ICE Unloads

[Say it aint so]

Immigration officers speak out: “Freak this.” (except it's not "freak")

“The best they can do is shoot the guy in the back?” That’s not the voice of some liberal commentator. That’s what a homeland security officer told me this weekend, one of over half a dozen who have reached out to express their alarm over the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and beyond.​

​

I’ve listened to the stories and the beefs of immigration officers in Minneapolis across the country, and to a person, they all blame the shooter, one of their own. The major media is stuck on framing the killing of Alex Pretti as some national and partisan battle, highlighting Republicans breaking ranks, the NRA protesting, MAGA wavering, and Chuck Schumer doing whatever he’s doing, but no one is really capturing what the federal law enforcement officers on the ground are thinking. The truth is that they’re fed up and have been for weeks.​

​

They paint a picture that is more Police Academy (or even Reno 911!) than a Gestapo on the march. Yes, they agree that Washington is a huge problem and are uncomfortable with the mission creep that is taking them away from actual immigration enforcement. But internally? Theirs is also a story of gung-ho 19-year-olds, drunken stakeouts, and senior officers disappearing into meetings and all of a sudden needing time off.​

​

They are also frustrated with the narrative unfolding and the information war being waged from Washington, including the flamboyant defense of the shooting and other controversial moves on the ground.​

​

“As much as I support this administration there needs to be more common sense in situations like this, not a knee jerk damage control narrative that does not line up with the evidence on video,” one Border Patrol agent said in a private chat group that was shared with me. “This individual was shot 8 to 9 times while unarmed.”​

​

“We can’t always support what happens just because it’s one of us,” he adds.​

​

An ICE agent was even more critical. “Yet another ‘justified’ fatal shooting … ten versus one and somehow they couldn’t find a way to subdue the guy or use a less than lethal,” the agent said. “They all carry belts and vests with 9,000 pieces of equipment on them and the best they can do is shoot a guy in the back?”​

​

Overall, as someone who has been covering this for months, I am struck by how angry homeland security officers are with their own agencies, and their blunt dismissal of the Washington leadership. All of the immigration officers I interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity.​

​

Sagging morale and declining standards are a constant theme I picked up, problems that these sources say have been festering long before the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good (and ones that very much contributed to these outcomes).​

​

More than one ICE agent in particular complained about how Washington’s focus on labeling protestors as “impeding” federal functions (and thus breaking the law), and the vilification of “Antifa” and others labeled paid agitators, leftists, radicals, extremists, and terrorists is confusing the ranks while also distracting everyone from the immigration enforcement mission.​

​

“I can go on and on but overall it’s been a ridiculous experience,” one ICE agent told me. He says that many agents on the ground are just going along with the expanded mission because they are more interested in their away-from-home per diem pay and collecting overtime than whatever the mission is.​

​

Others express the cynicism typical of everyone who toils at the bottom of any bureaucratic food chain, pooh-poohing rapid expansion of the ICE army and shaking their heads over the ridiculous budget increases being fought for in Washington that will have no impact where they work.​

​

“The brand new agents are idiots,” an experienced ICE agent assigned to homeland security investigations told me. This same sentiment was echoed by virtually everyone I talked to, with several conveying the view that Pretti’s death was the fault of some skittish young recruit who panicked when he heard the word “gun” (if that’s what happened).​

Even one of the new ICE recruits agreed with the experienced agent’s low assessment of the Trump freshman class. “A lot of the guys,” he said, referring to the new ICE recruits he worked alongside, “are honestly pretty sketchy.”​

​

The new ICE officer continued: “I thought federal agents were supposed to be clean cut but some of them pass around a flask as we are watching a suspect,” observing as well that the new guys “have some weird tattoos.”​

​

Those tattoos, I’m told, are symbolic of the fact that the new recruits tend to be more ideologically motivated than those of the past. This problem is compounded by the fact, raised by several officers, that ICE is relying on volunteers to go to Minneapolis and other Democratic cities on these temporary deployments. This tends to favor new recruits and those who are chasing overtime pay. --HERE​

It's apparent experienced ICE agents are not the who are quick to volunteer. It's the, how did one ICE agent put it, those new recruits straight out of Police Academy or Reno 911. That's whose roaming the streets gung-ho to stop brown people who speak with an accent; simply because they can. Not only public assassinations, but you get incidents like this:

ICE Agents Attempt To Enter Ecuadorian Consulate In Minneapolis, Triggering Geopolitical Row ​

ICE has it's place. It has it's obligations. What they are doing is not it.

