OPINION: Federal police brutality: Street protests are not enough

By Dr. Anne T. Sulton, Esq.

JA Senior International Correspondent

“F— them kids,” one masked heavily armed man reportedly shouts when a middle-aged Black female Chicago area resident complains about seeing small non-white children zip-tied together and loaded into a truck as non-white adults are being apprehended and shackled by what appear to be White male federal government agents. 

Cell phone videos posted online by Chicago area residents show what appears to be employees of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and/or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) engaging in an unexpected mass roundup of “suspected illegal immigrants” using overwhelming force. 

In Chicago, helicopters buzz overhead as military type vehicles line the streets of this densely populated Chicago area neighborhood. Many masked men, pointing big high powered long rifles and wearing outfits suitable for war, are storming an apartment building. Neighborhood residents report being shocked and frightened. Many protest peacefully; some not so peacefully. 

At the same time west of the great Mississippi River, scenes from Portland, Oregon, too are posted online. One shows an elderly White man moving very slowly with a walker. Reportedly, he is a USA military veteran and is peacefully protesting ICE/DHS raids and detentions. He appears unsuccessful in escaping the suffocating tear gas permeating the air around him.  

Many observers assert these heavy-handed federal police actions are brutal, unwelcome, unnecessary, unconstitutional, and unprecedented. The cell phone videos posted online support assertions that this type of federal police action is brutal, unwelcome, unnecessary, and unconstitutional. However, controversial heavy-handed federal police action is not unprecedented.

During the past half century or so, the federal government has carried out many controversial heavy-handed police actions across the USA. Among those receiving considerable news media coverage are: in 1969, the Black Panthers in Illinois; in 1973, Wounded Knee in South Dakota; in 1992, Ruby Ridge in Idaho; in 1993, Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas; in 2014, cattle rancher Cliven Bundy in Nevada; and in 2016, Cliven Bundy’s sons’ occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.

Perhaps what is new are repeated advance warnings from the highest levels of the USA government that ICE and DHS will aggressively hunt down, forcefully  capture and detain for as long as they see fit persons who are “suspected illegal immigrants,” whether or not working for a rural vegetable farmer or small urban business without a permit or accused of committing violent or other serious crimes. These federal authorities repeatedly and clearly have warned everyone that anyone allegedly getting in the way of these federal police actions, including those peacefully protesting, will be forcibly removed from any area near an ICE and/or DHS roundup raid or detention facility.

Therefore, the question simply is: Should these current ICE and DHS roundup raids and detentions stop?

I am among those believing these federal police roundup raids and detentions should immediately stop because the manner in which these roundup raids and detentions are being conducted are inconsistent with the spirit and violate the letter of the USA Constitution, including the Amendments thereto.

So, whose responsibility is it to ensure that federal government police actions are constitutionally permissible? 

In my view, the responsibility lies with all of us. Peaceful protests by USA residents should occur, and take various forms. Among these peaceful protest activities are street assemblies and marches, targeted boycotting, national worker strikes, contacting elected officials via letter and email, and voting during the next election cycle. 

The USA Constitution’s First Amendment anticipates and protects the right of all to peacefully protest federal government actions. We should peacefully protest against unconstitutional police actions by our federal government.

However, officials working within the judicial and legislative branches of our federal government bear primary responsibility to protect our constitutional rights. All these appointed and elected officials voluntarily swore an oath to defend and protect the USA Constitution, which includes all Amendments thereto. 

Although currently we are witnessing deeply disturbing federal police actions, I am hopeful appointed and elected public servants will honor their oath, rise in defense of the USA Constitution, and ensure the rule of law.