Senator Murray Calls for the Release of Man Mauled by ICE Dog

Washington Senator Patty Murray is calling for the immediate release of Wilmer Toledo-Martinez from the Northwest ICE Detention Center. He was arrested on November 14, outside of his home, and attacked by an ICE dog. Toledo-Martinez’s attorney said her client has repeatedly reported that it has been “extremely difficult” to get adequate medical care in the Tacoma facility.

According to the release from Murray’s office, which spoke to Toledo-Martinez’s attorney, an ICE agent lured Toledo-Martinez out of his home by posing as a construction worker claiming that he’d hit Wilmer’s car with his truck and needed to exchange insurance information. Another agent was hiding nearby, and when Toledo-Martinez stepped outside, Toledo-Martinez’s attorney says, the agent released a dog, which attacked him.

Photos from his attorney show deep gouges in his torso, arm, and hand. And a video released by his lawyers shows an agent holding the dog over Toledo-Martinez, ordering his wife to “back up” or the dog will bite him again.

Content warning: Images and video, linked here, provided by Sen. Patty Murray’s office show these injuries. 

According to information given to Murray by his attorney, Toledo-Martinez is undocumented, and was brought to the US when he was 15. His wife and three kids are US citizens.

“This should shock the conscience of every one of us,” Murray wrote in a statement. “I do not want to live in an America where federal agents can sic attack dogs on peaceful residents with impunity and face no consequences.”

His attorney says Toledo-Martinez was dizzy and shaking after the attack, and that at one point his vision went black, but he wasn’t given medical attention for hours. Eventually, he was taken to a hospital where he got stitches, and was prescribed antibiotics and other medications. The antibiotics were delayed, and he never got the other medications, his attorney told Murray.

Toledo-Martinez has been detained for three weeks now, and throughout his detention, his attorney says he’s struggled to get the medical attention he needs.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

This kind of medical neglect is a pattern at the Tacoma facility. This weekend, the Seattle Times reported that a Filipino detainee, Greggy Sorio, lost a toe because of a severe bone infection during his time at the Tacoma facility. He was also reportedly anemic and passing blood in his stool when officials brought him to the hospital in October.

As we’ve previously reported, Zahid Chaudhry, an army veteran and husband of former congressional candidate Melissa Chaudhry, could lose his eyesight because, according to declarations provided by his family and supporters, he hasn’t had access to proper medical care. 

And La Resistencia, a grassroots organization working to end immigrant detention, has collected immigrant testimonies for years of extremely dirty spaces, spoiled food, and lack of medical care, and last week, 70 detainees went on a hunger strike, the fifteenth this year to protest those conditions.