​

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Immigration officers speak out: “Freak this.” (except it's not "freak")

“The best they can do is shoot the guy in the back?” That’s not the voice of some liberal commentator. That’s what a homeland security officer told me this weekend, one of over half a dozen who have reached out to express their alarm over the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and beyond.​

​

I’ve listened to the stories and the beefs of immigration officers in Minneapolis across the country, and to a person, they all blame the shooter, one of their own. The major media is stuck on framing the killing of Alex Pretti as some national and partisan battle, highlighting Republicans breaking ranks, the NRA protesting, MAGA wavering, and Chuck Schumer doing whatever he’s doing, but no one is really capturing what the federal law enforcement officers on the ground are thinking. The truth is that they’re fed up and have been for weeks.​

​

They paint a picture that is more Police Academy (or even Reno 911!) than a Gestapo on the march. Yes, they agree that Washington is a huge problem and are uncomfortable with the mission creep that is taking them away from actual immigration enforcement. But internally? Theirs is also a story of gung-ho 19-year-olds, drunken stakeouts, and senior officers disappearing into meetings and all of a sudden needing time off.​

​

They are also frustrated with the narrative unfolding and the information war being waged from Washington, including the flamboyant defense of the shooting and other controversial moves on the ground.​

​

“As much as I support this administration there needs to be more common sense in situations like this, not a knee jerk damage control narrative that does not line up with the evidence on video,” one Border Patrol agent said in a private chat group that was shared with me. “This individual was shot 8 to 9 times while unarmed.”​

​

“We can’t always support what happens just because it’s one of us,” he adds.​

​

An ICE agent was even more critical. “Yet another ‘justified’ fatal shooting … ten versus one and somehow they couldn’t find a way to subdue the guy or use a less than lethal,” the agent said. “They all carry belts and vests with 9,000 pieces of equipment on them and the best they can do is shoot a guy in the back?”​

​

Overall, as someone who has been covering this for months, I am struck by how angry homeland security officers are with their own agencies, and their blunt dismissal of the Washington leadership. All of the immigration officers I interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity.​

​

Sagging morale and declining standards are a constant theme I picked up, problems that these sources say have been festering long before the deaths of Pretti and Renee Good (and ones that very much contributed to these outcomes).​

​

More than one ICE agent in particular complained about how Washington’s focus on labeling protestors as “impeding” federal functions (and thus breaking the law), and the vilification of “Antifa” and others labeled paid agitators, leftists, radicals, extremists, and terrorists is confusing the ranks while also distracting everyone from the immigration enforcement mission.​

​

“I can go on and on but overall it’s been a ridiculous experience,” one ICE agent told me. He says that many agents on the ground are just going along with the expanded mission because they are more interested in their away-from-home per diem pay and collecting overtime than whatever the mission is.​

​

Others express the cynicism typical of everyone who toils at the bottom of any bureaucratic food chain, pooh-poohing rapid expansion of the ICE army and shaking their heads over the ridiculous budget increases being fought for in Washington that will have no impact where they work.​

​

“The brand new agents are idiots,” an experienced ICE agent assigned to homeland security investigations told me. This same sentiment was echoed by virtually everyone I talked to, with several conveying the view that Pretti’s death was the fault of some skittish young recruit who panicked when he heard the word “gun” (if that’s what happened).​

Even one of the new ICE recruits agreed with the experienced agent’s low assessment of the Trump freshman class. “A lot of the guys,” he said, referring to the new ICE recruits he worked alongside, “are honestly pretty sketchy.”​

​

The new ICE officer continued: “I thought federal agents were supposed to be clean cut but some of them pass around a flask as we are watching a suspect,” observing as well that the new guys “have some weird tattoos.”​

​

Those tattoos, I’m told, are symbolic of the fact that the new recruits tend to be more ideologically motivated than those of the past. This problem is compounded by the fact, raised by several officers, that ICE is relying on volunteers to go to Minneapolis and other Democratic cities on these temporary deployments. This tends to favor new recruits and those who are chasing overtime pay. --HERE​

It's apparent experienced ICE agents are not the who are quick to volunteer. It's the, how did one ICE agent put it, those new recruits straight out of Police Academy or Reno 911. That's whose roaming the streets gung-ho to stop brown people who speak with an accent; simply because they can. Not only public assassinations, but you get incidents like this:

ICE Agents Attempt To Enter Ecuadorian Consulate In Minneapolis, Triggering Geopolitical Row ​

ICE has it's place. It has it's obligations. What they are doing is not it.

