belated thread on ICE

[zn]

This is from a blog post and spontaneous editorial off of Facebook but so far investigative reports are lining right up with the facts the blogger provides here.

Everything after this is from the blog in question:

***
Alex Jeffrey Pretti was a 37-year-old nurse, a caretaker of veterans, a man whose colleagues said he was “quick with a joke” and whose “default look was a smile.” He spent his career in the ICU at the Minneapolis VA, holding the hands of dying soldiers, easing their pain, saving lives when he could. “He was a super nice, super helpful guy,” his colleague said, describing Alex as an “outstanding” nurse. His father described a son who “cared about people deeply and he was very upset with what was happening in Minneapolis.”
This morning, Alex went to help a woman who had been pepper sprayed in the face by a Border Patrol agent. When the agent violently shoved another woman, who had dared to blow a whistle from several feet away, Alex moved to place his body between the women and the agent.
The agent immediately pepper sprayed Alex directly in the face. At that moment, both of Alex’s hands were clearly visible — one holding his phone, the other raised to shield his face. The same agent then grabbed Alex, who was clearly disoriented from the pepper spray and likely blinded, by the back and dragged him into the street.
Seven agents then swarmed Alex, pinning him to the frozen pavement and beating him as he struggled. Eight seconds after he was pinned, an agent yelled that he had a gun — a gun he was legally carrying and had never attempted to draw. One agent pulled the weapon from Alex’s body while others held him down.
With Alex restrained and his arms pinned, another agent aimed at his back and fired. A second agent drew his weapon and fired too. At least ten shots in five seconds. They kept firing even after Alex lay motionless in the street.
All of this was captured on multiple eyewitness videos.
This was not law enforcement. This was an execution of a man in the street by federal agents.
And worse, this is not an isolated incident. This is a pattern of state-sanctioned murder.
What happened to Alex this morning follows an almost identical script to what happened to Renee Good seventeen days ago on another Minneapolis street.
In both cases, federal agents initiated confrontations with people who posed no threat whatsoever. Renee was sitting in her car. Alex was holding a phone. Neither was obstructing anything. Neither was violent. And in both cases, agents chose aggression and escalation as their first response — a fundamental betrayal of the de-escalation principles that separate law enforcement from state-sanctioned thugs.
In both cases, agents deployed lethal force in situations where it was nowhere near justified. Renee was shot three times through her car window as she tried to drive away — one bullet tearing through her head from temple to temple. Alex was shot ten times in the street while pinned down by half a dozen federal agents.
And in both cases, before the victims’ blood had dried, the Trump administration’s propaganda machine roared to life with an identical playbook: smear the dead, lionize the killers, bury the truth.
After Renee’s killing, Trump called her a “professional agitator.” Noem branded her a “domestic terrorist.” Vance called her death “a tragedy of her own making” and declared that the agent who killed her “deserves a debt of gratitude.”
Today, within hours of Alex’s killing, Stephen Miller was already calling him a “domestic terrorist” who “tried to assassinate federal law enforcement.” Trump himself declared the agents who killed Alex “patriots” — the same word he used for the January 6th insurrectionists he pardoned on his first day back in office — while accusing Governor Walz and Mayor Frey of “inciting insurrection” for daring to criticize the killing.
A nurse who spent his career saving lives. A man whose father said he was bearing witness because he “cared about people deeply.” An American citizen who went to help two women in distress by shielding them with his own body. Now, according to the Trump administration, a terrorist who deserved what he got — and the men who shot him in the back are heroes.
Noem absurdly claimed that “These agents took actions to defend their lives.”
Shooting a man who was pinned under a pile of agents — to defend their lives.
The lies are breathtaking in their audacity. They think Americans are too stupid to believe their own eyes over their blatant lies.
The Department of Homeland Security claims Alex “approached Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun” with intent to “do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
Video analyzed frame-by-frame by the New York Times tells a completely different story: “Footage of the encounter shows the man was holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, when federal agents took him to the ground and shot him.”
Alex was a lawful gun owner with a valid permit to carry, as is his right under Minnesota law and the Second Amendment that this administration claims to revere. Every piece of video evidence shows he never touched his weapon. He was holding a cell phone when agents attacked him.
Being in lawful possession of a firearm is not cause for a federal agent to assault you. It is not cause for a federal agent to pepper-spray you. It is not cause for a federal agent to pin you to the frozen ground, beat you, and pump ten bullets into your body while you lie motionless.
And now comes the final, most damning stage of the pattern: the cover-up.
Today, when the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension attempted to access the crime scene at the request of Minneapolis police, federal agents physically blocked them. State investigators — the people whose job it is to determine what happened — were prevented from doing their work.
This is exactly what happened after Renee’s killing. The FBI initially agreed to a joint investigation with state authorities. Then, within hours, they reversed course — seizing sole control of all evidence, all witness interviews, all case materials. Minnesota was frozen out entirely.
When an FBI agent tried to pursue a civil rights investigation into the shooting, she was pressured to drop it and reclassify the case as an investigation into assault on the officer. She resigned on Friday rather than comply.
Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota have now resigned in protest. The DOJ has declared there is “no basis” for a civil rights investigation into Renee’s death — even as they push to investigate her grieving widow.
The pattern is undeniable. Agents escalate. Agents kill. The administration lies. Then they bury the evidence, protect the killers, and investigate the victims.
And they’ve made clear this is all by design.
After Renee’s death, Vance declared her killer “protected by absolute immunity” — just doing his job.
Stephen Miller delivered an even more chilling message directly to ICE agents, which DHS amplified on its official channels: “To all ICE officers: You have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties, and anybody who lays a hand on you, or tries to stop you, or tries to obstruct you, is committing a felony. You have immunity to perform your duties and no one — no city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist — can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duties.”
There is no such thing as “federal immunity” to kill American citizens. Every legal expert who has weighed in has said the same thing: this is a lie. But legal accuracy isn’t the point.
The point is the message to agents on the ground: You are above the law. No one can touch you. Do what you want.
And so they have. These agents are now completely unleashed. No amount of violence is enough for this administration to stop. To investigate. To hold anyone accountable.
As Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said: “ICE is a brutal invading force that acts without accountability or the most basic respect for human dignity or life. These agents of violence need to be brought to justice.”
Two American citizens are now dead at the hands of federal agents on Minneapolis streets. The administration’s response? Call them terrorists. Block investigations. Dare anyone to do something about it.
This cannot stand.
The occupation of an American city by over 3,000 heavily armed, poorly trained, poorly vetted, out-of-control paramilitaries cannot stand.
Executing Americans in the street cannot stand.
Defaming the dead cannot stand.
Obstructing justice cannot stand.

