Finally, a story about a hate crime involving a MAGA hat that has a happy ending.
The woman who was arrested in Falmouth on Feb. 15 for allegedly assaulting a 23-year-old Mashpee man wearing a MAGA hat was again arrested yesterday, this time by U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) Enforcement as an illegal alien from Brazil who has living illegally in the US since overstaying a tourist visa in 1994.
ICE spokesman John Mohan said in a statement, “ (Rosaine) Santos is currently facing local charges for assault and other offenses. She is presently in ICE custody and has been entered into removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts.”
After her first arrest, Santos admitted to Ch. 25, “I had a little bit to drink. Maybe that’s the reason that I couldn’t walk away, but being discriminated for so many times in my life, I just had to stand up for my life.”
The victim, Bryton Turner, a Mashpee man, said in an interview on my radio show last week that in addition to assaulting him as he ate and repeatedly knocking the MAGA cap off his head, the illegal told the bartender, “Poison this kid’s drink.”
Turner said he joined some friends for dinner at the Casa Vallarta Mexican restaurant in Florida. He and his friends were sitting at the bar, as was the illegal.
“She started saying, ‘What does your hat say? What does your hat say?’ I told her and she said, ‘Why would you wear that hat here?’
“I said, ‘It’s America. I can wear this hat wherever I want.’”
As Turner and his friends ate, the woman continued to berate him, and finally, he said, she went over and pushed his hate off.
“She started to throw a fit and cause a scene. She threw my hat across the bar three or times before I took the video with my cellphone. I tried to take the video just so she would stop but she didn’t.”
The bartender called 911 and when the cops arrived, he showed them the video. They were escorting the woman out of the bar when she again lunged at the American taxpayer, hitting him.
The bartender, Geo Macarao, told Ch. 25: “I couldn’t imagine somebody just coming up and hitting them when there’s cops right here.”
In the incident report, Falmouth police described the Brazilian’s eyes as “bloodshot and glassy.”
When they arrived at the police station, the illegal refused to get out of the cruiser and yelled, “What are you going to do if I don’t?”
What they did was take her fingerprints, after which they called ICE.
Last week, I asked Turner if he felt he was the victim of a hate crime.
“I would like to say no but honestly, I was minding my own business and she threw a fit over my beliefs, so I guess by definition, yeah, I am (a victim of a hate crime).
Turner said he initially wanted to stay out of the media, but changed his mind.
“We can’t let these people scare us. We can’t let these people win when they assault people who don’t agree with them…. She’s obviously not very intelligent. She just sees a red hat and gets mad ‘cause it represents America, I guess.”
The illegal told Ch. 25: “He’s not the victim. I am the victim. I have been bullied, OK?”
After the illegal’s arrest this morning, Turner texted: “This country has laws in place to keep its citizens safe. That’s what makes this country great. She broke the law for a long time and it finally caught up with her.”
ICE’s arrest was the second one in Massachusetts this week involving an illegal charged with a headline-generating crime.
On Monday, ICE arrested an illegal from Guatemala, Victor Bamaca-Perez, who had been “unlawfully present” in Lynn.
The Guatemalan had been arrested by Lynn police after crashing his car into a light pole near Pine Grove Cemetery in Lynn. His 7-year-old daughter had been in the backseat.
In the car, police found 17 empty Corona cans and one empty Modelo can. When removing the 7-year-old to an ambulance, EMT’s noticed something protruding from under her sweatshirt. Prosecutors said it was a full can of Modelo beer.
The illegal was charged with operating under the influence, driving without a license and child endangerment. The prosecutor asked that he be held without bail, but the judge, a Mitt Romney appointee named Matthew Nestor, set bail at $5,000.
Like the illegal Brazilian, the Guatemalan is now in ICE custody pending deportation proceedings.
