Innocence by David Hosp Page A

happened?”
    “That happened when I was arrested,” Salazar explained. “You see, when I took Maria to the hospital, the authorities learned that we were in the country illegally. Nothing came of it for several months, but then the police began a program to identify and deport illegal immigrants— South and Central American immigrants in particular. My name was put on a list, and an investigation was started. The goal was to have us deported. Officer Steele, the woman who was attacked, was the officer in charge of my case.”
    “So you had a good idea that your time in this country was limited unless Steele’s investigation was stopped,” Kozlowski pointed out. “That’s one hell of a good motive to take her out.”
    “That was the argument that the prosecution made,” Salazar confirmed. “Except that I probably wouldn’t have been deported in the end. I was going through the process of applying for asylum in this country. As long as I could prove that I faced the risk of political retribution if I was forced to go back to El Salvador, I would have been permitted to stay here in America. Given my circumstances, I believe I would have been successful.”
    Finn was skeptical. “I don’t know. My understanding is that the standards for asylum are very strict. Getting the evidence necessary to prove that you were in real danger would have been difficult.”
    “Perhaps,” Salazar admitted. “But the legal process can take a very long time, I was told. Besides, what good would it do to ‘take out’ Officer Steele, as Mr. Kozlowski puts it so colorfully? Do you really think her cases wouldn’t be reassigned?”
    “It’s a fair point.”
    “In any event, I was going through the process legally, and I hadn’t even heard of the attack on Officer Steele. Then one evening the police broke into our apartment. Miguel wasn’t there, fortunately. He was eighteen and full of adolescent anger. He probably would have fought back, and that would have only made things worse. As it was, they broke my arm and my nose and beat me very badly. But it was Rosita who suffered most.”
    “What happened?”
    Salazar hung his head and rubbed his temples. When he looked up again, his eyes were red. “She was just a baby at the time. When they came in, they knocked her high chair over, and her head slammed into the floor. I tried to get to her. I tried to tell them that I was a doctor, that she needed help, but they wouldn’t listen.” He wiped his eyes and cleared his throat before he continued. “She suffered a traumatic brain injury similar to what happens when you shake a baby violently. She lost her vision, and she’s had some learning disabilities. She is wonderful, though, and for the most part she is happy, thank God.”
    “How did your family get by after you were arrested?” Finn asked. “With a child who needed that kind of care, and with no money?”
    “That was the great irony. You see, Rosita was born in this country—she’s an American. Because of that, she could get benefits under Medicaid and other social services. When the social workers found out what had happened, they worked with immigration officials to keep my mother and my brother in this country. And then there was Miguel. He was always the smartest in the family. He worked two jobs while finishing school and graduated at the top of his class. He even got a scholarship to the University of Massachusetts, and he excelled there as well, all the time supporting my mother and Rosita. He has essentially been her father while I’ve been in jail. He’s a doctor now—and a naturalized American citizen.” Salazar beamed as he spoke about his brother. “He is a great American success story.”
    “You must be bitter,” Kozlowski said.
    Salazar frowned. “Why do you say that?”
    Kozlowski looked at Finn, and it was Finn who answered. “When you think of everything you could have been—everything that’s happened to you and your daughter—how