 133- vote lead over Ortiz.

Repenning, a former teacher and aide to Mayor Eric Garcetti, expressed confidence Tuesday that she would make the runoff election, despite her narrow lead.

“In case there was any question how much every vote counts, we just received the most recent update on last Tuesday’s election results,” she wrote on Twitter. “We are on pace to make the runoff by a margin of just 35 votes — with fewer than 100 ballots left to count. These results show how critical every last vote is, and how important your support has been.”

OUCH!

So much for ballot harvesting and public corruption getting the La Raza faction back onto the School Board.

This is a welcome victory! I can breathe one more sigh of relief!

MassResistance Reports on The Unfair Prosecution and Unjust Conviction by Kangaroo Court

Left-wing judge, local public officials viciously target MassResistance activist Arthur Schaper for demanding that a California city follow state and federal immigration law

Spurious arrest, outrageously unjust court trial, resulting in misdemeanor conviction

Judge hands out bizarre punishment -- clearly politically motivated

November 23, 2018

The Downey Courthouse in Los Angeles, where Arthur's trial took place.

In Part I we described how Arthur Schaper was targeted by city officials and arrested during a bizarre scene at a Huntington Park, CA, City Council Meeting. His arrest was clearly politically motivated – he was an anti-illegal immigration spokesman opposing the city council and mayor that were violating state and federal law. They wanted him out of the room.

The arrest was just the beginning of a nightmare. It became clear that the government wanted to send Arthur a strong message about his conservative political activism.

Court date merry-go-round

Arthur was turned down by two California pro-family law groups. Therefore, a public defender was assigned to him. At his initial court hearing, set for Sept. 6, 2017, he was expected to meet his public defender to begin working on his case.

But when he got to the courthouse on Sept. 6, his name was not listed on the court calendar, and there was no public defender. Later that day he received an email from the Huntington Park police lieutenant in charge of his case, ordering him to appear in court instead on Oct. 23, 2017.

Arthur showed up on Oct. 23, and again he was not listed on the court calendar, and no public defender was assigned. (He later found out that the City of Huntington Park had not even filed the case.)

A few days later he received a notice to appear in court on Nov. 21. Soon after, he received notice that it was changed to Dec. 4 instead. Then he received a notice that it was changed to Dec. 18. Finally, over six months after his arrest, he had his initial court hearing. (Usually that happens quickly, often within a few days after an arrest.)

Public defender merry-go-round

After the Dec. 18, 2017 hearing he finally met with his public defender.Arthur immediately began working with her on the details and background of the case. But then on Jan. 29, 2018, Arthur was notified that because of “staff changes in the public defender’s office” his public defender was being replaced.

At his next court hearing, Feb. 6, 2018, Arthur met his second public defender – who immediately told Arthur he had a “conflict of interest” with Arthur’s case and could not continue (Arthur was never told what that “conflict of interest” was).  After that a private attorney was assigned to Arthur – Arthur’s third public defender.

Pressure to plea-bargain

As we’ve seen when liberal activists (such as the “Antifa” or “Occupy” crowd) are accused of crimes, even if they are arrested the government often declines to prosecute their cases. But with Arthur it was completely different. The very left-wing Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office adamantly told Arthur’s attorney that they were not letting him off.

The DA wanted to avoid the bother of a trial by having Arthur simply plead guilty to one of the misdemeanor charges that they had cooked up. But Arthur and his attorney felt that the government’s previous warnings to the city about its open meeting law violations demonstrated that Arthur had been illegally targeted and that the law was on his side in this situation. So he asked for a jury trial.

Delays and more delays. The DA’s office was clearly angry at that decision and the delays started piling up. There were several more pre-trial hearings, mostly requested by the DA. The trial was finally scheduled for Sept. 18, 2018 – well over a year after Arthur’s arrest. But then the DA’s office said it still “needed more time to prepare” so the trial was re-scheduled for Oct. 17, 2018.

The trial – as close to a kangaroo court as we’ve seen

The prejudice and sheer injustice in this trial are nothing short of bizarre. The judge and prosecutor appeared to be almost in collusion. The judge, Commissioner Maria May Santos, was obviously a pro-illegal immigrant liberal and blatantly biased against Arthur. The Deputy District Attorney, Carl Marrone, clearly also a liberal, was relentless in his prosecution of him.

The charge against Arthur was “failure to follow the lawful order of a police officer,” a misdemeanor. His actions were entirely peaceful; once they told him he was under arrest he cooperated completely. But the DA (with the judge’s blessing) focused almost entirely on attacking Arthur’s political beliefs and his conservative activism.

• Crucial evidence excluded. The basis of Arthur’s case was that the government had warned the City of Huntington Park that its action removing Arthur from a previous meeting was illegal, and that the city had a history of similar violations. The city’s order that Arthur be removed in this case appeared to be a similar violation. That’s why Arthur acted as he did. But inexplicably, the judge refused to allow that evidence to be included by Arthur’s lawyer!
• Restriction of witness testimony. Arthur had 11 witnesses to attest that he had not caused any disturbance during the entire city council meeting – and that the opposition was causing a lot of disturbance. The fact that Arthur did not cause a disturbance was pertinent as to whether the city council had lawfully thrown Arthur out of the meeting. But the judge only allowed 2 of the witnesses to testify before the jury -- she simply said that that the others “would be repetitive.”  Interestingly, a police officer who was called as a witness by the DA was forced to admit that he did personally not see or hear Arthur causing any disturbance.
• “Poisoning the jury”. This should have been completely disallowed. The DA’s strategy was to largely ignore what Arthur was actually being charged with, and instead seek to inflame the jury against Arthur and his fellow activists as hateful and dangerous people.
  
  In particular, the prosecutor used lurid rhetoric to depict his group We the People Rising (which includes activists of all ethnic backgrounds who were there protesting illegal immigration) as violent and threatening. It was completely untrue -- and of course had nothing to do with whether Arthur had committed this particular infraction or not. When the DA was cross-examining Arthur’s two witnesses, he mostly asked them bizarre questions about We the People Rising and very little about the actual incident.
  
  The DA showed the jury out-of-context excerpts from videos that Arthur and his group had about the city council meeting and Arthur’s arrest. They had posted these videos to educate the public about what happened. But the DA told the jury that it was a “plot of crass exhibitionism” done “just to get notoriety.” He said they had staged their protest and Arthur’s arrest so they could get YouTube views from the videos. This was an absurd lie and had nothing to do the case

Arthur’s lawyer objected over and over again to these tactics. Arthur’s lawyer insisted that it was outside the scope of the trial. In every instance the judge overruled him and allowed the DA to continue.

When it suited him, the DA even misrepresented the facts of the actual incident. In his closing arguments, he told the jury that everyone had left the room but Arthur. However, the photos we have shown that several other people also stayed in the room.

These sleazy, emotional-based tactics and the judge’s outrageous bias did the job. When the jury went out to deliberate, they came back after just 15 minutes with a “guilty” verdict.

After the sentencing, Arthur and one of his two witnesses who were allowed to testify talked about the arrest, the trial, and the sentencing. See video.

The draconian sentencing

The ultimate outrage came when the judge, Maria May Santos, handed out the sentence. It was like something out of the old Soviet Union. It has little to do with the specific infraction. The sentencing clearly reflects a personal rage at Arthur more than anything else – and to frighten everyone else who agrees with Arthur:

Arthur’s sentence by Judge Maria May Santos:

• Approximately a month picking up garbage on CA highways (20 days x 8 hrs/day)
• Attend the Simon Weisenthal Museum of Tolerance, specifically at least five different exhibits, and write an essay about his visit. 
  (This is to “cure” Arthur of being a “hater” – because he is opposed to illegal immigration.)
• Restraining order: Stay 100 yards away from the Huntington Park City Council chambers and the city council members.
  (Arthur had never threatened the city council members or anyone else in any way. This is simply to stop Arthur from protesting the city council’s illegal actions.)
• Write an apology letter to the Huntington Park City Council and the two police officers who arrested him. 
  (This is to humiliate Arthur a little more.)
• Pay $1500.00 in attorney’s fees.
  (This is very disturbing. Isn’t a public defender supposed to be at no charge, even if you lose the case? This is clearly being done to punish Arthur for insisting on a jury trial.)
• 364 days in jail suspended, 3 years probation. 
  (This seems to be the maximum sentence. Keep in mind that Arthur cooperated completely once he was arrested.)

To give you some perspective …

Like most liberals, Judge Maria May Santos is certainly not known for giving out “tough” sentences – just the opposite! As Arthur sat in her courtroom, he witnessed the following:

• A man had violated a court order to stay from his domestic violence victim – which likely caused a great deal of pain and anxiety to that person. Santos gave him 10 days picking up garbage on the highway, a suspended sentence, and probation.
• Several people had not even begun paying their fines from convictions – one man after a year and a half. Santos basically told them to start paying something, and let them go.
• A man was caught lying right in the courtroom to the judge about starting work on his community service. She simply made a note of it and told him he should do it.

She certainly didn’t get enraged at them, or anything else. Arthur’s sentence was all about punishing his political beliefs and conservative activism.

In April 2017 in Berkeley, CA, this Antifa member, a local college professor (left), pummelled seven people with a bike lock. One victim (left) was left bleeding profusely. Although he was caught and went to trial, the prosecutor and judge made sure he simply received probation..

An appeal

If we allow this horrendous act of sheer injustice and political hatred to go unchallenged, we’d all better get ready for more of it.

If Arthur were a Leftist in this situation, we all know what would happen. The ACLU would be on top of this in the most aggressive way possible.

Unfortunately, every pro-family conservative legal group we’ve contacted has declined to help Arthur. They said they are more interested in “religious liberty” cases, which (to be honest) are the popular conservative thing these days, and easier to do.

Arthur has until Nov. 28 to file an appeal. We are working on finding legal counsel. If necessary, Arthur will file the appeal himself.

We believe that in a fair courtroom, Arthur would have been exonerated. We are determined fight this. We’ll keep you informed.

     

DURING NOVEMBER: WE WANT TO HELP EVERYONE CONFRONT THIS RADICAL AGENDA!

In schools, corporations, the media, government, and especially in public places, the LGBT movement uses the rainbow symbol as way to intimidate people who don't agree them. It's a psychological tool that's become very effective.

But YOU can fight back! Make a statement that not everyone agrees!

For every donation made during the month of November,
we will send you three of these "no-rainbow" stickers.
(3" in diameter - perfect size)
Donate to MassResistance

MassResistance Reports on My False Arrest

Left-wing judge, local public officials viciously target MassResistance activist Arthur Schaper for demanding that a California city follow state and federal immigration law.

Spurious arrest, outrageously unjust court trial, resulting in misdemeanor conviction.

Judge hands out outrageous, bizarre punishment -- clearly politically motivated.

November 20, 2018

Arthur Schaper is led out by police after arrest for taking a stand and not leaving. The District Attorney had warned the city about illegally throwing out citizens from public meetings.

Across America (and certainly in California) we’ve all seen Antifa-type thugs do horrible things and get away with it. They shut down conservative speeches and events, assault conservatives in restaurants and even at their homes, block traffic, destroy property, and threaten people at will. It’s become almost commonplace. The scenes of lunatic liberals screaming and near-rioting at the recent Kavanaugh hearings will remain embedded in our minds. But nothing happens to them.

We commonly see how police routinely stand aside and mostly just watch when these things happen. On the extremely few occasions when the perpetrators are arrested, it’s basically a sham and they’re rarely punished. They simply stroll through the court system and out the door.

But with conservatives, it’s becoming just the opposite. Part of the political arsenal of many left-wing officials, prosecutors, and judges is to use the slightest infraction – real or imagined – to oppress conservatives. It’s not just cake bakers or wedding photographers anymore, but now they’re trying to target political activism that they don’t like.

One of the things that MassResistance believes – which America’s founders implored in their writings – is that when government blatantly breaks the laws it is the duty of citizens to stand up to them. In fact, it’s necessary for a free society to work. This drives the Left crazy!

