Tag: ICE

ICE – Let’s Work Towards a Reasonable Consensus

The activities of ICE agents in Minneapolis and other places have captured the news headlines during the past month. These include the tragic killing of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants, immigrants with appropriate legal status, and U.S. citizens alike. The ICE tactics have been quite controversial. According to most polls, two/thirds of Americans believe the ICE tactics have “gone too far”, with 22% saying the actions were “about right”, and only 12% affirmed they did not go “far enough”. Even President Trump has stated the killings of Pretti and Good “should not have happened”.

This coming week members of Congress will debate and vote on possible ways to rein in the excesses of ICE’s actions. These votes will take place within the context of the funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Presently, there is a deep divide between Republicans and Democrats. It doesn’t have to be this way. If our representatives in DC would humble themselves, set aside their partisan concerns, and apply one reasonable criterion, we would reach a consensus almost immediately. What is that criterion? We should apply the same regulations to ICE that we use for all other law enforcement agencies in the United States (like local police, the FBI, etc.).

What are the proposed restrictions? Here is the list of ten ways to rein in ICE. They seem quite reasonable to me.

  1. Targeted Enforcement – ICE agents cannot enter private property without a judicial warrant signed by a federal judge. This is a standard legal requirement among local law enforcement personnel. The fact that over 72% of ICE detainees have no criminal history reveals an abuse that could be resolved by requiring targeted enforcement.
  2. No Masks – ICE agents should not wear masks to hide their identity. Citizens have the right to know who is detaining them. An exception would be permitted only if agents were ‘under cover” for a specific authorized reason.
  3. Require ID – This regulation would require ICE agents to verbalize their ID number and last name if asked. This is standard law enforcement procedure.
  4. Protect Sensitive Locations – Prohibit the use of funds for ICE enforcement near medical facilities, schools, childcare facilities, houses of worship, polling places, courts and other sensitive locations. This is standard law enforcement procedure.
  5. Stop Racial Profiling – These rules would ban stops, questioning and searches based on presence at certain locations, jobs, spoken language, accent, race or ethnicity. Racial profiling should have no place in our United States today.
  6. Uphold Use of Force Standards – We need regulations that codify reasonable use-of-force policy, expand training and require officer certification; and remove agents from the field pending investigations after incidents. Although we cannot eliminate all ambiguity, we should codify as much as possible, just like police forces do throughout our country
  7. Ensure State and Local Coordination and Oversight – This should not be a point of disagreement. We need rules to preserve state and local authority to investigate potential crimes and excessive force; that require evidence preservation and sharing; and that require consent of states and localities for large-scale operations outside targeted enforcement.
  8. Build Safeguards into the System – We need rules that require immediate access to attorneys for those in detention; This is standard law enforcement procedure and would allow states to sue DHS for violations.
  9. Body Cameras for Accountability – This rule would mandate body-worn cameras and establish storage/access rules. This is now standard procedure for most police forces. Secretary Noem has already agreed to mandatory usage of body cameras for ICE agents.
  10. No Paramilitary Police – We need a rule that regulates and standardizes uniforms and equipment to align with civil enforcement. This seems to me as a “no-brainer”.

Your comments of agreement and/or disagreement are welcomed.

An Invitation to a National Conversation on When Civilians Should Impede Police Activity: Can Corrie ten Boom Lead Us to a Consensus?

At first glance, the scenario of civilians impeding police activity seems to be just another insurmountable division in our deeply polarized country. Take for example the shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE official last week. The sides were clearly defined almost immediately. On the one side was the Administration and on the other side the protesters. Kristi Noem, head of the Department of Homeland Security, assuming the innocence of the ICE agent, declared that he fired the shots in self defense and accused Ms. Good of trying to run over the official with her car. Later, Vice President Vance clearly summarized the Administration’s position. “You have a woman who was trying to obstruct a legitimate law enforcement operation. Nobody debates that. You have a woman who aimed her car at a law enforcement officer and pressed on the accelerator. Nobody debates that. I can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also believing it is a tragedy of her own making, and a tragedy of the far left who has marshaled an entire movement, a lunatic fringe, against our law enforcement officers.”

Many on the other side of the debate reach a totally different conclusion. They argue that the videos show that the ICE agent’s life was not at risk and the woman was not trying to ram her vehicle into him, based on the positioning of the tires. Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz argued against pre-judging the shooting and the need for “a thorough investigation… that will take all factors in, and it will come up with a fair and just conclusion. And we will accept that.”

Over the past few days, the stakes have heightened. Usually in cases where a civilian is killed by a police officer, the Department of Justice conducts a thorough investigation regarding the shooting. Nevertheless, the DOJ Deputy Attorney General Todd Bianchi issued a statement that the Department of Justice will not be investigating the shooting. To the contrary, the DOJ will be investigating the contacts of the deceased victim. Several senior prosecutors of the DOJ have resigned to protest what is, from their perspective, a total lack of justice!. The heart of this issue is the question whether there are situations that merit actions by civilians that impede police activity. Although in the Minneapolis shooting the answers that are given lie along ideological lines, history shows us a more complicated perspective. At times conservatives have defended civilian interference (examples of pro-lifers who block entrance to abortion clinics). On other occasions it has been more progressive folk who have implemented such interference (MLK pacific marches and sit-ins in the South).

Fifty years ago, the film The Hiding Place had quite an impact on conservatives in the United States. It tells the true story of Corrie ten Boom and her family that hid persecuted Jews from Nazi soldiers and police in German controlled Holland during WWII. The film was produced by World Wide Pictures, a ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The ten Boom family, motivated by their love for the vulnerable, most definitely impeded the police activity of their day. They lied to the police officials. The family remodeled their home to create a “hiding place” where the Jews could take refuge. They developed a system of signals in order to alert the refugees when the Nazi police were nearby. They provided for the needs of the Jews with food, clothes and passage to areas that were safer. In the beginning the ten Booms were not aware of the cruel death that awaited Jews in the gas chambers. They just knew that innocent people were being detained for the crime of “being Jewish”. In the United States, most conservatives, especially evangelicals, defended the actions of the ten Boom family and other thousands in Nazi controlled Europe who were trying to impede the immoral activity of the police and military.

The story of “The Hiding Place” has many similarities with our situation today regarding the protests against ICE officials. Many protesters acknowledge a legitimate role for ICE but they accuse many current ICE agents of going far beyond what is legal. The fact that over 70% of ICE detainees have no criminal record shows that ICE is not prioritizing deporting “the worst of the worst”. There are hundreds of cases where US citizens or foreigners with legal status have been apprehended and/or deported. Before searching a person’s residence, ICE must have the name of a specific criminal and must obtain a judge authorized search warrant, but on hundreds of occasions, they have not done so. Protesters believe they are acting morally when they distribute information about the rights of all people in the United States or when they alert their neighbors regarding the presence of ICE agents in their communities. Recent polls show that a majority of Americans believe the presence of ICE agent has made their cities less safe.

The Holy Scriptures describe and praise many individuals who impeded police activity when it was immoral. Hebrew midwives defended human life by practicing civil disobedience. “The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” (Exodus 1:17) Rahab was praised and her life was spared because she provided a hiding place for Joshua’s men. (Joshua 6) The “Wise Men” heeded a vision from God and they disobeyed King Herod’s command. (Matthew 2) Although believers in Scripture are urged to respect human authorities, there are times when these authorities are in conflict with God’s will. The apostolic teaching in these situations is clear, “We must obey God rather than human beings”. (Acts 5:29)

We need a national conversation about when the impeding of police activity is warranted and necessary. May grace and truth guide that discussion!