Harry Litman - When ICE Roughs Up American Citizens [View all]

In a different America, with robust constitutional protections, a new report from ProPublica would have been front-page news for a week. The report documents “more than 170” cases of American citizens detained by immigration agents during immigration sweeps. But the implications of the report extend far beyond the accounts of the mistreatment of some dozens of Americans. They point to an agency that has slipped the leash of the Fourth Amendment and a government willing to tolerate, even defend, lawless force against its own people.

The report is a grim tour through ICE’s daily operations. It puts the lie to the administration’s oft-repeated line—most recently from the DHS spokesperson—that “we don’t arrest U.S. citizens for immigration enforcement.” The facts on the ground tell another story. Among the incidents ProPublica chronicles: masked agents pointing a gun at, pepper-spraying, and punching a young man whose only offense was filming them during a raid; a 79-year-old car wash owner, still recovering from heart surgery, tackled and pinned with knees to his neck until his ribs broke; and a woman grabbed on her way to work, held for more than two days without contact with the outside world.

The report shows that many citizens were detained for days without access to a lawyer. It documents cases of citizens who clearly asserted their status, including displaying official ID, yet were ignored by the agents. It also notes that the Administration doesn’t even track arrests of citizens in immigration enforcement actions, and it lacks both method and concern in straightening out its rogue forces.

Even people who instinctively think of immigrants as “other” can appreciate the nightmare of being detained by your own government for no reason at all. These are not edge cases. They reveal the modus operandi of an agency that has ceased to care about constitutional barriers governing stops, arrests, and the degree of force. And when members of Congress call for an investigation into the abusive treatment of citizens, the Administration hasn’t even deigned to respond.

https://harrylitman.substack.com/p/when-ice-roughs-up-american-citizens