[zn]

[Zooey]

My wife told me all about this today, gave me a blow-by-blow account of the event in her tone of indignation, and when I uttered not a peep after her 5-minute vent, she yelled at me and stormed out of the room, proclaiming my uselessness as a husband.

I got nothing.

Anything I can say sounds trite, or a declamation of what I’ve already said a thousand times.

This is what’s happening. There is a straight line from Reagan’s election to this moment. The roots go back further, if you really want to pursue it historically, but Reagan’s election gave direction and momentum to this.

The vehement right wingers with their FREEDOM cries and bumper stickers, their allegiance to guns so they can face tyranny, their equivalency of the Constitution with the Holy Bible, are all cheering on the point blank execution of American citizens.

And the Powers That Be knew this would work. They knew they could do this, bit by bit. Incrementally. And they know that the next step is even bigger. Multiple people killed. The Boston Massacre. It won’t matter. They CAN do it, and they WILL do it. They have even said so out loud, on record, knowing that confessing to their crimes won’t matter.

[Eternal Ramnation]

I live in Hennepin County. Little ER is now a 32 year old 6 year Army vet who spent last week protesting ICE in Minneapolis and at Whipple and the Capitol in St.Paul. I don’t have to go more than a block or two to find them. They shut down my favorite Mexican restaurant(pre diabetes diagnosis) they ganged up on a little girl having a seizure and repeatedly kneed her in the head. They’ve been to the assisted living facility my brown skinned naturalized Asian wife works at. They hunt the immigrants kids parents at all the schools. They threatened to put a bullet in a little girl’s skull if she didn’t shut up, she was worried about her mother being harassed. I am really exhausted trying to stave off this feeling of giving them the war they’re begging for even though I know that has been their strategy the whole time

[Zooey]

I’m sorry to hear that, ER.

Hang in there.

[zn]

Eternal Ramnation wrote:

I live in Hennepin County. Little ER is now a 32 year old 6 year Army vet who spent last week protesting ICE in Minneapolis and at Whipple and the Capitol in St.Paul. I don’t have to go more than a block or two to find them. They shut down my favorite Mexican restaurant(pre diabetes diagnosis) they ganged up on a little girl having a seizure and repeatedly kneed her in the head. They’ve been to the assisted living facility my brown skinned naturalized Asian wife works at. They hunt the immigrants kids parents at all the schools. They threatened to put a bullet in a little girl’s skull if she didn’t shut up, she was worried about her mother being harassed. I am really exhausted trying to stave off this feeling of giving them the war they’re begging for even though I know that has been their strategy the whole time

They’re in Maine now too.

[zn]

from https://leftistviewpoints.quora.com/?__ni__=0&__tiids__=208893764&__filter__=all&__nsrc__=notif_page&__sncid__=71071952229&__snid3__=94702491698#anchor

Chris Madel dealt a huge blow to the Republican Party’s hopes of winning the Minnesota governorship by dropping out of the race in a rare show of conscience for a conservative.

Madel recorded a video explaining his decision.

“I love Minnesota. was born and raised here. My immediate family lives here. My extended family lives here. It’s my home… But today I announced the end of my campaign. I have two primary reasons for this decision. Number one, I cannot support the national

Republican state retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so,” said Madel.

“…Operation Metro Surge has expanded far beyond its stated focus on true public safety threats. United States citizens, particularly those of color, live in fear. United States citizens are carrying papers to prove their citizenship. That’s wrong. ICE authorizes agents to raid homes using a civil warrant that need only be signed by a border patrol agent. That’s unconstitutional and it’s wrong. Weaponizing criminal investigations against political opponents is unconstitutional, regardless of who is in power.”

“And I have read about and I have spoken to countless United States citizens who have been detained in Minnesota due to the color of their skin. I personally have spoken to several law enforcement officers, some Hispanic and some Asian who have been pulled over by ICE on pretextual stops. Driving while Hispanic is not a crime. Neither is driving while Asian.”

“At the end of the day, I have to look my daughters in the eye and tell them, I believe I did what was right. And I am doing that today. Now, the second reason I’m ending my campaign is that I am above all else a pragmatist. And the reality is, is that the national Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota. It is a simple fact.”

[Zooey]

This right here is a helluva article. The kind of article that would elicit LOL from its audience, if its audience wasn’t American.

