ICE misconduct megathread (Immigration "enforcement" in the US)

[HVC]

I look forward to a civil lawsuit that will take that million away.

What are the chances he doesn't get qualified immunity?

[crazy canuck]

I look forward to a civil lawsuit that will take that million away.

And then some

[grumbler]

I look forward to a civil lawsuit that will take that million away.

What are the chances he doesn't get qualified immunity?

Qualified immunity doesn't protect federal officers if they committed crimes.  Good was killed by the third, clearly criminal, shot.

[Tonitrus]

And QI is one of those questionable precedents that should keep being tested in court at every opportunity.

 

[celedhring]

Seems to me like two sides talking past each other.

The fact that camera phones are ubiquitous and the internet facilitates near instantaneous sharing of information is clearly a good thing, exposing the absurdity of the lies being pushed by officials in real time.

The fact social media is dominated by a small number of corporatized platforms motivated to privilege the spread of disinformation and slop is a bad thing.

Both things can be and are true at the same time.

Picking up on this, I fear we're just in a short window until AI video doctoring becomes good enough that it manages to completely muddle the picture (thanks also to social media) even when there's footage available of a controversial incident. Or even if there isn't.

One of the positives that came out of the death of poor Mr. Pretti is the fact that we're still capable of creating some sense of consensus around factual truth when it stares you in the face - even this morally bankrupt administration had to eventually walk back their lies - but how long will that last?

[Tamas]

Yeah, AI is a worry (in Hungary, Fidesz is making heavy use of it already, although only in mocking videos I don't think they expect even their followers to truly believe authentic), but hopefully it will ultimately swing the pendulum back in the sense that it will make people seek out trustworthy, larger organisations (newspapers and such) as sources of news rather than relying on ChadAlpha69 on Twitter for their news updates.

[crazy canuck]

Seems to me like two sides talking past each other.

The fact that camera phones are ubiquitous and the internet facilitates near instantaneous sharing of information is clearly a good thing, exposing the absurdity of the lies being pushed by officials in real time.

The fact social media is dominated by a small number of corporatized platforms motivated to privilege the spread of disinformation and slop is a bad thing.

Both things can be and are true at the same time.

Picking up on this, I fear we're just in a short window until AI video doctoring becomes good enough that it manages to completely muddle the picture (thanks also to social media) even when there's footage available of a controversial incident. Or even if there isn't.

One of the positives that came out of the death of poor Mr. Pretti is the fact that we're still capable of creating some sense of consensus around factual truth when it stares you in the face - even this morally bankrupt administration had to eventually walk back their lies - but how long will that last?

Yes, AI imaging will make things worse. But social media misinformation is already here.

[The Minsky Moment]

Everything I've done, I've done at the direction of the president and Stephen

--Kristi Noem

This is the moment where the wheels come off the Unitary Executive car, in a very public way.

For months, federal officers with no law enforcement training and little actual law enforcement authority have been terrorizing US cities, unleashing waves of indiscriminate violence.  Understandably, the focus in the Pretti killing videos has been on the killing itself.  But just a significant is that the videos capture that -- BEFORE the killing -- a scrum of disorganized masked agents assaulted two women and surrounded Pretti when in a fetal position, viciously kicking and punching him, with one agent smashing him with a metal cannister. I.e. an ordinary day of ICE "enforcement" in America.

But where does this come from?  Is ICE shot through with rogue agents, willfully ignoring agency directives and flouting their superior orders?  No they are following the marching orders given by their operational superior Gregory Bovino.  But where does Bovino's authority come from? From the fact that he reported directly to Kristi Noem, the United States Secretary for Homeland Security.

Bingo - it's Noem.  But Noem now says that she did not independently exercise her own powers and discretion.  Rather, she acted at the "direction of the president and Stephen".  But where is that direction to be found?  The President has issued numerous executive orders on immigration, but none of them authorize the military-style deployments in the US interior and operating procedures that violate constitutional rights. 

So what we have is a massive exercise of executive power, contrary to the constitution, but there is no written or public directive that could be subject to public scrutiny or court challenge. Rather, it is a direction made orally, or perhaps by implication through social media. Moreover, it is a direction not just (or perhaps even principally) from the President, but from "stephen," an advisor with no official authority whatsoever.

This all follows the logic of the Unitary Executive. Cabinet officers are mere passive flunkies, carrying out Presidential will.  Since the Executive is synonymous with the person of the President, that will can be expressed informally, in monarchical fashion, thus escaping the rule of law.  And like most monarchical regimes, true power will ultimately devolve to the overwhelmed or dissolute King's "wicked counsellors."

The Unitary Executive is not merely a semantic tautology attempting to masquerade as constitutional theory.  It is a direct threat to the rule of law and the American constitutional order. 

[Syt]

https://join.justice.gov/

DEFINE AMERICA FOR GENERATIONS

• 70 Nationwide locations
• Potential for remote and intermittent work/full-time telework
• Preside over cases in federal Immigration Court and determine whether an alien has to leave the United States or gets to stay
• Make decisions with generational consequences; ensure that only aliens with legally meritorious claims are allowed to remain
• Ensure adherence to the law; combat fraud and ensure those seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in our immigration system are not successful
• Restore integrity and honor to our Nation's Immigration Court system

[The Brain]

At least they admit that they lack integrity and honor.

[The Brain]

Damn Bruce Springsteen is old now.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

"Potential for remote and intermittent work/full-time telework"

That's fucking hilarious, after forcing all government employees to go back into an office or get fired.

[The Minsky Moment]

There is no such thing as a "deportation judge"

Maybe these idiots should read the damn federal code before they solicit candidates for a job involving "adherence to the law"

[The Minsky Moment]

The term immigration judge means an attorney whom the Attorney General appoints as an administrative judge within the Executive Office for Immigration Review, qualified to conduct specified classes of proceedings, including a hearing under section 240 of the Act. An immigration judge shall be subject to such supervision and shall perform such duties as the Attorney General shall prescribe, but shall not be employed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

8 CFR § 1001.1(l)

There really is no end to the cretinous illiteracy of this administration.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Why does ICE always travel in threes?
One to read, one to write, and one to keep an eye on the two intellectuals.