Tag Archives: ICE

What Manner of Country Will We Be?

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[Guest Post By Dina Ruden]

With just 72 hours’ notice, more than 700 people from nine denominations and 40 different religious organizations throughout the country, representing tens of millions of followers, convened in Washington DC on January 29, answering an urgent call to take a moral stand against unjust and dangerous immigration enforcement actions. Many of the religious leaders came from Minneapolis to share powerful stories from their communities under occupation and the trauma and terror facing their neighbors.

These hundreds of faith leaders gathered to demand that Congress give no money to DHS, get ICE out of our communities, and require accountability for the multiple injuries and deaths already incurred at the hands of the Department of Homeland Security.

The day started in song and fellowship at the historic Lutheran Church of the Reformation in the shadow of the Capitol building. The audience: Catholic nuns, Lutheran ministers, Muslim Imans, Evangelicals, Buddhists, Rabbis, Hindus, Humanists and others of faith. “Nudge your neighbor and say: ‘Thank God you’re here.’” We did.

In a prayer service that was to be followed by a day of lobbying and an act of civil disobedience, dozens of religious leaders shared their shock, outrage, sorrow as well as messages of hope and a brighter future.

Regardless of who or how they worship, the themes resonated with everyone in attendance.

  • All are our neighbors, and we should treat them as we want to be treated.
  • The dangers throughout history of othering and oppressing our neighbors.
  • This is not just a political crisis, but a spiritual one
  • Faith demands action when lives are on the line.
  • Justice is not an abstract idea, but a moral obligation.
  • We are not going to meet hatred with hatred.
  • As matters of our religious faith, we hold sacred the belief that love lies at the center of all we do.
  • Love is the most powerful force for change and healing in the universe

Imam Yusuf Abdulle, executive director of the Islamic Association of North America, described the harassment of the Minneapolis Somali community, including the elderly and the disabled, and, in a voice choked with emotion, stated, “We are not garbage,” referencing a previous comment by President Donald Trump.

Rev. Jen Nagel, a bishop with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Minnesota, talked about beauty and devastation. The beauty of neighbors loving and caring for each other in this time of crisis: watching over schools, providing medical care, delivering groceries to those afraid to leave home. And the devastation: “What is happening in Minnesota across the state is cruel, and it’s unjust, barbaric, unconstitutional, damning, and is the farthest thing from love thy neighbor that I can imagine.”

“Since when are people in this country required to carry a passport to walk the streets safely?, she asked.

Unitarian Universalist Association President Rev. Sofia Betancourt was pragmatic:

“We know that as unsexy as it is, budgets are moral documents. There is no moral justification, none, in voting for a budget that will put more resources toward the violent dehumanization of our people.”

For that reason, she said, the religious leaders are asking for:

  • An immediate stop to all ICE activities
  • For ICE to leave Minnesota and communities across the country
  • Full transparency and immediate accountability for all those involved, including their supervisors, in recent violence and killings.

In a particularly moving moment, Sr. Carol Zinn, SSJ, Executive Director of Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), asked those from Minnesota to stand up, which they did.

Then she asked again: “Who here is from Minnesota?” And the entire congregation stood up. And then, “Who here is from Ukraine?” Again, everyone stood.

And finally, “Who here is from Gaza?” A reminder that we are all one family, and all children are our children.

Two US Senators, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and Sen. Chris Coons, who holds a divinity degree, addressed the crowd preparing them to meet with members of the Senate.

Just after Sen. Coons announced (to cheers) that a deal had been struck in the Senate to separate DHS funding from the other appropriations bills, the group ascended to the Hill to make their case against DHS funding and for accountability.

Following meetings with members of Congress and media interviews, many members of the group staged a peaceful sit-in resulting in dozens of arrests of religious leaders by Capitol Police. You can watch the religious leaders and people of faith “praying with their feet” and putting their bodies on the line for their neighbors here. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1257345579638709

This past year, and especially these last few weeks, I have felt a deep despair about what is happening to the country I love, watching everything I cherished and worked for my entire adult life being dismantled and desecrated:

  • A free press, the First Amendment and the right to speak truth to power
  • Union rights and the right of people to organize
  • A belief in science and medicine and protecting children against debilitating disease
  • The right to protest without fear of harm, retribution, or even death
  • The right to affordable healthcare
  • Respect and opportunity for everyone regardless of their race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation
  • The right for children to be cherished and protected
  • The expectation that when hundreds of young girls are abused by a cabal of rich white men that those men would to be brought to justice
  • Equal rights for women, bodily autonomy, and freedom from violence
  • The right to due process for citizens and noncitizens alike and the right to seek asylum
  • Respect for the earth and our natural world
  • A nation that exemplifies freedom and democracy, values its allies and seeks peace
  • And a president with integrity and dignity who sets an example for us all, seeks national unity, respects the Constitution and the rule of law, and focuses on public service over personal ambition.

