Kim Du Twat misses the issue with ICE and Border Patrol:
The issue with ICE for some of us (Even those of us who supported and voted for Trump, but now have “Lost our trust in ICE” ) isn’t the fact that they are deporting people (That’s what we want!), it’s the fact that they have become a brutal police force composed of unaccountable officers that are breaking simple rules that other policemen have to follow…things like identifying themselves, showing ID, rather than hiding their faces and remaining unidentified. Their tactics (and yes; I’ve seen those tactics up close), how they treat citizens who are not interfering, but are just walking by at the time of the raid (I’m not talking about the stupid protesters, mind you). Enough of us, even on the “Conservative” or “MAGA” side of the aisle are bothered by the actions of ICE and Border Patrol that the agencies have recently reduced their presence AND actions. …Even those of us who support Trump have made ourselves heard such that Trump has pulled upon their leash. Do you really think Trump cares what the Leftists think? He’s doing it because even his base is unhappy.
Some of us dislike the fact that ICE and Border Patrol attack anyone on the street who they deem to be in their way when they make arrests…even citizens that are simply walking by …that they just ride up and immediately use pepper spray and pepperballs at anyone in the vicinity. (and I’ve seen it up close and personal, so don’t just think that it is entirely sensationalized by the media…it really happens)….and that they believe they can do so without consequences.
The fact that they believe they can shoot and kill (rather than arrest) protesters that irritate them is part of the issue…. That they can literally get away with murder or attempted murder and their agency will exonerate them and protect them. (Google “Marimar Martinez” for a really good example)
That they come upon anyone they feel like on the streets and demand proof of citizenship, and then decide if they are going to “Detain” those people or not if they can’t show their “papers”. No reasonable suspicion, just skin color…
The public (at least, apparently enough of us) has become tired of seeing illegal tactics performed time and time again by anonymous masked officers recruited for their brutality, from a pool of domestic police officers that were one step in front of being fired for their behavior before being recruited to ICE and Border Patrol and given a free hand at ICE and Border Patrol to continue their poor behavior.
Most of us DO want the illegals gone. But we also do not want a police force that believes that they can attack the populace, that thinks it doesn’t have to follow the rules we place on other police agencies because they are Federal…that uses insane amounts of violence and overwhelming numbers even for a simple arrest, much less when going after the “Worst of the Worst”…A police force that is unaccountable and unidentifiable. That cannot understand the differences between criminals and citizens…that has, apparently, no limits upon their behavior.
We had enough of that behavior back in the 90’s with ATF and the US Marshals.
Most of us were happy to see the start of ICE actions, we cheered the thought that ICE would be deploying to deport illegal aliens until we saw how they were doing what they were doing and found out where the officers came from…and then saw excuse after excuse after justification made by Bovino and Noem and Homan excusing the behavior of those officers even before any investigation happened. This isn’t one or two rogue officers, but a pattern of brutality and lawlessness that is all of their agencies.
We are a nation of laws and rights and limits upon the agents of the State…. in fact, those laws and the limits they place upon Law Enforcement are what separates the United States from many other nations….and those laws apply, even to Federal officers. Without those laws being enforced, we are one step closer to a failed nation….a Banana Republic, as it were.
So yes, reigning in a brutal, out of control department of ICE agents is a needful thing. We are a nation of laws, even for the law enforcement folks…Even for our Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement people. Federal officers or not, they still have to obey laws. They have limits for a reason.
I’m sorry Mr. DuToit thinks otherwise.
Honest question. Do you think that reigning in applies to the rioters also?
That would include assault/ interfering with a lawful action/etc.
I am all for arresting those that break the law.
Texas Dan’s comment was removed because he is an idiot, and an asshole and due to his past behavior he is not allowed to comment here.
He does keep trying though.
The funniest part about his comment was that somehow he thinks I am an “Open Borders Libertarian”. Which just proves he isn’t paying attention.
Note to Dannie: Go away.
I do not know Kim personally and have never communicated with him.
I do believe you can disagree with him without using a vulgar, insulting misspelling of his surname, which I suspect is pronounced without the final “t”.
Shame on you!
I merely used the same rules he uses when referring to other people with whom he disagrees in his blog.
Now we have judges making up laws on illegal imigration. They are saying long term illegals are common law citizens. I say get the “ILLEGALS” out anyway possible. They do not have the same rights in America that American citizens have. Prove me wrong , but not by what a rogue judge’s say.
Do we get our rights from the US Constitution? Yes or No? Or does the Constitution serve as a limit upon the Federal Government? What does the phrase “Endowed by Our Creator” mean?
Now I want every foreigner deported, legal, illegal doesn’t matter. Hell I would have sank every ship bringing immigrants here, starting in 1790. But your philosophy of government is dangerous and Anti American.
Just my hypothesis but I think the Pretti shooting was the turning point for a lot of people.
Why? Because a lot of people who aren’t usually politically engaged were snowbound that particular weekend and many were focusing on weather news. The media was fixated on the shooting so the video was played over and over on multiple platforms.
So most people likely had heard some arguments, the Gestapo rhetoric, and how ICE could act with impunity and their superiors would cover up for them but may have dismissed it as partisan accusations.
And after watching the vids over and over, they then heard Bovino and Noem defend them with what’s hard to deduce as anything other than blatant lies. That just had to register as “they were right all along”.
And while they were scrolling for weather updates, the media hammered on Good, pepper spray to the face while held down, the 5 year old, a U.S. citizen taken half naked from his home, and a citizen beaten and then dumped out in an across town parking lot while ICE drove off in gangster style fashion.
Again, just my opinion but too many people were tuned in when they normally wouldn’t have been.
Thank you, B. I’m still in favor of deporting illegals, with focus on the more criminal ones, but ICE’s actions have put me rather off them. Pretti’s death was murder, IMO. I don’t care whether or how much he ‘resisted’ or ‘obstructed’, once a man is on the ground, shooting him in the back is murder, period.
I’ve long disliked the militarization of cops (I know, leftist talking point, but I think it’s legitimate–the nearest town to me is of 3k people, and they have an MRAP for some reason), and I think ICE’s behavior is the inevitable result of it.