Introduction
In the early to mid-1990s, the city of Los Angeles lived through a major earth-
quake, witnessed the O. J. Simpson trial, watched the Rodney King beating and
its aftermath, and experienced the Los Angeles riots or rebellion (depending on
one’s interpretation of the events). Around this time, a videotape was released
showing two immigrants who, involved in a high speed car chase, were pulled
out of their truck and beaten by police officers while lying on the ground. As the
UCLA newspaper ( The Daily Bruin ) reported:
One deputy, holding his baton two-handed like a baseball bat, was video-
taped clubbing the driver on the back and shoulders, even as the driver fell
to the ground. When a woman got out of the cab, the same deputy beat her
in the back with the baton, then grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to
the ground. At least one other deputy struck her with his baton. Neither
of the two Mexican citizens appeared to resist or attempt to get away from
the white officers.
1
The videotape of this beating was televised repeatedly in Los Angeles, but did
not receive the national press coverage that the other events had. Thus, although
some reactions to this event were deeply empathetic, no one seemed particu-
larly shocked by the fact that non-violent acts—unauthorized entry and a high
speed car chase—were met with excessive brutality.
I believe that one of the key reasons is that the United States has been viewed
as a democracy only insofar as it treats its citizens equally; this assumption is
not only held by the general public but also scholars on the subject. Accordingly,
immigrants are not merely viewed as political outsiders, but it is commonly
held that a different set of laws and norms should apply to them. This unequal
treatment is most evident today in immigrant detention centers that hold im-
migrants indefinitely and do not presume that the detainee has a right to legal
1
“FBI to Probe Beating of Illegal Immigrants,” Daily Bruin, April 3, 1996, 6. See “ACLU of South-
ern California Settles Mexican Immigrant Beating Case” (June 20, 1997). archive.aclu.org/news/
n062097d.html (cited: December 18, 2004); “Deputies Suspended After Caught Beating Sus-
pected Illegal Immigrants,” CNN (April 2, 1996). www.cnn.com/US/9604/02/immigrant.beating/
index2.html (cited: December 18, 2004); “Woman Beaten by Deputies Released From Custody,”
CNN (April 3, 1996). www.cnn.com/US/9604/03/police_beating/index.html (cited: December 18,
2004).
