Federal action in the streets of Minneapolis goes well beyond immigration. It is a test of the government’s power to use armed violence against its own citizens. It is a dividing line between liberty and tyranny. It may not be the last.
President Trump has not given up his power to impose a paramilitary force on unwilling states. He and his officials have told agents that they enjoy “absolute immunity” even though they do not. Judges are complaining that they have defied court orders. While ICE has a reason to be in American cities, seeking the worst of the worst of illegal immigrants, that is not what they are doing. Only 5% of those detained have been people convicted of violent crimes. The immigrant crime rate is actually less than for native-born Americans.
In the past six weeks federal officers have: killed Renee Good, a white middle-class mother, and Alex Pretti, a white ICU nurse with no criminal record; detained numerous U.S. citizens based solely on the color of their skin; swept an airport demanding to see peoples’ papers; detained a 5-year-old; and tried to enter the Ecuadorian Consulate in Minneapolis in violation of diplomatic immunity, among other transgressions.
This could happen to you.
Accountability for government officers shouldn’t be a political or ideological issue. We may have varying views on which rights are protected by the Constitution and still believe that whatever rights are involved there needs to be a meaningful way to enforce them. Otherwise, having those rights means little.
If they had any courage our congressional leaders could set boundaries to ensure federal agents who harm people will be subject to independent investigations; would require that they do not wear masks, wear body cameras and have some form of displayed identification on them; forbid them to break down doors with only administrative, not judicial, warrants; and ban “Kavanaugh stops,” named for the Supreme Court justice in an opinion concurrence, which permit agents to demand proof of citizenship and other identifying documents based solely on their color or perceived ethnicity.
When the head of the FBI says people cannot bring a gun to a protest he is denying them their Second Amendment rights (he seems to have forgotten that over 250 armed people were involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection). If ICE is arresting people without cause or entering houses without a court warrant they are denying their Fourth Amendment rights.
There are bills already pending in Congress to fix the accountability gap. We need to ask our representatives in both houses to support Senate Bill 3470, the Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act, a very short piece of legislation that essentially establishes government liability in civil actions for the deprivation of citizens’ constitutional rights. To quote the Act, if an officer violates our rights “the public employer of that officer shall be liable to the party injured for the conduct of the officer … regardless of whether the officer has any defense or immunity from suit or liability.”
This will make clear that states and those injured can prosecute federal agents that commit crimes; that ICE’s view of the Constitution is wrong; and that the federal government cannot ride roughshod over the states. Withholding funding for ICE and passing this bill would be a good step in that direction, and will hopefully result in badly needed reform.
Andrew T. Morehead is a Greeley resident and a former Foreign Service officer.
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