Julio Maldanado and Denis Calderon were victims of a vicious racially-motivated hate crime in 1996.  They ended up sending 13 years in prison for defending themselves.  And now they are on the verge of being deported.  Seth Williams, then a prosecutor with the City of Philadelphia, tried the case which ultimately landed Julio and Denis in jail for 13 years.  Mr. Williams is now the Democratic candidate for District Attorney of Philadelphia.

For background on the he case, please see change.org.’s immigration issues page.

What happened to Julio and Denis was wrong – from the hate crime, to the wrongful prosecution, and to their impending deportation. Let’s not compound the wrongs these two men have and continue to face!

Sign and send this letter, urging PA Governor Rendell and DHS Secretary Napolitano do the right thing for Julio Maldonado and Denis Calderon by providing them the justice they have been denied of for the past 13 years.

Please Call DHS (let’s fill their voice mail) at 202 282 8495 and leave a message to Secretary Napolitano asking her to…. CANCEL the deportation of Julio Maldonado (A30326124) and Denis  Calderon (A37919176) IMMEDIATELY – or – at the minimum provide them with a STAY OF DEPORTATION, DEFERRED ACTION and a RELEASE UNDER AN ORDER OF SUPERVISION until their PARDON petition completes. They are innocent men, victims of hate and injustice. They deserve true AMERICAN JUSTICE.

Dave Bennion, blogger at Citizen Orange, circulated the below email to pro-migrant advocates. It captures the injustice of the situation Julio and Denis find themselves in, and why we need your help to make things right for Julio and Denis:

I’ve been in touch with the family of two men in federal custody right now standing on the brink of deportation, and it is one of the most explosive criminal/immigration cases I have ever seen. If you have a chance to read further, I would be very interested to get your thoughts about the case.

The family is working to raise awareness about the cases of Julio Maldonado and Denis Calderon, latino victims of a bias attack in Philly in 1996 who were then wrongfully convicted and now await deportation after 4 years in federal prison for “failing to cooperate in their own removal.” They are in jail now because they refused to sign the papers required to request their Peruvian travel documents so they could be deported, and for no other reason. Julio is due to be deported at the termination of his prison sentence on September 12. There is a pardon pending before Governor Rendell that would hopefully eliminate the ground for deportation.

The underlying convictions that led to final orders of removal were for attempted aggravated assault stemming from their efforts to defend themselves from an angry white mob in South Philly that shouted racial slurs at them and then physically attacked them. The convictions were twice overturned after new medical evidence emerged but due to the determination of Seth Williams (Philly’s likely next DA) to build his career on the backs of two immigrants (disturbing parallels to what we see in SF with Gavin Newsom and in Newark with Corey Booker–all three of these politicians are rising stars, darlings of the so-called progressive movement), one of whom was the head of the first Latino household in the neighborhood at that time, the vacated verdict was appealed and the men missed a filing deadline for a rehearing.

Tragically, a young white named Christian Saladino who was one of the attackers died after experiencing some sort of stroke or heart attack during the attack. Julio and Denis were acquitted of murder charges in the only jury trial to be held in the case after medical evidence showed that Saladino did not sustain any external physical injuries that could have led to his death and that he had a preexisting medical condition that could have accounted for his reaction. Several witnesses had close connections to the attackers, and favorable witnesses were intimidated through community violence the day after the attack and did not participate. They are willing to speak now.

The criminal charges for attempted aggravated assault stuck and for technical reasons, Julio and Denis missed the window for applying for the more lenient form of cancellation of removal under former section 212(c). One of Philly’s best immigration attorneys, Joe Hohenstein, appealed their immigration case to the Third Circuit but was unsuccessful. Their criminal attorneys took their habeas case to the Supreme Court and lost. I’ve been in touch with Joe and his involvement helped me know right away that this case is legit.

This case has a lot of explosive elements: bias attack against Latinos, wrongful conviction in the criminal system, and harsh immigration consequences. Denis has a USC wife and USC children. Julio lived here since age three and both men were decades-long LPRs. I instantly knew this case was different from most that come into my office. Maria, Julio and Denis’s cousin, has been fighting tirelessly against the very politically connected Seth Williams.

I think the story of these men needs to be heard, because what happened is a particularly outrageous example of what happens every day to immigrant families in Philadelphia and around the country.

Right now we’re trying to get Seth Williams to acknowledge that his actions ripped apart two families. Julio and Denis would have given up and gone to Peru 4 years ago, but they saw that it would have devastated their mothers, so they stayed these last 4 years in prison in the hope that justice might be reached.

Maneesha at Families for Freedom is now working with the family, and we are getting some traction in the blogosphere. But that alone won’t be enough. Again I would love to hear your thoughts about this case.