The Law Enforcement Oath of Honor:
“On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold the Constitution, my community, and the agency I serve.”
And now, the ICE oath:
“Bad boys, bad boys. Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boys, bad boys . . .”
Boom box optional.
On Halloween night, residents in Los Angeles reported ICE agents wearing seasonal masks — Chucky, Mr. Potato Head, and hyper-creepy meme star Momo. (Google it.)
Like the droogs in “Clockwork Orange,” eh?
Not exactly. The masked young toughs imagined by Anthony Burgess in his 1962 novel are unschooled teens. ICE agents are adults with badges.
Federal employees pledge to obey the U.S. Constitution, with all attendant protections. They did so uniformly until a regime came along that would put fear first.
There surely must be good cops behind the face coverings. However, what the regime conveys with its messaging and court pleadings projects the back-alley side of law enforcement.
During the baseball playoffs, people where I live saw in repeat this taxpayer-funded TV message on a red backdrop:
“Attention: Denver Law Enforcement!
“In sanctuary cities you’re ordered to stand down. Dangerous illegals walk free.
“Join ICE and help us catch the worst of the worst: drug traffickers, gang members, predators.”
That disgraceful pandering is miles and miles away from, “Protect and serve.”
Know that a city like Denver is not shamed or swayed by the “sanctuary cities” drumbeat.
For one, it’s a lie.
Under Colorado law, one’s immigration status is immaterial in an arrest. Police will not ask a suspect about it.
Do Denver authorities refuse to surrender a criminal suspect over to ICE? Depends. Does ICE have a warrant signed by a judge?
Denver police know that the best way to protect and serve is to convey to the public that border enforcement is not their function. For them, cooperation comes before fear.
The Constitution prohibits unreasonable search and seizure. It says nothing about immigration status.
The fear regime in the White House wants judges to dispense with the “unreasonable” part. On a Supreme Court stacked by the Federalist Society, Little Caesar’s anti-immigrant swarm is on the cusp of that.
After a Los Angeles judge ruled that ICE could not search or detain people simply based on skin color or language, the Supremes sang a different tune.
The high court lifted the injunction, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing that the law should bend toward allowing ICE agents to “rely on their training and experience.”
I have no doubt many ICE agents, maybe the vast majority, have the training and experience to make sound judgments.
But when hired on a pitch of pursuing people rather than meticulously honoring the rights that underlie this nation’s birth, we clearly invite unsound judgment and the overreactions of off-the-rails wing nuts.
And this applies just to agents bashing in car windows and tackling gardeners and roofers.
In Colorado we saw a woman thrown to the ground for the crime of videoing ICE agents at a protest in delightfully collegial Durango.
We’ve seen the cavalier use of tear gas – Border Control chief Gregory Bovino risking Tommy John surgery by tossing a canister with the “troops” at a Halloween parade in Chicago. What the heck brings this guy to the streets of Chicago? Deep-dish pizza?
Just like the president who has commanded this overkill, ICE has lost all perspective.
Unlike the cop on the corner, its job is not to keep the peace but to create conflict.
Though its pamphleteering is about the “worst of the worst,” most of its conquests send peaceable, productive people tumbling onto the asphalt.
“Predators.” In their propaganda and actions, those who call the shots at ICE have unleashed what the TV ad says they pursue.
Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.
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