It has become impossible to open social media and not see videos showing abuse by ICE, and here is a case wherein Reuters provides full reporting on such an incident, ICE broke into Minnesota home, dragged barely clothed man into snow.
A Minnesota man told Reuters on Monday he felt fear, shame and desperation a day after ICE officers broke down his door with guns drawn, handcuffed him and dragged him into the snow wearing shorts and Crocs.
ChongLy Thao, 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen who goes by the name Scott, was returned home later on Sunday without explanation or apology, he said.
I recommend clicking through and watching the video.
This should be unacceptable, and yet here we are, complete with DHS’s chief propagandist providing cover to explain the injustice.
Many will see the words “sex offender” and just default to the notion that any and all actions are necessary and proper. But was it necessary to break down a door? (I am sure that DHS isn’t going to pay to fix the damage.) To not serve a warrant? To point guns at people? A wanted poster for the wanted men was provided. They are two Asian males, but I guess they all look alike, and hence the detention of Thao. A check of an ID might have helped.
From the Reuters write-up.
DHS published wanted posters for two men targeted in the investigation who were still at large, describing each as a “criminal illegal alien” from Laos who is subject to deportation orders. One of the men in the wanted posters previously lived at the house but moved out, according to relatives close to the situation, who described him as the ex-husband of a member of the Thao family.
I am unaware of the constitutional principle that a US citizen who is not the target of an investigation can be dragged from their home and forced to be fingerprinted and facially identified. By this logic, any one of us could be so detained just to make sure.
But, of course, “target” appears to have acquired a new meaning as far as ICE is concerned. This clip is chilling.
I remember that as a kid, if in a movie or television show an authority figure asked for your papers, it was a signal that they were the bad guy in the piece. Nazis and Communists asked for papers, not good Americans. And yet, here we are. Worse, it seems that even having valid papers isn’t enough to stop you from being dragged from your home half-naked and detained while ICE satisfies itself that you are who you say you are.
This is the stuff of totalitarian nightmares, not what we should expect as Americans.
This is force over right.
It is arbitrary and lawless.
It is fascism, pure and simple.