The complex far-left network that helped put Alex Pretti in harm’s way — including encrypted chats, street alerts
By Asra Q. Nomani, Fox News
Published Jan. 26, 2026, 10:38 a.m. ET

The skirmish that led to Saturday’s fatal shooting of an agitator by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis and the response that followed were driven by a complex network of far-left organizations with a wide range of causes, a Fox News Digital investigation found.

A coordinated web of encrypted chats, street alerts and tracking of ICE “Abductors” in a sophisticated database reviewed by Fox News Digital shows that agitators were already mobilized at the scene where 37-year-old Alex Pretti was killed minutes before any shots were fired.

ICE and Border Patrol agents were there to arrest an illegal immigrant criminal, and Pretti and others were there, outside a donut shop, to meet them as part of a strategic pattern of organized interference with law enforcement operations.

Over the following hours, a national network of socialist, communist and Marxist-Leninist cells in the United States leveraged the tragic fatality into a nationwide protest operation. While grief and outrage over Pretti’s death is genuine, the network’s real-time rapid response, using short sensational video clips and emojis as weapons of propaganda, offers a window into the disciplined logistics, messaging and coordination of far-left warriors fomenting insurgency-like confrontation with authorities.

“This level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis. It is the direct consequence of far left agitators, working with local authorities,” Vice President JD Vance observed in a Sunday post on X.

The encrypted Signal messages obtained by Fox News Digital in real time show that anti-ICE “rapid responders” were actively tracking, broadcasting and summoning “backup” around federal agents outside Glam Doll Donuts on Nicollet Avenue, where the shooting happened. Local “rapid responders” made at least 26 entries into a database called “MN ICE Plates” in the critical hours before and after the killing, documenting the license plate numbers and details of alleged ICE vehicles they claimed to see around Nicollet Avenue.

The entry at row 344 read, “At the nicollet [sic] murder,” chronicling a black Jeep Wagoneer at the location with agents allegedly “involved in shooting.” Row 338 had a “Glam Doll Donuts” entry, tracking a black Ford Taurus.

At 9:50 a.m. ET, just before the killing, a user identified as “Willow” shared a 22-second video on an encrypted Signal chat for anti-ICE “rapid responders.”

“26and 3rd,” wrote “Willow,” quickly following up with, “Outside Glam Doll.”

The video showed two agents, one wearing a vest marked “POLICE,” studying the front door of Glam Doll before walking away, past a sign in the window that read, “ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA.”

As the camera rolled, the person filming yelled, “No!”

The camera followed the agents as they returned to a maroon Dodge Durango, passing another sign in the window that read, “ALL WELCOME HERE.”

In the video, someone shouted, “Get out of here!”

Just three minutes later, at 9:53 a.m. ET, a second Signal user, “Salacious B. Crumb,” escalated the alert, summoning additional responders and citing the same vehicle and agents.

“Backup needed at the Black Forest Inn parking lot on Nicollet Ave just south of 26th Street,” the message read.

“Multiple vehicles with many agents appear to be staging there,” the alert continued. “One confirmed ICE vehicle seen was a maroon Dodge Durango [plate number], but it has driven away northbound on Nicollet.” Fox News Digital has redacted the Florida license plate number included in the original message.

ICE Assistant Director Marcos Charles said Sunday that the violence on the streets was “not a coincidence,” considering the “chaos and mayhem” that agitators are fomenting in Minneapolis. At the same press conference, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino confirmed that Pretti was “on the scene several minutes” before the fatal shooting.

Video of the scene shows that as Pretti stepped into the middle of Nicollet Avenue to direct traffic, fellow agitators could be heard blowing whistles to alert locals that ICE officers were around. Soon after, Pretti ended up in a street confrontation with CBP agents, across the street from Glam Doll Donuts outside a worn storefront marked “NEW AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT CENTER,” a nonprofit focused on immigration entry programs for Somalis.

Within minutes, at about 10:05 a.m. ET, at least one CBP agent shot Pretti, killing him.

At 10:18 a.m. ET, the Signal network erupted.

Using a red phone emoji to signal an all-points alert, a message blasted out: “☎️ easy. URGENT: observers urgently requested at glam doll donuts @ 26th & nicollet [sic],” the alert continued. “an observer has been shot by ice, unknown condition, emts [emergency medical technicians] present, please be safe. EDIT: medics requested to join perimeter in case agents start gassing. be aware there are many agents and mpd [Minneapolis Police Department] officers present.”

Within minutes, far-left activists descended on Nicollet Avenue. Soon after, a video showed corrugated boxes of supplies apparently lined up on a Minneapolis sidewalk for protesters, including boxes marked “DESINER MASKS” [sic] and “FREE WINTER HATS,” next to piles of bottled water.

Within hours, socialist leaders turbocharged their “rapid responders” in Minneapolis and mobilized street protesters from New York City to Los Angeles.

Media outlets, including CNN and MSNOW, described “angry protesters” but failed to identify the ideological networks behind the mobilization, even as protesters flashed their signs with their logos and names, touting socialism, communism and Marxism, on camera.

The Minneapolis activation marked the beginning of an almost instantaneous weekend surge by far-left organizations, including hardened socialist and communist groups operating in an ecosystem that national security experts describe as an insurgent-style operation designed to exploit tragedy to wage a domestic political war.

The strategy mirrors past mobilizations, including the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing in May 2020, and exploits well-intentioned public sympathy by rapidly framing Pretti — an intensive care unit nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital — as a symbol of resistance, much like Renee Good, the first victim of an ICE shooting in Minneapolis.

Just as they responded in real-time to mobilize “comrades” to march on the streets within 12 hours of the U.S. arrest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in early January, socialist, communist and Marxist-Leninist groups now frame their activation as an action within the “belly of the beast” against the “hyperimperialism” of the United States.

Based on a digital analysis of scores of rapid-response messages following the killing on Saturday, a hub of communist and socialist nonprofit organizations emerged as key organizers of the protests. Many of them are funded by American-born billionaire Neville Roy Singham, a self-declared Marxist-Leninist living in Shanghai. Some are also offshoots of the People’s Forum Inc., a nonprofit hub Singham has funded in New York City since 2017 as an “incubator” for socialist and communist groups. The People’s Forum declined requests for comment.

At 10:48 a.m. ET, BreakThrough News, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and propaganda arm of the People’s Forum, broke the news widely of the killing, sharing a video recorded from inside the Glam Doll Donut shot of the tussle outside, punctuated by gunshots and frantic narration, “Holy s–t. What the f—!…Did they f—ing kill that guy? F—ing kidding me, dude.”

BreakThrough News put a dramatic black-and-white caption over the video: “BREAKING: Another CBP Shooting in Minneapolis.” By Sunday afternoon, the video had 4.1 million views, alongside the outlet’s calls to support the People’s Republic of China, Venezuela’s Maduro and the communist revolution in Cuba.

Before the video cuts off, someone can be heard saying, “Yo, we need people on site!”

At 11:40 a.m., BreakThrough News broadcast a 39-second video purporting to show state police charging across a street with batons, some falling as clouds of breath rose in the cold air.

Soon after, at 12:24 p.m., the Party for Socialism and Liberation – a political wing of the movement, working with shared leadership at the People’s Forum – published a quickly-made graphic, “CBP MURDERS ANOTHER IN MINNEAPOLIS,” and the message, “EXPAND THE GENERAL STRIKE!”

At the protest, Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian political operative who has led virulently anti-Israel protests with socialist organizations after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel by Hamas terrorists, rallied the crowd at the 4 p.m. protest, yelling, “We will bring this country to a halt!” The People’s Forum shared the 22-second video clip with the caption: “🚨HAPPENING NOW IN NYC.”

Other groups mobilized simultaneously, including Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a self-described Marxist-Leninist group that has waved its red flag with its acronym, “FRSO,” in the middle of the protests since Good’s killing.

Also active: the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, which has led many of the rapid-response efforts and Black Lives Matter chapters, which led the recent stampede through a local Christian church.

See Also

Barack Obama issues rare political statement condemning DHS over Alex Pretti shooting — as Dems rally against Trump admin
By early evening, the narrative had coalesced into a chorus of voices within the far-left propaganda apparatus, adopting charged historical language to brand federal officials as Nazi-like figures. At 4:12 p.m. ET, Calla Walsh, a controversial communist activist filmed this past summer in Iran shouting, “Death to America! Death to Israel!” shared a 32-second video showing barricades built with Republic Services dumpsters.

She wrote, “People of Minneapolis build barricades, trapping ICE Gestapo at the scene of their latest murder in broad daylight. Not far from where they killed Renee Good a couple weeks ago, not far from where George Floyd was killed in 2020.”

By evening, CNN was reporting from the 4 p.m. protest in New York City but did not identify the ideological affiliations of the organizers, even as activists openly carried signs from the Party for Socialism and Liberation, with the group’s full name printed across the bottom.

Another CNN segment from Minneapolis interviewed Chris Gray, describing him only as Pretti’s “next-door neighbor.” Gray spoke about Pretti while delivering a well-scripted appeal for a general strike to dismantle the “Trump regime” and promote “non-violent resistance.” The segment did not disclose that Gray is a member of Socialist Alternative, the U.S. affiliate of the International Socialist Alternative, a “global fighting organization of workers, young people, and all those oppressed by capitalism and imperialism,” seeking to create a “socialist world.”

Soon after, however, Socialist Alternative shared the interview proudly on Instagram, noting, “Chris Gray, Socialist Alternative member and next-door neighbor of Alex Pretti, speaks out.”

By evening’s end, at 9:44 p.m. ET, Gloria La Riva, a co-founder of the Party for Socialism and Liberation who has described herself as “a communist,” posted a message on X, using the inflammatory language now normalized: “Alex Pretti was murdered in cold blood, everyone knows that. 10 shots in his back. All of Trump’s, Noem’s, Bovino’s lies cannot cover it up. The people’s struggle will only grow!”

The maroon Dodge Durango in the early Signal alerts from Saturday morning is Entry No. 2069 in the publicly shared database, “MN ICE PLATES.” It included a gallery of photos of alleged ICE vehicles.

At last count on Sunday, the database had 4,626 records of license plate numbers organized as “Highly Suspected ICE,” “Confirmed ICE,” “Suspected ICE,” “Cleared – Not ICE” and “Unknown.”

The total number of “Confirmed ICE” entries is 2,933 records. The total number of records labeled “Abductors” is 455.

A fine-print disclaimer states that the data is “for informational purposes only” and that its organizers “do not condone its use to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede or interfere with the official duties of any officer or employee of the United States, or of any agency in any branch of the United States Government, while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties.”

One guide, “Best Practices Guide for Neighborhood or Area Patrol / Monitors: 612,” includes a key to emojis and the jobs they represent for rapid responders:

The maroon Dodge Durango that was allegedly outside Glam Doll Donuts on Nicollet Avenue is listed with three prior sightings: Jan. 11 at 3 p.m. at the Whipple federal detention facility, Jan. 13 at 1:15 p.m. and a final sighting at Powderhorn Park parking lot on 35th Street and 14th Avenue.

It’s listed with the tags, “Seen in a convoy, Tinted/blacked-out windows, ICE agent(s) seen in vehicle,” and a final verdict: “Confirmed ICE.”

As socialist organizations continued to dispatch their foot soldiers to Nicollet Avenue on Sunday evening, the Signal groups were as active as ever on Sunday, an alert going out at 4:37 p.m. ET, with rapid responders now chasing a black Dodge Durango around town.

“2 confirmed ICE vehicles,” the alert read, “…at least 2 agents in each vehicle.”

[Zooey]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6388382723112?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=user%2FFoxBusiness

Holy shit, this is what they’re running with.

[zn]

Me note: Good’s shooter was a veteran US Border Agent before joining ICE. Pretti’s shooters were USBAs, not ICE.

***

from The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/us-border-agents-intentionally-stepped-front-moving-vehicles-justify-shooting-them/

February 28, 2014

US Border Agents Intentionally Stepped in Front of Moving Vehicles to Justify Shooting at Them
An internal review of the US Border Patrol raises serious questions about the agency’s use-of-force policy.

Steven Hsieh

The Los Angeles Times obtained an internal review of US Border Patrol’s use-of-force policies, which US Customs and Border Protection has refused to release publicly (members of Congress have seen a summary). While the Times did not offer the report in full, the paper did publish previously unseen snippets that portray a law enforcement agency operating under loose use-of-force standards and little accountability.

The review was completed in February 2013 by the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit that develops best practices for law enforcement use-of-force policies. It examined sixty-seven use-of-force incidents by federal border agents near the US-Mexico border that resulted in nineteen deaths.

Here are some key findings of the review, revealed by the Times Thursday:

Border Patrol agents have intentionally and unnecessarily stepped in front of moving cars to justify using deadly force against vehicle occupants.

Agents have shot in frustration across the US-Mexico border at rock throwers when simply moving away was an option.

Border Patrol demonstrates a “lack of diligence” in investigating incidents in which US agents fire their weapons.

It’s questionable whether Border Patrol “consistently and thoroughly reviews” incidents in which agents use deadly force.

…

[zn]

MeidasTouch * ooSsednptra1f3hllmal4m12flh9um
Bruce Springsteen’s song “Streets of Minneapolis” is currently #1 on iTunes in 19 countries

[zn]

zn wrote:

They’re in Maine now too.

posted on Facebook: https://www.mainebar.org/news/718771/Governors-Issue-Statement-Re-Rule-of-Law-Amid-ICE-Activities-in-Maine.htm?fbclid=IwY2xjawPqA4NleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFHR3RKNXVZQ05aVzVhRk5Tc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHpi0J8qfXUbEhVblwDdSKuAIAOAf8mFTbZBRGKRqnmelMgWtSbKAszgFCk3T_aem_naDCS-mFSd0LLfUq4l-hJA

MSBA Governors Issue Statement Regarding Rule of Law Amid ICE Activities in Maine

The Maine State Bar Association promotes the honor, dignity and professionalism of lawyers, advances the knowledge, skills and interests of its members, and supports the public interest in a fair and effective system of justice.

The Maine State Bar Association (MSBA) is a non-partisan organization dedicated to upholding the United States Constitution, the rule of law, judicial independence, and the fair and equal administration of justice. Acting consistently with its mission, the MSBA issues this statement to condemn recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Maine that appears to violate fundamental constitutional principles.

Our concerns about ICE’s conduct include:

Warrantless entry into private homes, in violation of the Fourth Amendment;

Warrantless arrests and detentions without individualized probable cause or meaningful judicial oversight;

Profound deficiencies in training, supervision, and accountability of ICE agents, resulting in inappropriate escalation, misuse of force, and failure to correctly assess legal authority or constitutional limits;

Racial and ethnic profiling, including the targeting of immigrant communities and individuals who are lawfully present in the United States, including U.S. citizens;

The routine use of masks or other measures to obscure the identities of federal agents, undermining transparency and accountability; and

The use of enforcement “surges” directed at regions perceived to be politically opposed to the current administration, raising concerns about selective, retaliatory, or politically motivated enforcement.

Of particular concern is ICE’s apparent lack of consistent, rigorous training of ICE agents on constitutional requirements, limits on federal immigration authority, and the lawful use of force. Law enforcement officers exercising extraordinary power, particularly the power to enter homes, detain individuals, and use force, must be thoroughly trained to understand and respect constitutional boundaries. Failure to do so predictably results in unlawful conduct, violence, and the erosion of public trust. These outcomes are not aberrations; they are the foreseeable consequences of inadequate preparation and oversight.

Proper training is not enough; agents must still adhere to constitutional limits and the rule of law.

The MSBA acknowledges that immigration law is complex and that some individuals are present in the United States without lawful documentation. Some individuals, regardless of immigration status, commit violent crimes and must be held accountable. Lawful and constitutional immigration enforcement with valid warrants, judicial oversight, and trained, accountable agents align with the rule of law.

What the MSBA unequivocally condemns is illegal and unconstitutional conduct carried out in the name of enforcement. No policy objective, immigration-related or otherwise, justifies warrantless home entries, racial profiling, the absence of judicial oversight, the use of excessive force, or the deliberate obscuring of law enforcement identity. These practices are fundamentally incompatible with constitutional principles.

