Service as a Marine, a local cop and a Scranton city firefighter helps Jack Davis understand the value of duty.
Commitment as a friend and fiancé of Tania Padgett helps Jack understand the value of love.
Federal immigration officials are holding Tania – who is 28, according to the information provided on her Interpol wanted poster – in the York County Prison.
Jack said on “Corbett” yesterday that Tania entered the United States “illegally” in the aftermath of a grisly homicide in her native Honduras, where she attended a party in 2002 with friends and soon found herself deep into a murder investigation.
Tania testified in court that she knew the two suspects who police accused of beating a well-known Honduran television sportscaster to death and throwing his body down an elevator shaft. But she did not know the victim, Jack said Tania told him, and had no involvement in the crime.
She fled Honduras because of death threats, Jack said, and moved in with her mother who was living legally in the U.S.
Tania was well on her way to achieving legal status in the U.S. when immigration agents picked her up at the Scranton Steamtown Mall, where she worked as an assistant manager in a retail store.
Agents knew she was there because she had been in contact with them concerning her immigration status, Jack said. Immigration officials conducted a background check and discovered an Interpol warrant.
But the judge in Honduras eventually admitted to making a “mistake,” Jack said.
That warrant was worthless, he said.
Now, though, according to Jack, the two suspects who had been acquitted of murder will be tried again for the same crime. Honduran officials want Tania to testify, although she has testified in the past.
Jack and his sister, Karen Davis Walsh, argue that Tania is being pressured by powerful people in Honduras who have some reason for wanting to involve her in the crime. Another warrant for “concealment” awaits her in Honduras.
Many questions remain to be answered by U.S. immigration officials as well as Honduran police officials who are working the case.
Jack and his family, including his father who also is a Scranton firefighter as well as his brother and sister who also work as public officials, deserve those answers.
Their pursuit of answers will help them test the very system they serve. The inquiry also will help them understand more about the crime that took the life of a man in a small country so very far away.
Jack said he has contacted staff for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey as well as staff for Congressmen Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney. None of the lawmakers have been helpful, he said, although they all expressed interest in the case.
All of them need to do more, particularly Casey, who can help the Davis family understand exactly what they are up against.
State Rep. Frank Andrews Shimkus has proven to be the most helpful, according to Jack’s sister, who said the state lawmaker put family in touch with the American Civil Liberties Union as well as assisted them in making contact with Honduran officials.
Shimkus must be commended, especially since the case does not fall within his jurisdiction.
Casey has the most power here to help, although Kanjorski has made useful connections during his many years on Capitol Hill.
Jack said he speaks with Tania every night on the telephone and tries to visit each week. She has her “good days and her bad,” Jack said, while she languishes in her prison cell awaiting deportation and an uncertain future if she returns to Honduras. She’s afraid she will be killed if she returns, Jack said, and is asking for political asylum in the U.S.
Another court proceeding is expected soon, Jack said, although no date has been set. The last immigration hearing actually went Tania’s way, he said, and the judge even mentioned the abysmal record of human rights that exists in Honduras. That’s why the family never went to the press for help, Jack said.
They believed that everything would work out.
But everything didn’t work out and it now looks like Tania might get deported.
Jack sounded anxious yesterday, although he told his story well and seemed grateful that anybody is interested. Northeastern Pennsylvania doesn’t have the best reputation in the world when it comes to helping undocumented immigrants who come to this country for any reason.
But that doesn’t matter to Jack, who continues to protect and serve, remaining loyal to his country and to the woman whose innocence he believes in with all his heart.
Michael Savage
E-Mail Story
Print Story
