We saw this on the local news and were appalled:
Federal immigration agents bashed open a door and detained a U.S. citizen in his Minnesota home at gunpoint without a warrant, then led him out onto the streets in his underwear in subfreezing conditions, according to his family and videos reviewed by The Associated Press.
ChongLy “Scott” Thao told the AP that his daughter-in-law alerted him on Sunday afternoon that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were banging at the door of his residence in St. Paul. He told her not to open it. Masked agents then forced their way in and pointed guns at the family, yelling at them, Thao recalled.
“I was shaking,” he said. “They didn’t show any warrant; they just broke down the door.” [The Seattle Times]
The WCCO report includes the video clip. Fortunately, they let him go, although the report says
Thao said agents drove him “to the middle of nowhere” and made him get out of the car in the frigid weather so they could photograph him. He said he feared they would beat him. He was asked for his ID, which agents earlier prevented him from retrieving.
Agents eventually realized that he was a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, Thao said, and an hour or two later, they brought him back to his house. There they made him show his ID and then left without apologizing for detaining him or breaking his door, Thao said.
Another report had him driven and kicked out of the vehicle in Elk River, an exurb to the north, to find his own way home. Regardless, this behavior is, to my mind, criminal.
And taped.
So when Trump is shoved out of Washington, ICE agents that have engaged in this shameful behavior can be charged and, hopefully, found guilty and imprisoned.
And if Trump tries to defend their behavior, he can be charged with conspiracy. OK, OK, it’s just fantasy on my part, since I’m not a lawyer, but that’s what this looks like to me.
But this is why I’m surly today.