Huntington Park, CA – more than just a “sanctuary city”

Huntington Park, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles, is controlled by a left-wing city council and mayor. It has a history of illegal “social justice” activism and political corruption that upsets many of the local citizens.

Back on August 3, 2015, the Huntington Park City Council went beyond just being a “sanctuary city.”  It appointed two illegal aliens as city commission members. That is against state and federal law. Even CA Gov. Jerry Brown – a liberal – recently vetoed a bill that would have opened up boards to non-citizens (though not illegal aliens).

This took place approximately three years before Arthur became Organizational Director of MassResistance. At the time he was a member of We the People Rising, a local group opposed to illegal immigration. (The group actually has many Hispanic, black, and Asian members!)

Starting in 2015, the group comes to protest

Starting on August 17, 2015, Arthur and other We the People Rising members attended the Huntington Park City Council meetings and spoke against the appointment of the two illegal commissioners. They were often heckled and harassed by organized pro-illegal immigration activists, but they continued to come and speak.

We the People Rising inside the Huntington Park City Council chambers after one of the meetings.

The Mayor and City Council members, in particular, were angry that they faced repeated challenges from citizens. They reacted by illegally harassing Arthur and the other members:

City council illegally throws Arthur and another man out of meeting.On September 8, 2015, Arthur was thrown out of the city council meeting for simply asking the council if audience members could speak. On October 6, 2015, another man, a doctor sitting in the audience, exclaimed “Yes” while Arthur was addressing the council – and got thrown out.  Subsequently, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office notified the city council that the city had broken state law in throwing the two men out of the meeting.

City council illegally interrupts Arthur’s speech. On Feb. 15, 2016, Arthur was reading a recall petition to the city council. But the mayor continuously interrupted him because he was not speaking about the agenda item. The mayor also allowed the audience to shout and interrupt him, to a point where no one could hear him speaking. Subsequently, the LA County District Attorney’s office notified the city council that Arthur had a legal right to speak on any subject he chose,and the city had no right to suppress his speech.

In those letters, the district attorney’s office referred to the Brown Act, a California state law which gives members of the public broad rights to attend public meetings and address the officials.

And there were more violations. At one point the city also tried to deceive the public by calling an “emergency” meeting without giving an agenda – which is clearly illegal – and the DA’s office cited them for that, also.

The law does allow the city to have people removed for disruptive behavior if first given a warning. The city council routinely ignores the disruptive behavior of people who agree with them, but vigilantly removes dissenters.

The heated June 6, 2017 city council meeting

On June 6, 2017, Arthur and We the People Rising came to the city council meeting with a larger group than usual – including many blacks and Hispanics. However, word had gotten out and they were met with an equally large group of thuggish pro-illegal immigration activists who also came to the meeting to oppose and oppress them.

This angry pro-illegal immigration activist, addressing the city council, demanded that Arthur be thrown out of the room and said that We the People Rising is made up of "white supremacists".

This Hispanic woman, a member of We the People Rising, said that the group is not white supremacist but people, including immigrants like her, who believe in law and order.

One source in the city informed Arthur that the activists were going to every length to target Arthur personally at the meeting. As the meeting began, that clearly was happening.

It was a very contentions and heated situation. There was about an hour of testimony from both sides, peppered with outbursts and name-calling (mostly from the Leftists, and much of it was directed at Arthur).

The pro-illegal immigrant activist in the photo above came and screamed at Arthur. (Photo from Facebook video.)

A particularly strange aspect to the name-calling was that the pro-amnesty activists kept repeating the mantra that Arthur's group members were anti-Mexican and anti-black racists. But many of those in Arthur's group who were there testifying were pro-family Mexicans and blacks.

As the meeting proceeded, the council allowed most of the clapping and shouting to pass, but announced that anyone given two warnings for disruptive behavior would be ejected. A few people were particularly loud and after two warnings they were forced to leave.

Arthur gets targeted …

During the meeting, Arthur made it a point not to make any disturbances and was quite subdued, as videos of the meeting and eyewitness accounts attest.