I always believed that what made America great was our wonderful diversity, the fact that we were a cultural and religious mosaic of people bringing the beauty of their beliefs, their traditions and their labor together, embracing the idea of a better life for all.

The despair I felt the night before spending time with these people of faith was transformed to a deep love and replaced by a determination to do all I can to mobilize, protect my neighbors and pray with my feet in the battle for the soul of this great nation.

You can watch the entire vigil and press conference here:

https://www.facebook.com/FIAnational/videos/954478750268928

You can read the statement by DC Area Faith Leaders on Immigration Enforcement Actions here.

https://adw.org/news/26-01-statement-on-immigration-enforcement-actions/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPovPVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFQZ0lzd0RxUFhTc2FKU2JQc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHpH9ZZafy8jfwydLFR9nYj9hCLqylWNGmdstbkiTxe6QE2xHpVqzl_AbOAxZ_aem_3rOKwKPEZmnzSn8VLW2IVg

As one speaker said, a country is judged by how it treats its children (and I would add, the example we set for them) and asked, “What manner of country will we be?” That is the question we must now decide.

A Suggestion for the Governor of Minnesota

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An army of 3,000 federal “troops” under the command of the Secretary of Homeland Security and the President of the United States has entered your state, uninvited and allegedly for the purpose of removing persons whose presence in the United States is unlawful. These men typically wear masks to obscure their identity, are heavily armed and wear substantial protective gear. The labels on their uniforms typically say “ICE” and “Police.”

In the past few weeks these men have indiscriminately arrested and detained without explanation persons who were American citizens. They have violently entered homes and businesses to arrest individuals suspected, for unknown reasons, of unlawful presence in the country based on physical appearance and/or use of language. Their entries into homes and businesses typically are not based on judicially approved warrants authorizing searches of private property. Their leadership has asserted that they can, in effect, self-warrant, notwithstanding the clear language of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The inevitable result of these practices and the hostility of the people of Minnesota to them has been three shootings of Minneapolis residents, two of whom died. One was shot at least three times for the apparent offense of driving away after having been ordered to “get out of the f*cking car.” The other, a nurse, was shot at least seven times after being pepper sprayed and taken to the ground by a group of ICE agents, for the apparent offense of trying to protect a woman who was being assaulted by those ICE agents.

In both cases, as you are aware, the ICE leadership, including the President, have without the benefit of any forensic analysis immediately and publicly declared that these two people were terrorists intent upon doing serious bodily harm to the ICE agents on the scene. They have no evidence to support these claims. If they had to make those claims under oath, they would be guilty of perjury.

These tragedies are only the beginning. ICE believes it has full authority to do whatever it wants whenever it wants. ICE will clearly not abide any form of resistance to its demands, with the result that not only has it murdered two residents of Minneapolis, but it has harassed, arrested, detained, and almost certainly deported US citizens. It has violated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution countless times. The lives of more Minneapolis residents are at serious risk.

Many words about these practices have been uttered by members of Congress and by you and other local authorities. None of them have changed anything. Nor will they. Unfortunately, more forceful action is required to bring an end to the unlawful occupation of the state by a federal force. Here is my suggestion.

First, you declare a state of emergency covering the entire state, based on the presence of an uninvited military force operating with the apparent approval and direct command of the Department of Homeland Security which force has murdered two Minnesota citizens and violated the U.S. Constitution in its dealings with those and other citizens of the city and state.

I understand you have activated the state National Guard under your direct command although its precise role is somewhat unclear. My proposal to you eliminates any ambiguities.

The declaration of emergency must order the ICE force to depart the state within some very brief period measured in hours rather than days, failing which they will be subject to arrest by the National Guard and such local law enforcement forces as are available to assist.

