Tackles, projectiles and gunfire: Many fear ICE tactics are growing more violent
This NPR article documents a pattern of escalating use of force by federal immigration agents in Chicago and surrounding areas, including videos showing agents pinning people to the ground while accidentally pointing guns at bystanders, shooting a pastor in the head with a pepper ball, and firing pepper balls at a local TV reporter's car with no protest occurring nearby. Immigrant rights advocates, the ACLU of Illinois, and legal experts describe the tactics as excessive, unconstitutional, and counterproductive to good policing, while the former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under Obama says immigration agents simply lack the training and experience to police urban environments and that the show of force is "clearly not needed." A law professor who trains police officers draws a key distinction between what is technically legal under the Fourth Amendment and what is "socially and democratically legitimate," arguing the public is rightly asking the latter question. DHS maintains its officers are highly trained and act within policy, but a majority of Americans disapprove of the administration's immigration enforcement tactics according to a recent New York Times/Siena poll, and multiple lawsuits are now challenging the constitutionality of the federal crackdown.