Nevertheless, at one point during the general commotion some members of the group of amnesty activists started loudly shouting "Shut up, Arthur! Shut up Arthur!" even though Arthur was not saying anything. They were also screaming and cursing at Arthur. The Mayor heard the shouts, and simply declared that Arthur was being disruptive. Without any “warning” the Mayor ordered the police to order Arthur to leave.

… and arrested

What happened next was very odd. When the police who were in the room came and told Arthur to leave, he replied that he had made no disturbance and had done nothing wrong, and was staying. (Constitutional law free-speech organizations will often advise people not to obey similar orders from police that obviously illegal. Arthur noted the letters from the district attorney’s office, and state law, about the rights of citizens at public meetings.) The police balked and did not confront Arthur. As they later testified, none of them had witnessed Arthur making any disturbance.

Then the mayor used a different tactic. She told the police to clear the room of everyone. Arthur still refused to leave, realizing the true purpose, and the police arrested him and took him away. Several other people on both sides also did not leave the meeting room, but the police only arrested Arthur and left all the others alone.

As Arthur was being arrested by the police for not leaving the room, several others were still there standing around watching, and taking videos.

After Arthur was taken out, the people who had left the room were allowed back in and the meeting continued.

Arthur was subsequently charged with catch-all misdemeanors -- “resisting, delaying, or obstructing a peace officer” and “disturbing the peace.” (The latter was later dropped.)

But this was just the beginning of a greater nightmare, as the “criminal justice” system was to be used as a club to harass and punish Arthur as severely as possible for his political opinion.

SEE Part 2 – The trial and conviction

     

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Press Release: Unjust Conviction of Arthur Schaper in Downey, CA Courtroom

PRESS RELEASE

UNJUST CONVICTION OF ARTHUR SCHAPER IN DOWNEY, CA

On October 25th, 2018, a jury in Downey Courthouse found me guilty of two counts of PC 148(a)1, also known as "resisting arrest” because I refused to leave a city council meeting which I lawfully had a right to attend.

Here is the specific law in the California Penal Code:

148. (a) (1) Every person who willfully resists, delays, or obstructs any public officer, peace officer, or an emergency medical technician, as defined in Division 2.5 (commencing with Section 1797) of the Health and Safety Code, in the discharge or attempt to discharge any duty of his or her office or employment, when no other punishment is prescribed, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

The facts of this case are simple.

I attended a city council meeting in Huntington Park, CA (June 6, 2017). This is the same city, by the way, which appointed two illegal aliens to city commissioners while displacing American citizens. This is also the same city which has a $320 million pension liability, overtaxes the residents on every level, has pushed marijuana dispensaries on the residents without their consent, and even shut down the expansion of charter schools in the city.

Oh, and a fedeal court found them guilty of violating the federal and state constitutions in relation to the disbursement of marijuana permits. 

During the meeting, the police kept all of us in the lobby downstairs. They tried to limit the number of people who could attend the meeting in the council chambers.

By the time I entered the city council chambers, there were many people in the audience shouting, yelling, making all kinds of noise. I was routinely harassed from behind. I did get to speak at the podium during public comment, then returned to my seat.

About 30 minutes into the meeting, the chief of police Cosme Lozano (who is neither experienced nor legally qualified to serve as chief of police, according to multiple reports) suddenly announced to mayor Marilyn Sanabria that “seemingly Mr. Schaper is still disruptive at the back of the room”. The mayor gave me one warning – when I was not even disruptive. Then a Brown Supremacist at the back of the room shouted “No, that’s his second warning.”

It was not. That was a total lie. She then ordered me to leave the room. Reminder: there were numerous people all over the meeting who had been shouting, especially people who were pro-illegal alien, favored by the city council and staff. Nothing was said to them.

This order was unlawful, so I refused. Besides, the onerous “rules of decorum” which the city, deputy DA, and then the court would used against me clearly violate the Ralph M. Brown Act. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office had rebuked and directed the city council to change their enforcement of rules in the city council chambers.

Last of all, I did not disrupt the meeting.