​

Then outlaw sanctuary cities and allow police to do their jobs so ICE can go back to their "place".

 

[Say it aint so]

Then outlaw sanctuary cities and allow police to do their jobs so ICE can go back to their "place"

Sanctuary cities are being policed. They do it without asking for one's papers.
But you can take as you wish. The views of the officers remain the same.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Sanctuary cities are being policed. They do it without asking for one's papers.
But you can take as you wish. The views of the officers remain the same.

Police by what authority that can enforce immigration law?

 

[Say it aint so]

Police by what authority that can enforce immigration law?

They are not stopping anyone and everyone brown speaking with an accent for your papers please.
Again, the officers from the article note the problems with ICE.

 

[Yttrium]

Now, now, even if many new recruits could be considered to be "riffraff", we're giving them good government jobs where they can learn to be responsible members of society. They'll gain experience and learn valuable things like teamwork and law. The federal government is quite capable of providing the oversight necessary to make sure that they follow the letter of the Trump.

 

[Pommer]

Then outlaw sanctuary cities and allow police to do their jobs so ICE can go back to their "place".

And here I thought that “Big Government” was anathema for conservatives.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

They are not stopping anyone and everyone brown speaking with an accent for your papers please.
Again, the officers from the article note the problems with ICE.

So, if not ICE and Border Patrol, who in your world is responsible for enforcing immigration law?

 

[Oompa Loompa]

And here I thought that “Big Government” was anathema for conservatives.

Blame Barack Obama and a liberal Supreme Court for declaring that only the federal government can enforce immigration law when the Governor of Arizona tried taking matters into her own hands. When it comes to immigration, liberals are upset when a state enforces immigration law because they believe the federal government isnt doing their job, only to get upset when the federal government enforces immigration law because it feels that the state is not doing their job. It is almost as if liberals just do not want immigration law enforced at all. Why? Because democrat elites are the ones who politically benefit from it.

 

[Say it aint so]

So, if not ICE and Border Patrol, who in your world is responsible for enforcing immigration law?

ICE, As done throughout their existence without hiring the incompetents as these members of ICE note, and without sending Americans to deportation centers, and without assassinating Americans.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

ICE, As done throughout their existence without hiring the incompetents as these members of ICE note, and without assassinating Americans.

Good. So now you openly admit that ICE is the authoeity responsible for enforcing immigration law. Now we are getting somewhere. Now ask yourself why Minnesota and other sanctuary cities are only in the headlines when ICE is deporting ten times more illegal immigrants in conservative, non-sanctuary cities? This may sound crazy, but did you ever think that the reason for the chaos is because state and local officials are not willing to allow ICE to do their job? I know it is quite the riddle, but I think you are smart enough to figure out the answer.

 

[Say it aint so]

Good. Now we are getting somewhere. Now ask yourself why Minnesota and other sanctuary cities are only in the headlines when ICE is deporting ten times more illegal immigrants in conservative, non-sanctuary cities?

Don't think your claim true, and moreover no one has an issue with ICE doing what every other president has done and sent ICE to arrest with a focus of violent criminals. No must have daily counts. No stopping and detaining Americans and throwing them in detention. No racial profiling. No cold stops of "your papers please". No assassinations of Americans. No rash hiring of incompetents who do things like try to rush an countries embassy.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

No must have daily counts. No stopping and detaining Americans and throwing them in detention. No racial profiling. No cold stops of "your papers please". No assassinations of Americans. No rash hiring of incompetents who do things like try to rush an countries embassy.

Because, once upon a time, local and state law enforcement actually cooperated will federal law enforcement. But here we are now.

 

[camille70]

ICE, As done throughout their existence without hiring the incompetents as these members of ICE note, and without sending Americans to deportation centers, and without assassinating Americans.

