When is one of these state governors going to just straight up say “what ICE is doing is illegal and unconstitutional. we won’t let you do this. leave now or be shot on sight by real law enforcement”? Just going “nooo, please don’t do thiiiiis” while armed masked thugs kill people in your streets isn’t doing shit to people who don’t care about the law and think they’ll always be in power.
“what ICE is doing is illegal and unconstitutional. we won’t let you do this. leave now or be shot on sight by real law enforcement”?
Law enforcement would likely not execute this order even if given it.
Which, if anything, is evidence the police should have been fired and the whole system retooled a long time ago.
I’ll stop beating around the bush and just say it: I know why dems won’t stand up to MAGA no matter what ICE does to their constituents. It’s because they’re as greedy and authoritarian as the rest, just wearing a mask of civility and wielding softer power. They’re letting it happen because they will find a way to enrich themselves regardless.
Which, if anything, is evidence the police should have been fired and the whole system retooled a long time ago.
Of course, but until qualified immunity is repealed, Democrats have plenty of (non-conspiratorial) motivation not to give police orders that they know the police won’t follow: it makes them look like weaklings.
Both parties pretend that law enforcement is under democratic control. It is not.
Republicans obtain the loyalty of law enforcement by catering to their demands, providing them moral support, taking their side in nearly all disputes, and telling them they can do “whatever the hell they want” to quote Trump. Republicans are less afraid of what the police might do when unleashed, and are reasonably certain that the police will follow their orders because of all of this.
It also helps that what Republicans would order a LEO to do are the things they already want to do (i.e., harass, arrest, and even murder brown people, liberals, and anyone else who gives them lip).
Both parties pretend that law enforcement is under democratic control. It is not.
There are options.
I don’t think Americans are even willing to admit to themselves that law enforcement, even in ocean blue regions, are not under democratic control and the orders elected officials give them are mainly suggestions.
I understand not wanting to believe this as it is deeply disturbing. But things cannot be changed until basic realities are understood.
I would say that while neither group is under full democratic control, that local and state LEOs are at least hemmed in somewhat by often living amongst those they are policing and are usually experienced enough to know that following some of their most block-headed instincts (e.g., no knock, no announcement entries into residences) will earn you a bullet in the face as if you are a home invader, and that if the shooter survives the encounter, the system will likely let the person who put the bullet in you walk.
ICE are brazen because while they are not a new force, they haven’t had significant enough field experience in America to know that rules of engagement aren’t followed solely to protect the people subject to your patrols.
Case in point, look at the LA county sheriffs. Known to be home to multiple gang members from at least 1970.
Police are rarely under the strong (or even weak) control of elected representatives in the United States (and probably anywhere.)
Trump wants escalation and violence. Then he can use the Insurrection Act and it’s all over. Remember these are swing states being targeted.
Not saying any of this is ok or justified, but it is part of a pressure cooker strategy and all the state governors know it.
I got news for ya: the martial law and brutal oppression of all American people is inevitable if MAGA isn’t stopped. It’s not a matter of them only doing it if we get out of hand. Every day is another step they take toward the goal of total subjugation.
Well… The governors are gonna get a lot of flak from their constituents when Trump responds by calling in the Marines and the Army.
I think that’s the main reason it hasn’t happened.
When it does happen (and I expect it will at some point), I just hope Trump leaves the Air Force out of it… I dread the possibility of that bastard launching air strikes on political opponents while they sleep.
“Illegally provide us with information that isn’t ours, change your laws to our preference, and we’ll stop murdering your people” sure is an innocent and not at all fascist statement to make.
Also worth noting that the statement is a lie. Even if Walz capitulated ICE would continue to victimize Minnesota.
Might stop murdering your people*
Won’t stop murdering your people*
“common sense”
They’re going to deploy ICE to polling stations to steal the elections in November.
In GOP states, they’ll simply give ICE unlimited access to ballot boxes and voting machines.
This is the official moment democracy has died in the US. They’re telling everyone what they’re going to do in front of god and everyone.
It was never about “illegal” immigrants.
Nice request to make the day after disarming, beating , AND murdering in cold blood a US Citizen at a peaceful protest. Governor Walz, please reply, “Hell to the fuck no, AND get out of MN.” No one in MN or anywhere in the US should give aid, shelter, or comfort of any sort to ICE or any federal agents.
Walz’s office provided the following statement to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS about the Attorney General’s letter:
“We repeat our request to the administration to engage in a serious conversation about ending this federal occupation.
“3,000 federal agents have brought chaos and destruction to our state. They have fatally shot two people and wounded another; detained children as young as two years old; racially profiled off-duty officers; broken into the home of an elderly U.S. citizen and dragged him outside in freezing temperatures; and made children afraid to go to school.
“This is not common sense, lawful immigration enforcement. That is not what this occupation is about. And it’s not what the attorney general’s letter is about.”
Bondi’s letter, included in the article is a farcical piece of fiction. The plan it clear, ICE and the Federal gov’t will escalate day by day till they can justify applying the Insurrection Act, which is highly ironic as trump is an unconvicted insurrectionist who should never have been allowed to run for any government office, after January 6.
This is all to try and start a civil war, to give them the excuse they need to Seize permanent control.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has issued the following statement in response:
The answer to Attorney General Bondi’s request is no. Her letter is an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. Citizens in violation of state and federal law. This comes after repeated and failed attempts by the DOJ to pressure my office into providing the same data.
Minnesota’s elections are fair, accurate, honest, and secure. Every step of the way they are organized by local officials – Minnesotans who do honest, hard work to ensure their neighbors, friends, and family have access to a secure ballot.
Our office has already provided the Department of Justice a detailed explanation of how we successfully manage and secure our voter registration files. Yet, without alleging any wrongdoing by Minnesota, the DOJ continues to demand that we disclose private data such as social security and drivers’ license information. We have repeatedly offered to disclose to the DOJ voter data that is already public, without the need to reveal private data protected by state and federal law. The DOJ has declined those offers.
Attorney General Bondi knows full well that the Governor has no formal role in managing our elections or maintaining our voter registration system. She is also well aware that this specific request is the subject of active litigation with our office.
Our position on the federal government’s request to access Minnesota voting records starts and ends with the law. The law does not give the federal government the authority to obtain this private data. Minnesota is not alone in declining to disclose sensitive personal data on voters. So far, thirty-one other states have said no. DOJ is in active litigation with twenty-four of those states– and the courts have swiftly dismissed DOJ’s claims in three of them.
In Minnesota, we will continue to follow the letter of the law, which requires us to protect the private data of our voters.
It is deeply disturbing that the U.S. Attorney General would make this unlawful request a part of an apparent ransom to pay for our state’s peace and security.
More broadly, the federal government must end the unprecedented and deadly occupation of our state immediately.
The tactics used by too many ICE agents have been dangerous, destabilizing, unnecessarily cruel, and counterproductive. They are tactics that often seem aimed at instilling fear more than protecting the public.
Finally, I have been heartened by Minnesotans’ resolve thus far to remain peaceful and law-abiding. I want to echo the calls by public officials of all kinds to de-escalate, even when the federal government appears to want escalation. We should continue to meet darkness and division with light and compassion.
That makes this administration terrorists.
