By DAVID IGNELL
My last article about the nationwide obsession over the due process rights of illegal aliens concluded by signaling my intent to contact the politicians fueling the fires, asking them to advocate for Thomas Jack, Jr., from the village of Hoonah.
American politicians should put American citizens first, right?
Mr. Jack was egregiously denied his due process rights in 2010 and has spent the last 15 years in Alaska prisons despite substantial evidence he was completely innocent of all charges. Mr. Jack continues to assert his innocence. Two years ago his tribe, the Hoonah Indian Association, requested the State to release him on account of their denial of those due process rights.
I was skeptical the politicians in the national spotlight would do anything on behalf of Mr. Jack, but they had spoken so strongly about their commitment to defending due process rights of everyone. As an advocate for justice, it was worth a shot.
As a forensic journalist, it was an opportunity to discern whether their statements were genuine or simply political theatre.
I first sent a detailed email to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) asking them to advocate for Mr. Jack. I copied NBC News and a journalist from the Los Angeles Times who had written about the importance of standing up for everyone’s constitutional rights.
Only Van Hollen responded, but all he did was direct me to contact other politicians. He didn’t exhibit those leadership qualities he recently bragged about on Meet the Press.
I next contacted Rep. Maxine Dexter (D=OR), Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA). They had traveled together thousands of miles to El Salvador in the hopes of meeting with Mr. Obrego-Garcia. They had made statements in the national media declaring their commitment to fight for the constitutional rights of everyone.
I sent the three representatives a detailed email, advising them of the Hoonah Indian Association’s resolution calling for Mr. Jack’s immediate release. Two weeks went by with no response. I followed up with phone calls to each of their offices. Another week passed with no response. I made another round of phone calls.
Crickets. No response from any of these representatives over the span of a month. Yet just a few weeks earlier, Rep. Dexter had claimed “as a critical care physician, I’m trained to act – and will. I’ll use everything I’ve got to defend our constitutional rights. That’s what leadership looks like.”
In a nutshell, that’s the problem with today’s Democrat Party. It has no genuine leadership. More of the public is recognizing it’s all staged political theatre, directed by the elite’s notions of political correctness, and produced by the mainstream media.
As I was preparing to write this article, I saw Must Read Alaska‘s article that the Alaska House Judiciary Committee is now getting into the act.
Chairman Andrew Gray, a Democrat from Anchorage has taken the unusual measure of scheduling a meeting in Anchorage on June 20 to consider the due process rights of 400 illegal immigrants detained by ICE in Alaska prisons.
I emailed Rep. Gray and the other members of the committee requesting that the June 20 meeting be postponed so that Mr. Jack’s due process rights can be given first priority. My reasoning was simple. How can it be ethical for Alaska legislators to put the due process rights of illegal aliens who have been incarcerated in Alaska for less than a month over the due process rights of an Alaska citizen who has been wrongfully incarcerated in our prisons for 15 years?
My email advised Rep. Gray and the Committee members that many Alaska Natives feel Mr. Jack’s case represents just the tip of the iceberg. The incarceration rate of Alaska Natives is over double their general population rate.
My email further advised Rep. Gray and the Committee that a 2002 report by the US Commission on Civil Rights recommended that tribal court jurisdiction be immediately implemented at the village level.
Had the Alaska Legislature acted promptly on this recommendation, Mr. Jack would not have lost the last 15 years of his freedom.
Will Rep. Gray do the right thing and give Mr. Jack’s due process rights top priority? Will he show genuine leadership, or is Friday’s meeting simply political theatre to play to an ideological base which claims it cares about due process rights for everyone but really doesn’t?
Stay tuned.
David Ignell was born and raised in Juneau where he currently resides. He formerly practiced law in California state and federal courts and was a volunteer analyst for the California Innocence Project. He is currently a forensic journalist and recently wrote a book on the Alaska Grand Jury.
The pedocrat party takes marching orders from Soros and the CCP
The individual for which you advocate is not on their radar; and is useless as a sacred victim for their Galergi Plan implementation efforts.
With respect, is it not our job, NativeStakeholder, to put this thing on their “radar” so they see nothing else, and have no choice but to let this Native man bring the receipts to prove his innocence?
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“The individual for which we advocate” is just like you, NativeStakeholder …you’re an American who could go down for the very same thing, forgotten by everyone
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…except us.
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Forget the debunked Coudenhove-Kalergi Conspiracy.
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This all about getting an innocent man out of jail.
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Want to help?
Alaskan politicians do love their illegal aliens.
I know nothing of Mr. Jack’s case, but I concur – wholeheartedly – that his case take priority over illegal aliens. If nothing else, this will allow time for ICE to remove the illegals from our prisons and ship them out of the country.
As to the public bleating of the Democratic Party representatives, this should make clear that they’re not about substance; it’s just part of the show.
Well written article, David. I appreciate your informative knowledge on this issue. Due process rights, both procedural and substantive are important aspects of our rights and freedoms.
What a waste of ink.. Everyone in jail say’s they are innocent. Getting tired of these bleeding hearts.
You might be right, Capt Lewis …everyone in jail says they’re innocent, everyone not in jail is justifiably tired of bleeding hearts.
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But …what if someone in jail actually is innocent, people not in jail have receipts to prove it, but no one in Alaska’s judiciary will follow their own damned rules and allow him to show those receipts?
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Forgive us for being a pain in the… er, annoying about this.
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What happened to Thomas Jack is right there, staring us in the face, makes you wonder why some of us are more worried about illegal aliens locked up for good reason than about Thomas Jack locked up for no reason.
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Same thing happens to you, Capt Lewis, wouldn’t you want us to be up in their faces and never go away until you’re out, free and clear?
“In a nutshell, that’s the problem with today’s Democrat Party. It has no genuine leadership.”
The Republican Party suffered the same problem for many years. But, Trump changed that, and I hope his type of leadership will continue to follow the correct path.
As for the person from Hoonah, his story is old news and no politician, especially Democrat, cares about it.
Bloody hell with “old news”, JH, our job’s to figure out how to persuade them, Democrat, Republican, whoever, to care about it, no?
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When does this kind of crap committed against an American, by his own government, become “old news”?
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Civil Rights movement’s “old news”, JH? Lynchings, beatings, hangings, kangaroo courts, all the fun stuff that went with it, that’s all “old news” can’t happen here because …well, just because?
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What happened to Thomas Jack, something like it hits you, a family member, JH, it’s “old news”, you got no swag to fight it, you want us to sit on our asses, thank god it didn’t happen to us, or …shall we drop what we’re doing, go to war for you, never, ever, stop ’til you’re home and free?
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This could never, ever happen to you, not here in Alaska, JH, because… ?
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Ain’t your fault, JH, you didn’t do it …maybe, somefreakinhow, you know Somebody Important could help us pull something out of our collective ass… hats to persuade Important People to let this guy bring the receipts to prove his innocence?
David they don’t give 2 sh//s about anyone but themselves and their bank accounts. There is nothing recognizable about the modern (Democratic) party. My grandparent would throw up if they could see this mess.
glenn, if hypocrisy was fungible, you’d be rich.
How does being correct make Dave a hypocrite? The current form of the Democrat Party has accelerated hard to the left from previous iterations that were more in line with actual liberalism. Oh, wait. Your implied whataboutism: but, but, but Republicans… Yeah, could be. But the comment was in response to the article and the subject of the article is about the response (or lack thereof) from Democrat politicians.
Democrats only care about due process when they are in trouble
Amen brother! 🙏
I have never heard of Mr. Jack’s case before. Thank you so much for highlighting this. What can the average person do to encourage our justice system to follow through on his due process rights?