GATEWAY HOTEL - GROUND ZERO SAYS TX GOV ABBOTT | EL PASO CITY NEGLIGENCE-COUNTY ATTORNEY'S COMPROMISE OF RESIDENTS SAFETY-CITIZEN'S RIGHTS
Sean Ian Fischer, MA, EMBA
Leadership Consultant | International Relations and Crisis Analyst | Veterans Advocate | Personal Sovereignty Advocate | Investor at Mustang Leadership Solutions Group? LLC
? 20 September 2024 by Sean Ian Fischer. All Rights Reserved. Contributor to Mustang Leadership Solutions Group, LLC.
NewsWeek: Texas Governor Abbot Put $5K Bounty on Venezuelan Gang Members Spreading "Carnage"
ABC 7 News El Paso Tx: Stephanie Valle interviews Texas Gov. Greg Abbott about Tren de Aragua gang members in El Paso
Mustang Leadership Solutions Group, LLC and I are advocating on behalf of a Gateway Hotel former resident, to protect her rights as an American Citizen by challenging El Paso City-County's forcible eviction, displacement, and homelessness as a result of a temporary 90-day injunction ordered by the State of Texas District Court Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza on 9 September 2024. Below is a letter Mustang Leadership Solutions Group, LLC submitted to the County of El Paso's District Attorney's Office 20 September 2024.
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Dear Mr. Bill Hicks and Ms. Christina Sanchez,
By way of introduction, I am Sean Ian Fischer. I am a Leadership Consultant/International Relations & Crisis Analyst/Veterans’ Advocate and President of my company, Mustang Leadership Solutions Group, LLC, Nevada business license #NV20171295727.
I am a retired Veteran and commissioned United States Naval Officer having served thirty-four (34) years on active duty 1982-2017. I have opened a case on behalf of an eighty-seven-year-old, former legal resident of the Gateway Hotel located on 104 S. Stanton St., El Paso, Texas, a mere few hundred yards from your office.
I recently visited this resident, 3-6 September 2024 at the Gateway Hotel to check on her health and well-being. I have visited with her on two other occasions at the Gateway in May 2023 and January 2024. On my visits, I noted the deplorable state and condition of the Gateway. I observed very busy activity in the hotel and was informed by hotel staff many of the people were predominantly undocumented Venezuelan nationals. They noted a surge in hotel utility bills which didn’t correlate to the known average of its sixty (60) legal residents and logically deduced the increase was from people trespassing and being let in by undocumented persons. Hotel staff also informed me, allegedly and anecdotally, that the Gateway had been under surveillance by a myriad of law enforcement from adjacent abandoned buildings since at least my first visit in May 2023 if not longer.
Local ABC 7 News and other news outlets brought to light the following Gateway Hotel city ordinance, fire, safety code violations:
i.?????????????? Failure of three (3) fire safety inspections since July 2024
ii.????????????? Nearly 700 (approximately 693) emergency services/police Gateway Hotel response calls recorded over the past two years
iii.??????????? Temporary Occupancy Permit granted to the Gateway Hotel on/about 2015 or 2016 for a period of 6 months to one year. The Temporary Occupancy Permit was not extended, and a Permanent Occupancy Permit was never granted. That is eight (8) years after the first Temporary Occupancy Permit was issued/granted
On 5 September 2024 at approximately 4:00-5:30 PM, while I was in the lobby of the Gateway discussing my Client's hotel bill, nine (9) El Paso police officers entered the hotel single file and fanned out throughout the building announcing they were conducting a walk-through of the hotel or words to that effect. Hotel staff informed me that this sweep was the second of the day. Earlier that morning of the 5th of September, approximately twenty to twenty-five officers conducted a similar sweep of the Gateway.
On 12 September 2024, at approximately 9:30 AM local time, an NGO representative called me on my cell phone to assist her in facilitating/coaxing my Client out of her room as she said that there were Federal DEA Agents/Officers and other law enforcement officers standing by to enter the Gateway Hotel and conduct a tactical sweep at 10:00 AM of the building; in particular, the fourth floor of the building, it was surmised, remnants of the Tren de Aragua foot soldiers, their families and other undocumented people were squatting and/or holding out. An El Paso "constable" entered my Mom's room to assist the NGO in forcibly removing my mother from the hotel. This is an intimidation tactic. I was informed that electrical power and water would be cut by 10:00 AM.