Given the state law on carrying arms, deputize as necessary any private citizens willing to serve and assist in the state’s effort to restore order and protect its citizens from unlawful detention by ICE.

Using the proper state procedures, you should initiate such legal processes as are appropriate to charge the ICE members who participated in the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti with murder in the first degree. Those same charges should be brought against the Secretary of Homeland Security and all other federal persons with line responsibility for the conduct of ICE personnel in Minnesota. I am fully aware of asserted limitations on the ability of the state to charge federal personnel with local crimes. Let the courts sort that out.

You and your advisors can work out the details of these recommendations to assure, to the maximum extent possible, that as little violence results as possible. It is, however, critically important that the state assert itself and bring to a prompt end the occupation of the state by an uninvited and out-of-control federal force that is willfully ignoring the Constitution and state and federal law, even to the extent of murdering state citizens.

I understand that one objection to my proposal will be the claim that the President will use the state’s resistance as a justification for invoking the Insurrection Act. If so, so be it. The use of ICE to deprive U.S. citizens of their rights cannot be allowed to continue. The President clearly does not believe he is bound by the Constitution. He has explicitly said so. Given the conduct of ICE in Minneapolis, it is time, indeed past time, to call the question and find out whether we will continue to have a democratic government or whether Trump and his Republican cronies will not run the country as the dictatorship he has promised.

 

Government Sanctioned Murder in Minneapolis

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I have written on a couple of other occasions about government use of deadly force against citizens. See, e.g., Kenosha – The Shooting of Jacob Blake https://shiningseausa.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1652&action=edit and When Do We Take a Stand? – Injustice in Georgia https://shiningseausa.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1517&action=edit

The specific situation in Minneapolis lacks the racial component of the other cases I have addressed but is no less troubling. Many words, including grotesque lies by the President and the head of Homeland Security, have already been devoted to trying to justify his actions as “self-defense.” I have looked at most, if not all, the videos of the events leading up to and the actual shooting, so I will not repeat the arguments on either side of those.

I am disturbed by aspects of the situation that have received little or no attention in the media or the hysterics about the “threat” to the ICE agent. Ultimately, despite the government’s efforts to tilt the story in favor of their agent, the truth will almost certainly come out. Sadly, getting there will exact a further emotional and financial price from the people who should not have to pay more than they already have.

My perspective:

I have no idea what was in the mind of Renee Good and her wife when Good parked her car across the path of travel on the street in Minneapolis. Some accounts indicate they were “heckling” the ICE agents. Others emphasize that Good was waiving other vehicles to pass by and that there was ample room to do so. ICE agent Ross’s own video, curiously using his personal cell phone, indicates Good was not engaged in a threatening move against ICE or trying to impede whatever work they were performing there.

That was true at least until ICE agents approached her vehicle and screamed at her: “get out of the f*cking car!” At that point it is reasonable to suppose that Good’s relatively relaxed demeanor would have changed. She would, reasonably, have felt threatened by the masked, armed men trying to force their way into her car. She may or may not have noticed that the ICE officer filming her while circling her car had arrived in front of the vehicle. Her wife was yelling for her to “drive, drive.” She reversed briefly, then turned the wheel to the right to enter the proper direction of travel on the one-way street.

Whether ICE agent Ross’s presence in front of her registered in Good’s mind will never be known.  But what can be known is whether attempting to drive away after suddenly being told in an angry and threatening voice, “get out of the f*cking car!” (while another masked/armed agent tried to force his way into her car) constituted a crime punishable by death. I have seen some attempts to make that case, but they all fail miserably on both the facts and the law.

It is entirely reasonable to believe that the sudden change in circumstances led to a degree of panic. Ms. Good’s worse crimes were, (1) failure to obey an ICE agent’s order to open her door and step out of the car, an order delivered in an angry and threatening tone; she likely had seen what has happened to many other people who obeyed angry orders to “get out of the f*cking car; and (2) attempting to escape a lawful arrest (although no ICE agent ever said “you are under arrest” and based on events leading up to that moment, her self-assessment of the situation could well have been, “they’re just after me for blocking traffic; I’ll just leave”).

So, she tries to drive away. Agent Ross has positioned himself off her left front and has, apparently anticipating that she is not going to get out of the car, switches his cell phone to his left hand and draws his Glock 9 mm pistol, firing three shots, one through the front window and two through the still-open driver side window. At the range involved, Ross can only intend and expect that his firing will result in mortal wounds to Renee Good.

