Told police at the time of their arrest “Donald Trump was right: All these illegals need to be deported”
Two South Boston brothers, Scott Leader and Steven Leader – fresh off an August summer night of heavy drinking and emblazoned with the fiery rhetoric of Donald Trump’s recently declared candidacy in their minds – came across a homeless Mexican-American named Guillermo Rodriquez sleeping and it awoke the same ugliness that has propelled the GOP standard bearer to his party’s nomination for president.
They became irate, punching him repeatedly, beating him with a metal pole, urinating on him, and calling him a “wetback.”
Then they high fived each other and walked away, pleased the “message” they had sent to supposed “illegals” in their city.
At the time, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said the brothers “should be ashamed of themselves,” while Boston’s top prosecutor Daniel Conley called the case “sickening.”
Notably, the only public comments Trump had on their reprehensible behavior was “I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate.”
When they were questioned and apprehended, Scott Leader told police the violence was acceptable because the victim was homeless and Hispanic.
“Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported,” Leader said.
Thankfully, appearing in court Monday the brothers plead guilty to several felony charges in the unprovoked attack, including assault and battery, intimidation, and civil rights violations.
Suffolk County prosecutor Nicole Rimar said the incident “was an unprovoked attack on a sleeping man based completely off racial hostility,” before imploring Superior Court Justice Peter B. Krupp to deliver a harsher sentence, citing Scott Leader’s history of racially motivated attacks.
“The history of Scott Leader’s attitude towards others is troubling,” said Rimar.
Rodriguez said in a prepared statement before the court that he was in fact a permanent resident.
“I came to this country many years ago and worked hard in the farm fields to provide produce to people here. I actually became a permanent resident of this country years ago, although if I had been undocumented I still would not have deserved to be beaten this way,” said Rodriquez.
“I cannot understand why they did this to me. I did not do anything to them and did not even know them.”