My Client was told by the NGO worker that she could only take a day or two’s clothes, toiletries, cash/cards, and ID. My Client was told that she had to leave her personal property and that she would be able to recover her personal property at some undisclosed date and time in the future, breaking the chain of custody with her personal property. On 11 September 2024, I asked an NGO Director to ensure an inventory of my Client's personal property be conducted. The NGO stated that perhaps at least a video of her contents could be completed by the on-site rep. This was never done, and she still does not have her personal property as of the date of this letter to my knowledge.
Additionally, two days after my departure from El Paso, I learned from a friend of my sister who resides in El Paso of an ABC 7 News piece reporting the presence of the Venezuelan gang “Tren de Aragua.” I learned that your office was seeking a temporary 90-day injunction from an El Paso District Court Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza, to close the hotel due to the Gateway Hotel's multiple city safety, fire ordinances, codes, and regulations violations.
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An interview given by Mr. Hicks to local media on Wednesday, 18 September 2024 on/about 3:00-3:30 PM stated that the closure of the Gateway Hotel had nothing to do with the presence of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua foot soldiers allegedly conducting illegal human-trafficking, drugs, prostitution, a possible murder, threatening and extorting legal residents of the hotel (by forcible entry – threat of violence). Mr. Hicks stated that Tren de Aragua was not the target or impetus of the closure but merely other City of El Paso code violations.
It is the hypothesis of my company, Mustang Leadership Solutions Group, LLC that the County of El Paso District Attorney’s office is not being transparent or forthcoming with the information it has regarding the sudden and immediate closure of the Gateway Hotel.
A review of the County-City of El Paso's violations and transgressions are numerous and mounting with each passing day.? A preliminary list provided below:
i.?????????????? NEAR NO NOTICE EVICTION | ILLEGAL NOTIFICATION TO GATEWAY RESIDENTS. My Client was first notified of her eviction and subsequent displacement and homelessness on or about 10 or 11 September 2024. No notifications or formal letters were provided to the legal residents of the Gateway Hotel; about 48 hours prior to the forcible removal of my Client.
ii.????????????? FORCIBLE REMOVAL BY COUNTY OF EL PASO. On 12 September 2024 at approximately 8:00 AM, non-profit/non-governmental organization personnel (El Paso Coalition for the Homeless | El Paso Human Services Inc.) were presumed ordered to facilitate the forcible removal of a reported sixty (60 – to include my Client) legal American and/or Texas Citizen residents of the Gateway Hotel.
iii.??????????? CITY/COUNTY OF EL PASO NEGLIGENCE. NGO personnel candidly shared that the first time they were informed that such an operation was underfoot was the week after Labor Day (2-6 September), the week that I was physically at the Gateway visiting my Client. According to one NGO representative, this was the second eviction that occurred at the Gateway in the past ten (10) years.
iv.???????????? CITY/COUNTY OF EL PASO ENDANGERMENT OF ITS LEGAL CITIZEN RESIDENTS. The City and County of El Paso failed to close the Gateway after its first issuance of the Temporary Occupancy Permit issued in 2015 or 2016. There is no information that indicates thus far that the City of El Paso conducted a follow up inspection of the Gateway after the expiry of the Temporary Occupancy Permit.
v.????????????? EIGHT YEARS OF SAFETY/FIRE VIOLATIONS ABSENT. Reporting only reveals three (3) fire safety code violations/failures from July 2024 to September 2024. Reporting does not reveal how many fire inspections the Gateway failed over the past eight years. This leads to the hypothesis that the County of El Paso Prosecutor’s Office was seeking to pack its injunction brought before the judge to expedite the raid and closure of the hotel.
vi.???????????? PERSONAL PROPERTY INVENTORY. The chain of custody of my Client's personal property was broken 12 September 2024 at approximately 10:00-10:45 when she was forcibly removed and evicted her from the Gateway. No inventory of her personal property was conducted even though I had requested that an inventory be done on 11 September 2024. The County of El Paso has plausible deniability in the event any of my Client's personal property is stolen or missing.
