Orange County Register

A woman from Mexico says her brother died after being beaten and then detained by immigration officials in San Clemente earlier this month.

It was not immediately clear which agency detained the man.

Rosario Sanchez Orzuna posted a video to YouTube that tells her story. In the video, “Mi Hermano Tomas,” Sanchez says her brother, Tomas Sanchez Orzuna, 36, was detained July 8th and died shortly after. The video is in Spanish.

In the video, the sister fights back tears as she shares the details she says she learned from witnesses.

She also expresses rage and anger at his death.

“I feel so sad, because of the thousands of memories that are coming to me from when we were children, as well as when he left. Like every Mexican, he left with all the aspirations of doing something productive with his life.”

“I feel a lot of courage and a lot of impotence at this kind of savagery,” Sanchez said. “I don’t want to see him remain just a statistic. I want this situation to be resolved.” 

I’m working on a story and will update you with more details soon.

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