Is this really what we’ve come to?
In the middle of the night, hundreds of federal agents—some of them masked, all of them heavily armed—attacked an apartment building on Chicago’s south side, using drones, flash bang grenades, and helicopters carrying agents who rappelled onto the roof of the building, all to execute an administrative warrant that identified just five people the Department of Homeland Security claimed were members of the Venezuelan street gang, Tren de Aragua.
The agents stormed into the building, destroying the interior in the process, and pulled anyone and everyone out of their beds—including children—in an effort to find the five individuals who were said to have once frequented the building. DHS did not indicate if they found the people they were after, but they did detain dozens of American citizens for hours—including children—zip tying their hands and forcing them into the back of rental vans. Thirty-seven people were arrested for alleged drug, weapons, and immigration charges, although DHS refused to provide any information to back up those charges
This video explains exactly what happened:
This is not how any of this is supposed to work. Law enforcement does not attack an entire apartment building with a military-style operation, destroying the building and detaining dozens of people who are not part of the warrant being executed in order to find a handful of people who were rumored to have once frequented the area.
Why is this not how things are done? Because it’s unnecessarily dangerous to innocent citizens, unnecessarily dangerous to the agents executing the warrant, and it violates the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. There are rules for how this is supposed to work, and ICE, the FBI, and other federal agencies simply ignored them to carry out this illegal, theatrical raid that was designed far more to cause fear and intimidation in citizens than it was to effectively capture alleged member of a street gang.
In addition, Donald Trump recently revealed that he has declared war on Tren de Aragua, and has used that war as justification for the actions of the government. To execute that war, he has instructed federal agencies to carry out these types of attacks in American cities, and he has ordered illegal attacks on privately owned foreign vessels being operated in international waters.
But again, that’s not how this works. “War,” as used in this context, is declared against another nation or a military force of any origin. Members of a street gang do not meet this definition. Plus, it’s up to Congress, not the president, to declare war, and they have not done that. Trump’s claim of “War” is simply pretextual, and he’s using it to stir up his base and create fear and intimidation in his political enemies
I’ll ask again a question I asked in a previous post to Trump voters: Is this what you voted for? Do you think it’s okay that Trump’s lawless DHS is conducting these types of dangerous raids on your fellow citizens? Is that the kind of country you want to live in?
Keep in mind, these people are our neighbors, our friends, and our family members. If it’s not hitting close to home for you right now, just wait. With every illegal raid like this, they are coming closer and closer to you and people you care about.
I suspect that some will dismiss my concerns because the video I posted above in from MSNBC. I think that’s ridiculous, but not surprising, so here are a few more videos telling this horror story from various perspectives:
