Overland residents Nixon Giovanni Pérez Paz and Glendy Marisol González de la Cruz were shot and killed in Guatemala last week, shortly after González de la Cruz self-deported to join her husband who had been deported after an ICE stop last April.
The gruesome deaths have shaken the community both in the St. Louis region and in Guatemala. A week after the couple was buried side-by-side after a processional along the Guatemalan hillside, a group of St. Louis-area residents and community organizers is planning a vigil to honor the slain parents of three young daughters on Sunday evening in front of Overland City Hall.
Overland Mayor Marty A. Little spoke to St. Louis Public Radio's Brian Munoz about the couple and federal immigration enforcement in his north St. Louis County community.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Brian Munoz: When you learned that Nixon Pérez Paz and Glendy González de la Cruz had been killed, what went through your mind as mayor of the community they had called home?
Marty A. Little: Any news that starts like that is tough to hear. There's bad news around the world every day, but it just hits a little bit harder when it's closer to home. Anytime I hear an Overland resident or former Overland resident in this situation, it's tough. I didn't learn about this until I saw some of the news reports because it spread pretty quickly once the word got out. So we just had to do some research and know exactly what our involvement was [and] what the situation was. Now we've got a pretty decent grasp as to what's going on there.
Munoz: How does this situation shape the way that you think about federal immigration enforcement and the impact that it has on your local community?
Little: Seeing the end result here should put everything in perspective as to what this situation is. To know that somebody's fear, status notwithstanding, they might be here for a reason. There's an impact there that would cause bodily harm to them — or ultimately death in this situation. We have our police department that responds to issues. That's why we devote a great deal of time and resources to that department, to provide services for the residents. Here, that's not what happened. I think that there's a public safety issue that we engage these folks to keep our community safe, and they're not involved at all in the actions that kind of led to this.
We were not notified of [ICE] coming into our jurisdiction, which again presents public safety issues — that somebody gets pulled over in a truck without any marking on it with guys wearing masks; we don't know who they are. Certainly, the person getting pulled over doesn't know … that's the danger here. We have cops out on the street, and if [ICE] were to show up to an event where we had no notice of anything going on, that presents a safety issue. Not only to the residents, or the city, or visitors, but also to the agents taking these actions.
We were not notified; we didn't know what was going on. They were in Overland and left without us knowing about it.
Munoz: What, if any, communication has ICE or the Department of Homeland Security had with you or other folks in the city?
Little: We know what's going on in our community to the best of our ability. That's why we have 100 employees, about 50 people in the police department between staff and officers. So everything that transpires with them is on record. We've instituted body cams so that way everything's clear — not just what people say, but how they say it — and there's accountability there. In these situations, again, to the best of our knowledge, we were not notified whatsoever before, during or after.
Munoz: Federal immigration enforcement is an issue that municipal leaders, not only in just the St. Louis area but across the country, are really trying to figure out how to grapple with. Have you had any conversations with other municipal leaders around this issue?
Little: I have a lot of communication with other municipal leaders, primarily through the Municipal League of Greater St. Louis, and this is an issue that's hitting everybody to some extent. Our community, and the communities immediately surrounding us, are getting hit harder with these enforcement levels, just due to our population. I think it needs to be a bigger topic with municipal leaders.
The immigration issue is a difficult, difficult one to solve. I think if anybody had the easy answer there, hopefully they'd present that and it would be accepted. Though, it's never going to be by everybody, but by at least enough folks to make changes happen. I speak very, very highly of St. Louis County elected officials. We all take flak in various ways, but all in all, I think it's a good group of folks that are trying to do the right thing. But again, it makes it difficult with this issue because it does remove local control, which is one of the big tenets of cities all around the country. The federal government does its job on certain things. The state government does its job on certain things. Counties, same thing.
Cities have policing powers. They know the area. A lot of the residents know the officers, so that rapport goes a long way, which doesn't exist in these situations. There are many cities that have cooperated formally with immigration immigration enforcement, and we have cooperated when necessary, when arrests are made. But we don't have any formal agreements, just because, again, I think our policing depends on us, and we have accountability. If mistakes are made, then they're dealt with. Here, I don't feel that's happening, and it's just a loss of local control, loss of having a voice in how our residents are treated, and it's just a difficult situation to figure out.
Munoz: Where do we go from here?
Little: I mean, I think the push for local control is important. Push for accountability at every level for police actions. I think the country is a difficult one too; it needs to look at immigration.
Whether people feel one way or another, I think the knowledge level — or at least the legal knowledge level — isn't there. You know, a lot of folks who are pro-immigration or anti-immigration … if you ask them what it takes to become a citizen, I would venture to say a very small percentage of them know what that process even looks like and how much that's changed recently.
I personally don't feel it should be an overnight "you want to move here already, nothing else required." I don't know if a whole lot of people feel that way, but I think the process needs to be better understood.
I think it needs to allow for the folks who have a strong need to be here, which I think this situation was. I think we need to understand that our country, and our local area even, are attractive to other people. There's a reason they want to be here. I think that should be celebrated. I think the different perspectives should be celebrated.
When you drive down the main thoroughfares of Overland, there is probably more diversity than you see most everywhere else in town between the Hispanic, white and Black communities. We get along very well. You know, every city has its issues, but we're trying to make it work.
Munoz: When thinking about Nixon and Glendy, what would you say to their three kids about the Overland community that their parents once called home?
Little: First is the obvious. Sorry that this situation led to what happened. I lost a parent fairly young myself. It's not easy, and I hope that family can come together and they can console and grieve. And because there's no turning back time, unfortunately, I wish that was the case. It's just not the case. So, to remember their parents and what they stood for, trying to build a better life for them than current generations of their parents' age.
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