vii.?????????? NEEDLESS INDUCED HOMELESSNESS BY COUNTY OF EL PASO, TEXAS. The County of El Paso executed a traumatic eviction, displacement, and induced homelessness by giving the legal American and Texas Citizens forty-eight (48) hours or less to evacuate the Gateway Hotel. The County of El Paso’s only plan was to remove the legal residents on short notice and place them in homeless shelters for expediency and convenience to the County of El Paso’s execution of a court ordered injunction. The Gateway legal residents’ rights were violated. The norms for notification in such cases are at a minimum 30 days but normally 60 days in a case such as what occurred at the Gateway. This leads to further questioning of the real motives of the sudden eviction of residents and closure of the Gateway Hotel in such a rushed manner. Mr. Hick’s comments in his interview with local news that the only reason why the hotel was hastily shuddered was because of safety and fire code infractions but they do not hold water or seem at all reasonable.
viii.????????? SHOCK AND TRAUMA TO MY CLIENT AND THE 59 OTHER GATEWAY HOTEL RESIDENTS. To say that my Client (and the other residents) were traumatized and shocked by the evictions is an understatement. Her entire world came to an end in the space of a few hours on 12 September 2024.
ix.???????????? SAFETY AND SECURITY OF LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE GATEWAY HOTEL COMPROMISED BY COUNTY OF EL PASO, TEXAS. The safety and security of the Gateway Hotel residents was compromised approximately eight years ago when the Gateway Hotel Temporary Occupancy Permit expired, was not extended, and a thorough and detailed follow up inspection of the building conducted by the City of El Paso and other city housing regulatory authorities.
x. COUNTY OF EL PASO ATTEMPT TO PLACE MY MOTHER UNDER "GUARDIANSHIP" AS A FIRST STEP TO STRIPPING HER OF HER RIGHTS AND AGENCY. The County of El Paso attempted to place my Client into a "Guardianship" status which effectively means the beginning of the stripping of her rights and agency. The County of EP tasked the Coalition for the Homeless to "assess" the residents. My Client said she wanted to "self-resolve" i.e., find her own housing, however, it appears that the Coalition for the Homeless conducted some sort of "assessment" which they said my Client was having memory problems because she was repeating herself. What she was repeating was something to the effect "Why do I have to leave? What is the reason?" Anyone, no matter what age, would be asking these questions. So to expedite my Client's removal/eviction, she was deemed (based on some sort of assessment - which I'm still trying to get to the bottom of) - giving the Coalition of the Homeless "cause" to place my Client in a homeless shelter. I happened to call the Coalition for the Homeless on 11 September and spoke to a rep. She explained that my Client wanted to "self-resolve" and I replied/commented that I concurred/agreed. Towards the end of the phone call, the agency representative said to me "So you want to STOP GUARDIANSHIP?" I almost missed it. I asked her what do you mean and please define it. Once I got a gist of what she was angling at, I said YES - STOP GUARDIANSHIP. My Client said she wants to "self-resolve" and I back her up on her desires and wishes to self-resolve" or words to that effect. So that is basically how my Client avoided going to a homeless shelter and winding up in a hotel. At issue is how quickly a person/the residents can lose their rights and agency in such a situation as was created/train put in motion by the County of El Paso in their zeal to clear out the Gateway Hotel which is leaning more and more towards the Tren De Aragua presence in the hotel more than anything else. This is, to me, a very important point.
It is also an "Ageist" issue, whereby America's elderly are just discarded and dismissed if they don't have a fortress of family, friends, loved ones to prevent the State from running roughshod over legal citizens of low income and means rights.
The County of El Paso (and the City) are criminal, and deceptive, in their execution of "the law." These kinds of things are done in Third World countries. You don't, and as citizens of the United States can't, allow governmental institutions to run roughshod over citizens rights in this way.
Sincerely,
Sean Ian Fischer
Pres., Mustang Leadership Solutions Group, LLC