Shortly, the police officers swarmed me, including Sergeant Joseph Settles as well as Officer Saul Duran, and they told me to leave. “I am giving you a lawful order.”

One problem: it was NOT a lawful order. I repeatedly told the officers that I had not disrupted the meeting. I refused to leave because I had a right to be there, and it was clear that the mayor, the city council, and whoever else was in charge was picking and choosing enforcement of the rules. They made it very clear that I would not be allowed to return to the city council chambers. Why were they clearing the room in the first place?

At trial, the judge excluded key evidence which demonstrated that the Huntington Park City Council routinely violated the First Amendment and the Ralph M. Brown Act. The deputy district attorney Carl Marrone actually drew up a theory of the case in which I deliberately sought to be arrested to get views and publicity. It was a total lie, and repeatedly I argued against it, but my comments were routinely stricken from the record.

During cross examination with one of my witnesses, Deputy DA Marrone spent more time asking about other people and We the People Rising as a group, not myself. Despite my attorney’s objections, those comments were permitted. It was all meant to deliberately tip the jury.
This was a total kangaroo court in which they jury did not get the whole picture. In fact, the deputy DA lied twice in his closing arguments: first, claiming that everyone else had been cleared from the chambers—when people from both sides had not left; second, claiming that this arrest was crash exhibitionism, when it was merely my decision to assert my rights as a citizen.

And yet ... the jury returned a guilty verdict. 

Let’s recall that juries get cases wrong many times, and mostly because evidence is not permitted to be presented. I was only allowed to call two witnesses, when I had ELEVEN prepared to testify on my behalf! The DA only called one witness. ONE!

The sentencing was the most egregious. This presiding officer—Commissioner Maria May Santos—handed down an outrageous set of punishments to me for these two misdemeanor counts:

1. 20 days Caltrans
2. Write apology letters to the two police officers and the Huntington Park City Council—this is coerced speech, and I maintain today as then that I did not disrupt the meeting. They had no right to remove me!
3. Stay 100 yards away from the Huntington Park City Council chambers and the city council members
4. Attend the Museum of Tolerance and write an essay about my visit to five specific exhibits. I have nothing against the Museum of Tolerance, but it was quite clear that there was no tolerance for me or other people with my views. Why am I getting these kinds of consequences?
5. 364 days in jail SUSPENDED, subject to 3 years summary probation—harsh.
6. Pay my attorney’s fees.

Commissioner Santos then said to me after sentencing: “I understand why you didn’t leave, but it was a lawful order.”

I repeat: NO it was not.

These sentencing demands are nothing short of outrageous, especially since I did nothing wrong. The First Amendment and the Ralph M. Brown Act permit full permission for members of the public. Members of the community were telling me that people were insanely determined to just have me thrown out of that meeting. In previous meetings, I had suffered this unjust consequence, being forced out of city council meetings because of other people’s disturbing actions.

These are politically motivated charges, convinction, and sentencing. This trial and the verdict were a total miscarriage of justice. As of now, MassResistance is investigating right now wether the presiding officer has connections with liberal leading or La Raza groups.

All throughout the country, we have witnessed left-wing radicals and activists destroying property, burning buildings, harming innocent people—I myself have been the victim of these kinds of attacks many times, including at Berkeley in August, 2017. It is outrageous how I get strung up with such a heavy punishment for doing nothing wrong, and yet a professor can hit a young man on the head with a bikelock, and get probation; a mob can surround and throw trash at an innocent woman in San Jose, CA, and there are no consequences; and there are many other acts of violence and disruptive behavior committed by armed goons, Antifa thugs, Brown Supremacists, and other types of neo-Nazis against innocent people--and nothing happens to the malefactors.

This case, this verdict, was a full-on miscarriage of justice, and it needs to be exposed.

I had refrained from releasing a full public comment out of respect for my work with MassResistance, but my employer has encouraged me to publish my full remarks. He will provide a full report with more information very soon.

Yes, you can be certain that I am filing an appeal against this unjust verdict and this whole case.

For more information, feel free to email me at arthur@massresistance.org