The Trump administration’s draconian immigration enforcement actions are raising the specter of American autocracy, prompting many to ask — perhaps for the first time — how the U.S. could possibly have gotten here. Videos of masked ICE agents in street clothes accosting unsuspecting people in public places, or smashing car windows and dragging people into unmarked vehicles, are all over the internet and social media.
The behavior of ICE agents is also revealing glaring blind spots in the law, which has long been premised on the assumption that government officials mostly act in good faith, prompting the widespread question: Can they legally do that?
Rather astonishingly, the answer is — for the most part — yes, they can.
ICE’s heavy-handed tactics are even being used against people once presumed to be immune from raw police brutality: elected officials.
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https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5364547-what-ice-agents-are-doing-is-outrageous-and-legal