A physician offers to provide aid to her and is rejected in favor of ICE medics who don’t arrive for several more critical minutes. Would the immediate medical help have saved her? We will never know.

And what of ICE agent Ross? Was he struck by Good’s car? Opinions differ. My assessment is that he managed to avoid meaningful contact with Good’s left front fender. The government says otherwise. It claims Ross, despite his being heavily protected by vests and other items, suffered internal bleeding requiring medical treatment in a hospital, though no corroborating records have been released.

What I know is this: in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Ross was filmed walking briskly and unaided, and in no apparent distress, up the street. Someone off camera apparently said or shouted something at him, and he waived them off with his right hand, then adjusted his mask as he continued up the street. The video has apparently been taken down.

Given the government’s rush to vindicate Ross and make him the victim in this situation, the video of his walk back from Good’s car suggests, though it does not prove, that the government’s claim that he shot Good in self-defense is a false claim. His demeanor walking away from Good’s car is that of someone fully satisfied with himself and his conduct.

Obviously, much process and evidence is yet to be developed before final conclusions can be drawn. One thing seems clear, though: the manner in which ICE officers conduct themselves is almost certain to lead to more unnecessary deaths. I believe that what happened to Renee Good in Minneapolis was unnecessary and entirely avoidable if the ICE agents on the scene had behaved responsibly. The last update to the use of force policy at DHS/ICE was promulgated in 2023 and as best I can tell, it still governs the use of force by ICE officers. If so, Officer Ross violated that policy in multiple ways that led to the unnecessary death of Renee Good. Right now, her killing surely looks like murder.

 

 

A Legal Primer – It’s Not Complicated

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There has been much coverage of the arrest and immediate deportation of alleged “criminals” and “illegals” by the Trump administration. These actions are apparently part of the Republican plan to “make America white,” although in recent days Trump has pulled back the aggression as to certain workers. Why? Because he has realized that his shoot-first-think-later approach to domination may be offending some of his supporters whose businesses depend on immigrant labor. But from day-to-day Trump’s erratic approach to governance, largely made up on the fly, can change radically.

This primer is not, however, about our national immigration policy. It is instead about elementary constitutional and legal processes that are an essential part of our legal system. These principles apply to immigrants as well as citizens, and one day they might apply to you, as when Trump’s masked and armed men who refuse of identify themselves pull your car over or visit you at home or work.

First, the Constitution itself.

Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Fifth Amendment:

….  nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Sixth Amendment:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. 

To keep this manageable, we’re going to focus on the text that I have bolded. But first we must include the function of magistrates. Virginia law is typical:

A principal function of a magistrate is to provide an independent, unbiased review of complaints of criminal conduct brought by law enforcement …. Magistrate duties include issuing various types of processes such as arrest warrants, summonses, search warrants, emergency protective orders, emergency custody orders, and certain civil warrants. Magistrates also conduct bail hearings in instances in which an individual is arrested to determine under what conditions the arrestee should be released from custody prior to trial.

Finally, there is the Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona (1966) that applied the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the arrest phase of a criminal case. The Court held that any person in custody must, before being interrogated, be informed of the right to remain silent and the right to assistance of an attorney.

One other thing –no evidence has been produced that the armed masked men working for ICE and conducting what amount to kidnappings for the government have any meaningful training in the legal principles that govern what they are doing.

Now, the facts: let’s say you’re in a park with your two young children. An unmarked van pulls up and several masked men jump out. They are heavily armed. They tell you that you are under arrest for violating you immigration status, and that you must come with them. Or maybe they don’t tell you anything except to get the van, NOW!

You protest that you are an American citizen. You demand they explain the basis for the charges and that they identify themselves. They refuse. You are then handcuffed and forced into the van. You protest that your children are with you and have no one to care for them because your spouse is away on business. The men ignore you.

The next thing you know, you are on an airplane headed to an unknown destination but that soon becomes clear is not in the United States.

In my hypothetical case, you are in fact an American citizen and the men are wrong about who you are. They have been misinformed by someone in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Your rights have been violated in multiple ways. No warrant for your arrest has been issued, you are not given your Miranda warnings, and you are not taken before a magistrate who determines whether your arrest is proper. You are given no opportunity to consult counsel who can present your defense that you are a U.S. citizen and not subject to deportation. Your right to a trial has been ignored. And you have been prevented from caring for your children who have been left in the hands of, hopefully, kind strangers.

This scenario has happened many times under the Trump administration’s “deport the criminal immigrants” policy. It is not complicated. The Constitution’s due process requirements refer to “persons,” not to “citizens.” It means what it says.

The reasons for the various “rules” and “principles” are straightforward and obvious when you think about it. The legal process, while slow, is designed to prevent mistakes. It is designed to assure that every person accused of a crime has a fair chance to understand the charges, to seek professional help, and to avoid mistakes that could impose criminal penalties on the wrong person. While Trump has complained by providing due process may require thousands of trials, that does not negate the rights of individuals to the protections of the Constitution.

The Trump administration’s unleashing of masked men who refuse to identify themselves and whose approach creates strong possibilities for mistaken arrests, and which imposes extreme penalties (removal to other states or, worse, deportation to foreign countries) with no opportunity to consult counsel, or to understand the charges, is certain to deny constitutional protections to the accused.

The idea that persons in the United States may be removed from the street or their home or a job, without notice, by unidentified armed men, transferred to other states and then removed from the country to a foreign prison without any opportunity to consult counsel, without any opportunity to protect family members including small children dependent on them, is unconstitutional, unlawful, and un-American. It is almost certainly a human rights violation and is unacceptable in the U.S. system of law.

And under the Trump administration it is happening every day.

Has the Police State Arrived?

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Most everyone who has seen a World War II movie made before, say, 1980 (guessing) is familiar with the cliché-like scene in which a Nazi soldier demands, “show me your papers” or some variation. In the worst cases the soldier simply puts out his hand in a gesture well-understood that presentation of identification documents was demanded and not optional. That was the portrayal of Germany and conquered countries under the Nazis.

WWII ended in 1945. Now, 63 years later, we have arrived at a similar place. The video here ( https://bit.ly/2JUUFZZ) reported in HuffPost here (https://bit.ly/2t61NJh) shows an armed immigration officer asking passengers boarding a Concord Coach Lines bus whether they are U.S. citizens, followed by a Concord employee confirming (erroneously, per Concord’s tweet at https://bit.ly/2M0PtkK & Facebook post at https://bit.ly/2HWPVxG) that one must be a U.S. citizen to ride the bus. Concord Coach is an interstate passenger bus company.

What is going on here? Bangor is 130 miles from the nearest point in Canada. https://bit.ly/2JXI70o Fortunately, passengers in the video refused to answer, and no one was arrested. We can sympathize with the bus driver, who seemed to have been caught off guard by the patrolling Immigration & Customs Enforcement  officer looking over the boarding passengers. But, as the ACLU points out in the narrative with the video, this ICE interrogation practice is unacceptable.

It has no known demarcation. We are accustomed to answering questions about identity before boarding airplanes in what is a largely routine and orderly, if irritating, process. That process is in place because of the extraordinary threat posed by aircraft in the wrong hands.

Is the government now going to start hunting for aliens in our midst at bus stations and Amtrak stations? Car rental locations? How about bike rental kiosks? Subways? Local bus stops in Arkansas? Are we approaching the point at which the Trump-led government is going to require national identification papers on your person at all times and subject to inspection at any time by ICE or other officers? See https://bit.ly/2FmlvnY for some relevant history here and elsewhere if you think this is hysterical overstatement.

There is no plausible rationale for such government intrusion. No real-world demonstrable threat from illegal immigrants exists to justify this police-state tactic. Lengthy and thorough analyses of available data, which admittedly is not perfect (a problem that cuts both ways and so is really irrelevant), shows that the Trumpian claim that illegal immigrants bring crime to the United States is not supportable. https://wapo.st/2JUM4mT; https://nyti.ms/2GImBPa.

Of course, facts and truth have never had much sway in Trump’s world and his fan base accepts whatever he says simply because he says it. Nevertheless, it is vital to our democracy that we not allow false claims based on safety/security to undermine our basic freedoms. Trump and his advisors would do well to re-read the opening sections of the Declaration of Independence. So should everyone else. See https://bit.ly/2ldSeUj and the other materials cited there. Trump’s attempt to re-introduce Nazi-style measures to America will not be accepted quietly.