A New Lawsuit Shows Just How Un-American the ICE Raids in Los Angeles Really Are

(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post)

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done and where the dogs are barking and what's done is done.

We begin in the Occupied City of Los Angeles, where the ACLU has filed its lawsuit against those conducting the raids in that city—aka the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. And the city of Los Angeles as well as other surrounding municipalities are seeking to join the suit. The details should be horrifying to anyone who is not nostalgic for the good old days of Buenos Aires in the 1970s. That it describes events in the United States in the 21st century is almost absurd to the point of laughability. Almost.

The raids in this District follow a common, systematic pattern. Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from. If they hesitate, attempt to leave, or do not answer the questions to the satisfaction of the agents, they are detained, sometimes tackled, handcuffed, and/or taken into custody. In these interactions, agents typically have no prior information about the individual and no warrant of any kind. If agents make an arrest, contrary to federal law, they do not make any determination of whether a person poses a risk of flight before a warrant can be obtained. Also contrary to federal law, the agents do not identify themselves or explain why the individual is being arrested.

Further, apparently to accommodate the sharp rise in arrests, the government has resorted to keeping individuals at what is supposed to be a shortterm processing center and ICE basement holding area in downtown Los Angeles, known as “B-18,” often for days. In these dungeon-like facilities, conditions are deplorable and unconstitutional. The government has also unlawfully deprived those arrested of access to counsel. Under such conditions, some of those arrested are pressured into accepting voluntary departure.

Anonymous cops busting folks at random and hustling them off to hidden dungeons. I am very proud to be an American, because at least I know I'm free ... for the moment.

In late May, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security imposed a quota of 3,000 immigration-related arrests per day—with “consequences for not hitting arrest targets.” In order to reach this target, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller directed high-level officials to change their approach to stops and arrests in the field. Agents and officers, according to him, should no longer conduct targeted operations based on investigations. Instead, they should “just go out there and arrest [unauthorized noncitizens]” by rounding up people in public spaces like “Home Depot” and “7-Eleven” convenience stores.

It has to be said, over and over again. There is no "invasion." There is no "national emergency." There is only an immigration policy that needs fixing, and for which there once was a bipartisan attempt to fix that looked like it was going to pass until a certain authoritarian madman got on the horn and scared all the Republicans away, so he could invent an "invasion" and a "national emergency" for his reality show. This is the result of all that futile maneuvering.

We move along to Mississippi, where the state supreme court has explained to the state that the Sixth Amendment applies even to poor people who live in Mississippi. The state courts seem to be at the periodontist every time they're asked to produce concrete plans for public defenders. The state supreme court would like them to please get off the damn dime. From the Mississippi Free Press:

Writing for the court, Chief Justice Michael K. Randolph dispatched a letter in April to the state’s 23 circuit courts, giving them until Sept. 5 to disclose how they provide defendants who cannot afford a lawyer with their right to legal counsel. In Mississippi, a patchwork of local governments and courts funds and manages almost all public defense, but these systems largely operate out of sight. The state has long failed to evaluate or monitor how those local officials do the job that’s required of them. But now, Mississippi civil rights lawyer Cliff Johnson said the high court’s action could pave the way for further reform by allowing defendants, attorneys and advocates alike to know how courts are handling their Sixth Amendment obligations to provide lawyers to indigent defendants. “It’s only with that kind of transparency that we can hold people accountable,” Johnson said.

Gideon v. Wainwright, the landmark Supreme Court decision that ruled that indigent defendants needed to be supplied defense lawyers at government expense also ruled that its decision applied to state courts as well as the federal courts. Mississippi seems to be taking this obligation seriously, for the moment anyway.

We conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official Innocent Abroad, Friedman of the Algarve, brings us the latest news from the universe of gun-toting lunatics. From News 9 in Oklahoma City:

The group, which the Southern Poverty Law Center called an “anti-government militia,” shared with News 9 that they believe weather radars control the weather. In an interview, News 9 asked Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, the founder of Veterans On Patrol: "Is it true that Veterans On Patrol [is] targeting Oklahoma Weather Radars?" "Absolutely," Meyers responded. News 9 confirmed that a sign posted near an Oklahoma weather radar warns that Doppler radars are being targeted.

Meyer noted that he posted the sign, adding that he believes the government is modifying the weather. "They can embed their technology and civilian infrastructure in every home and every household utilizing the phones and their network towers to not only control the weather, modify the weather, but they can [target] individuals,” Meyer stated.

Of course they can. And not only that, but:

Meyer argued that the U.S. Military is also behind weather modification."When the military plays God with the weather, they're mocking our Heavenly Father by calling one of his most favorite instruments a 'weather weapon.'"

God also invented, you know, plutonium, so where does that get you, pal?

This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.