The MSBA recognizes and respects the diversity of views among its members on immigration policy. Reasonable disagreement about policy choices is both expected and healthy in a democratic society. But fidelity to the Constitution, due process, and equal protection under the law is not a matter of politics. It is the foundation of our legal system and the obligation of all who wield government power.

This issue affects our clients, families, and communities. The Maine State Bar Association calls upon all law enforcement agencies operating in Maine to uphold their obligation to defend the constitutional rights of all Mainers. As lawyers, judges, and officers of the court, we have a duty to speak plainly when the rule of law is threatened and to affirm that constitutional limits on government power are not optional, they are essential to liberty, safety, and justice for all.

[zn]

from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10241518531716126&set=a.1081768080380

Federal Judge Patrick Schiltz.
He is Chief Judge for the District of Minnesota.
He was appointed by George W. Bush and confirmed unanimously by the Senate. He clerked by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and is cut from his mold. He is revered as an honorable and consistent staunchly conservative judge.
This week Judge Schiltz stated that I.C.E. has violated 96 court orders across 74 different cases. He said “[t]his list should give pause to anyone – no matter he or her political beliefs – who care about the rule of law.” He went on to stated that I.C.E. has violated more court orders in January than many federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.
In response, a spokeswoman for DHS called Schiltz an “activist judge.” This guy. Little Scalia. No chance.

[zn]

American Sonnet for the New Year

Terrance Hayes

Things got terribly ugly incredibly quickly
Things got ugly embarrassingly quickly
actually Things got ugly unbelievably quickly
honestly Things got ugly seemingly infrequently
initially Things got ugly ironically usually
awfully carefully Things got ugly unsuccessfully
occasionally Things got ugly mostly painstakingly
quietly seemingly Things got ugly beautifully
infrequently Things got ugly sadly especially
frequently unfortunately Things got ugly
increasingly obviously Things got ugly suddenly
embarrassingly forcefully Things got really ugly
regularly truly quickly Things got really incredibly
ugly Things will get less ugly inevitably hopefully

[zn]

The Truth About ICE’s Violent Tendencies
Recently released emails show that after Trump was elected, a dangerous trend arose—and DHS leadership didn’t think it was a problem.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a70397582/ice-violence-email-release/?taid=6995a9cef7b4510001c15d1e&utm_campaign=trueanthemTWESQ&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Avery fine scoop from Politico tells us that the upper echelons of ICE knew that the grunts were getting out of hand long before their wilding spree in Minneapolis.

Top Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials knew as early as March of last year that officers were using dramatically more force against civilians and the targets of their enforcement operations, months before ICE and Border Patrol officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. Internal emails obtained as part of a Freedom of Information Act request from the liberal-leaning watchdog nonprofit American Oversight show that top officials knew the amount of force—be it lethal force or non-lethal efforts to physically restrain or subdue people or neutralize threats—used by ICE officers was rapidly rising after President Donald Trump took office and that incidents were occurring nationwide.
Well, I’m sure that was coincidental.

Caleb Vitello, at the time the official tasked with overseeing field and enforcement operations at ICE, was informed on March 20 that ICE officers had reported 67 incidents where they had used force in the first two months of Trump’s term, according to the emails. In the same time frame in 2024, that number was 17 incidents, representing a nearly four-fold increase.

It must be considered axiomatic by now that the president’s only real gift in politics is recognizing and energizing the worst instincts of everyone he touches, and a MacGyver-esque talent for finding the worst possible use for every institution at his disposal through which the members of his cult can exercise those worst instincts. It is his superpower. Combine an administration filled with the president’s poison with an armed militia operating in the field and what did anyone expect?

Any optimism must be found in the knowledge that someone somewhere within the bureaucracy has retained enough of a conscience to release these emails. One can only hope they did so in the hope of reining in this disastrous and un-American venture beyond decency. In related news, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin is bailing out. She will not be the last.

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ICE officials knew use of force was rising well before Minneapolis shootings
Internal agency emails show a surge in reports of ICE officers using more force going back nearly a year, but DHS leadership did not see it as a concern to be addressed.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/17/ice-officials-use-of-force-00782501

Top Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials knew as early as March of last year that officers were using dramatically more force against civilians and the targets of their enforcement operations, months before ICE and Border Patrol officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

Internal emails obtained as part of a Freedom of Information Act request from the liberal-leaning watchdog nonprofit American Oversight show that top officials knew the amount of force — be it lethal force or non-lethal efforts to physically restrain or subdue people or neutralize threats — used by ICE officers was rapidly rising after President Donald Trump took office and that incidents were occurring nationwide.

Caleb Vitello, at the time the official tasked with overseeing field and enforcement operations at ICE, was informed on March 20 that ICE officers had reported 67 incidents where they had used force in the first two months of Trump’s term, according to the emails. In the same time frame in 2024, that number was 17 incidents, representing a nearly four-fold increase.

Days before, Vitello was informed that the use of force in the first two weeks of March alone had quadrupled compared with the same timeframe the year before, per another email.

The Department of Homeland Security has insisted that officers are complying with the standards set forth in their training and that officers continue to practice “incredible restraint” in using force. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the documents, which were shared first with POLITICO.

The contents of the emails challenge the administration’s assertions and efforts from its backers in the wake of the Minneapolis shootings to downplay incidents involving ICE’s use of excessive force by arguing that such cases were infrequent.

“These are hard issues that we should spend time talking about, because they’re tragic and awful, but also, thankfully, rare,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said at a Thursday oversight hearing about the response to Minneapolis.

The FOIA request also turned up incident reports from operations across the country where officers used force during arrests and apprehensions. They include one March 10 incident where Border Patrol and ICE officers smashed a woman’s car windows as they sought to apprehend two unauthorized immigrants. One of the unauthorized immigrants was tased and then needed to receive medical attention due to vomiting and some scratches. At least one person in the reports from Trump’s first two months in office died as a result of an encounter with immigration officers.

The emails and incident reports show that cases of ICE and Border Patrol using force go beyond isolated instances circulating on social media and surges in major cities such as Minneapolis. They also show that agency leadership has been aware that nationwide, the agency’s officers are using more aggressive tactics as the Trump administration has sought to increase the number of deportations of unauthorized immigrants.

The emails and documents also do not reflect particular urgency on the part of ICE leadership to respond to that trend, either by directing more training or by establishing whether the increase tracks with a general increase in enforcement and deportation operations.

Instead, they show how ICE and DHS officials looked to publicly discuss a different trend — that assaults against officers are also at all-time highs. The March 20 email to Vitello highlights that assaults against ICE officers had more than quadrupled during the same time period that use of force had also increased.

The email indicated that ICE leadership was keen to prosecute those cases, with a unit chief writing to Vitello that a team in a regional office could “package up a summary of the needed elements of the crime, definitions of what constitutes assault, etc with the intent of broadcasting to the workforce in an effort to drive more presentations for prosecution.”

Officials, confronted with questions about ICE’s tactics, have insisted the officers receive adequate training and blamed officials in Democratic-led states and cities for stoking tensions.

As recently as January, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rejected suggestions ICE officers were using excessive force.

“Our ICE agents are following the law and are running their operations according to training,” Noem told reporters on Jan. 15 when asked if there were cases ICE had crossed the line.

Chioma Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement that the documents paint a “deeply troubling picture of the violent methods used by ICE.”

The documents’ release comes as Democrats and some Republicans are looking to secure major changes to ICE tactics and training as part of negotiations to fund DHS and end the partial government shutdown. Lawmakers on the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees last week questioned acting ICE chief Todd Lyons, who replaced Vitello as acting director, over concerns about ICE’s use of force and other tactics nationwide.

“It’s clearly evident that the public trust has been lost,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said at a hearing Thursday. To restore trust in ICE and Border Patrol, they must admit their mistakes, be honest, and forthright with their rules of engagement, and pledge to reform.”

The documents also revealed more details about how ICE agents were told how to navigate another controversial legal question: whether ICE agents need judicial warrants to enter homes. That question has been a sticking point in funding talks between Democrats and the administration.

A slidedeck from July included notes about the administration’s controversial move to allow ICE to enter homes with only an administrative warrant — ones issued by an agency, not a court — in order to apprehend and deport unauthorized immigrants with final orders of removal.

The slides contradicted the guidance of a May memo from Lyons, which said that agents could use I-205 forms — which apply to those with final orders of removal authorizing an immigrant’s deportation from the United States — to enter homes.

But instructor notes that accompanied the slidedeck, completed in July, indicate that instructors were advised to tell participants if specifically asked about I-205 forms that the policy is “under review.” That suggests that the policy was not as iron tight as previously believed.

The administration has said it has the legal basis to enter homes with only administrative warrants. Congressional Democrats have insisted ICE still needs a warrant signed by a judge to enter homes.

About the discrepancy, Chukwu said it “suggests ICE knows its practices are deeply problematic — and is deliberately hiding the ball to avoid public scrutiny.”

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DoJ cases against protesters keep collapsing as officers’ lies are exposed in court
String of embarrassing defeats for prosecutors as experts condemn DoJ effort to cast people as ‘violent perpetrators’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/doj-protesters-federal-agents-cases?fbclid=IwY2xjawQI275leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeAsiAaB4itwWTvUlS8NBaMtwuib-ZsEWRc9OmTSaQT6ZUOcelY6C19KXABGI_aem_qbuax7Gyu8EZMRuO_IFH8A

Department of Justice prosecutors across the US have suffered a string of embarrassing defeats in their aggressive pursuit of criminal cases against people accused of “assaulting” and “impeding” federal officers.

In recent months, the federal government has relentlessly prosecuted protesters, government critics, immigrants and others arrested during immigration operations, often accusing them of physically attacking officers or interfering with their duties.

But many of those cases have recently been dismissed or ended in not guilty verdicts.

In several high-profile cases, the prosecutions fell apart because they relied on statements by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers that had no supporting evidence or in some instances were proven by video footage to be blatantly false.

Criminal defense lawyers said it was unusual for federal prosecutors to pursue a high volume of charges over minor clashes with law enforcement, and that it was extraordinary to see the DoJ lose case after case across jurisdictions.

Still, the costs for defendants, even if ultimately exonerated, have been enormous, with many having their mugshots blasted by the government and some forced to languish in jail or have criminal charges hang over them for weeks and months.

‘Casting victims as perpetrators’

The most recent significant fumble came from Minneapolis prosecutors, who last week dismissed felony assault charges they had filed against two Venezuelan men accused of “violently beating” an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer “with weapons” on 14 January.

In a press release issued after their arrest, the DHS had described the men as “violent criminal illegal aliens”. The department said officers were conducting a targeted traffic stop to detain an undocumented man from Venezuela, and as he “began to resist and violently assault the officer”, two other men came out of a nearby apartment and “attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle”. The officer shot one of them in the leg.

Two of the men were arrested and charged, with a 16 January affidavit providing a vivid account of them attacking an officer identified as ERO 1, referring to ICE’s enforcement and removal operations. But on 12 February, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss both men’s cases, saying: “Newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations in the complaint affidavit.”