And without mooning protesters.

 

[MarkSB]

Good. So now you openly admit that ICE is the authoeity responsible for enforcing immigration law. Now we are getting somewhere. Now ask yourself why Minnesota and other sanctuary cities are only in the headlines when ICE is deporting ten times more illegal immigrants in conservative, non-sanctuary cities? This may sound crazy, but did you ever think that the reason for the chaos is because state and local officials are not willing to allow ICE to do their job? I know it is quite the riddle, but I think you are smart enough to figure out the answer.

I really don't think it's as simple as one side being "all right", and one side being "all wrong". Sorry if that doesn't fit into the false dichotomy that is presented by modern American politics.

 

[Say it aint so]

Because, once upon a time, local and state law enforcement actually cooperated will federal law enforcement. But here we are now.

Given the realities that I just laid out that are occurring now, you don't have to wonder why. And I did forget to mention the ICE agents posted outside the citizenship appointments of immigrants legally trying to obtain citizenship, only to have ICE arrest them because after all, they aren't a citizen yet and we do need that 3,000 daily count.

 

[FreeinChrist]

Police by what authority that can enforce immigration law?

Phoenix police always did a better job at picking up those who were illegal than Sheriff Joe's immigration sweeps in Arizona by simply doing their job as police. As they came across someone here illegally, they turned them over to ICE.

The more experienced and better trained ICE agents, as described in the OP, have to be as sick of what is happening as most of the country is. The new agents often can't pass physical tests or drug tests.

Some new ICE recruits have shown up to training without full vetting

The recruits have had criminal backgrounds or failed drug tests or were unable to meet physical or academic standards, raising concerns about the agency’s rush to hire immigration officers, sources told NBC News.

www.nbcnews.com

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed new recruits into its training program before they have completed the agency’s vetting process, an unusual sequence of events as it rushes to hire federal immigration officers to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy, a current and two former Homeland Security Department officials told NBC News.​

​

ICE officials only later discovered that some of the recruits failed drug testing, have disqualifying criminal backgrounds or don’t meet the physical or academic requirements to serve, the sources said.​

​

​

Staff members at ICE’s training academy in Brunswick, Georgia, recently discovered one recruit had previously been charged with strong-arm robbery and battery stemming from a domestic violence incident, the current DHS official said. They’ve also found as recently as this month that some recruits going through the six-week training course hadn’t submitted fingerprints for background checks, as ICE’s hiring process requires, the current and former DHS officials said.​

​

Add that to the questionable memo sent by ICE director Todd Lyons sent out about not needing warrants to enter homes, the bully tactics, masks and poor labeling, no wonder most of America is unhappy with ICE, and with Trump.
It is part of the reason for his historically low poll numbers.

 

[Say it aint so]

Blame Barack Obama and a liberal Supreme Court for declaring that only the federal government can enforce immigration law when the Governor of Arizona tried taking matters into her own hands. .

That was the show me your papers law in Arizona through state law enforcement.
Of course it got struck down in a almost unanimous decisions less parts of it.
So the liberal court claim is false.

 

[FreeinChrist]

Blame Barack Obama and a liberal Supreme Court for declaring that only the federal government can enforce immigration law when the Governor of Arizona tried taking matters into her own hands. When it comes to immigration, liberals are upset when a state enforces immigration law because they believe the federal government isnt doing their job, only to get upset when the federal government enforces immigration law because it feels that the state is not doing their job. It is almost as if liberals just do not want immigration law enforced at all. Why? Because democrat elites are the ones who politically benefit from it.

That was regarding Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his immigration raids rather than tending to policing the county.
Phoenix police did a much better job of handling illegal immigrants. Arpaio was going way outside his job in his immigration sweeps, and subsequent issues with the Maricopa Board of Supervisors and most of the judges in Maricopa County, which caused him to need a pardon from Trump.

Most liberals I know wanted immigration reform but Trump put a stop to that bill in Biden's term by telling Republicans not to pass it lest Biden get another win in his term.

Most liberals I know what criminal illegals arrested, tried, and if guilty, go to jail, pay the price and then get deported.
We don't want immigrants deported who are following all the rules with the immigration courts and being productive residents.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

And here I thought that “Big Government” was anathema for conservatives.

We love big government if they are killing the correct people at home and abroad.