The motion, which a judge granted, sought to have the cases dismissed “with prejudice”, meaning the government could not re-file charges.

ICE director Todd Lyons said ICE and the DoJ had opened an investigation into the case after videos revealed “sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements”, marking a rare acknowledgement of possible wrongdoing by DHS officials.

“It is very unusual for the government to move to dismiss its own case with prejudice,” Frederick Goetz, a lawyer for one of the men, said in an interview. He praised the government for launching investigations: “If you make false statements to a federal agent, that is a crime.”

Goetz said there were other similar cases stemming from the DHS’s “Operation Metro Surge” in the Minneapolis-St Paul region: “Anecdotally, you see a pattern: there are unreasonable uses of force by ICE agents and border patrol. You immediately have stories perpetuated to justify that force: ‘The officer was being attacked. This was an ambush.’ All of that spin is to cast the victims as violent perpetrators. Then the story falls apart once you get the facts.”

He said it would be difficult to undo the reputational harm done to his client: “The allegation that he was a violent criminal who attacked a federal officer with a broom – that image and association is going to live for ever on the internet. It traveled all the way to Venezuela. It’s absolutely not who he is.”

Goetz, a federal criminal defense lawyer in Minnesota for nearly 40 years, said the high volume of similar charges tied to Trump’s immigration crackdown had further consequences. It was overwhelming the federal courts in the state, diverting resources from the traditional work of federal prosecutors, such as complex fraud, drug and gang matters: “Public safety has not been served by these rash of cases.”

The case is one of several in Minnesota that has fallen apart. Earlier this year, Minnesota federal prosecutors dropped assault charges against a man, who was accused of ramming his car into agents during an immigration operation. The DoJ presented no witnesses to establish probable cause.

And on Tuesday, a judge dismissed with prejudice federal assault charges filed against a Minneapolis man accused of “tackling” an ICE agent on 15 December. The judge, Donovan Frank, noted the ICE officer was not injured and called the allegations “vague and contradictory”. Federal officers had reviewed multiple videos of the events, and, “None saw a ‘tackle’ or other kind of assault,” Frank said.

Prosecutors sought to have his case dismissed without prejudice, allowing them to later re-charge him. But the judge rejected that request, citing the defendant’s arguments that “future prosecution may be politically motivated” – a claim that, the judge noted, the government had not contested.

In Chicago, of 92 people arrested for assaulting or impeding officers last fall, 74 cases have resulted in no charges; in 13 cases, charges were filed and dismissed; and five charged cases were still pending, a recent investigation by Fox 9, a Minneapolis-based station, showed. As of the end of January, there have been no convictions.

In LA, the federal public defenders have won all six cases filed against ICE protesters that have gone to trial since June, the LA Times recently reported. Fewer than 1% of federal criminal defendants were acquitted across the US in fiscal year 2024, with US prosecutors traditionally having a roughly 90% conviction rate, the paper noted.

Juries have also issued not guilty verdicts for people accused of assaulting ICE or similar charges in Louisville, Kentucky, Seattle and Washington DC.

“That losing streak is really unheard of,” said LA-based defense lawyer Katherine McBroom. She represented Jonathon Redondo-Rosales, an LA protester who spent six months in jail until a federal judge dismissed his case with prejudice last week.

Redondo-Rosales was accused of assaulting an officer with a cloth hat. The judge noted discrepancies in the government’s account and that the alleged victim, an officer identified as ZC, had previously failed to disclose he was convicted of harassment. The DHS said last week the officer was under investigation.

McBroom said it appeared prosecutors were aware their case was weak as they downgraded charges from a felony to a misdemeanor, then repeatedly tried to negotiate pleas with increasingly favorable terms for her client: “The efforts to settle seemed desperate. It seemed like there was a concerted effort to prevent this from going to trial, because, while I can’t get into their heads, I don’t think they were confident in the case. It would take integrity to do the right thing and say we got this wrong. But they didn’t do that.”

After footage was submitted in court clearly demonstrating Redondo-Rosales had not hit the officer in the face with a “closed fist”, as the officer initially claimed, McBroom said she was shocked prosecutors continued to pursue a plea that would land her client a conviction: “We’re both looking at the video. How on earth are we interpreting it so differently?”

Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles, did not respond to questions about the specific cases, but shared data indicating that as of Friday, his office had filed charges against 103 people for assaulting or impeding federal officers or related allegations since last year. In addition to the six people acquitted at trial, 25 of those cases ended in dismissals and another 25 defendants pleaded guilty. The rest were pending.

Prosecutors have appealed against two of the dismissals, including in Redondo-Rosales’s case.

Representatives of the other US attorney’s offices and DoJ did not respond to detailed inquiries about the cases. Natalie Baldassarre, a DoJ spokesperson, said in an email the justice department would “continue to seek the most serious available charges against any individual who puts federal agents in harm’s way”.

“We will not tolerate any violence directed toward our brave law enforcement officials who are working tirelessly to keep Americans safe,” the statement continued. “Those who attack law enforcement will be held fully accountable for their actions, despite the best efforts of activist liberal judges who would rather see violent criminals walk free.”

The DHS did not respond to inquiries, and the White House declined to comment.

McBroom said the government was silencing free speech through a prosecution that depended on multiple officials repeating false statements. “There’s a level of terror to this, in that he was being held in jail for exercising his first amendment rights, and it was a collaborative effort to hide the truth that was keeping him in custody. It’s terrifying.”

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