I couldn’t find a case where someone was acquitted specifically because they fought an unidentified or plainclothes ICE agent. If that had happened, it’d probably be a pretty high-profile precedent.
What I did find were multiple cases where charges were dropped, people were released, or courts ruled against ICE after video evidence contradicted the agents’ version of events or judges found the arrests or detention were unlawful.
So it’s not true that the courts are just rubber-stamping everything ICE does. They’re ruling against ICE all the time. The bigger issue is that many of those rulings are case-specific and don’t automatically change ICE’s practices nationwide.
Are courts actually doing anything to stop ICE, or just awarding damages with taxpayer money? Dropped charges won’t help if you’re in a Salvadoran death camp.
A lot of our constitutional protections still apply and are still being enforced. For example, when an immigrant is arrested, the government is now required to provide a probable cause hearing, something that was not consistently happening at the beginning. As far as I can tell, people are being released when a court determines that their arrest was unlawful or unsupported by probable cause.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a complete shit show. My point is that it isn’t simply lawlessness. There are still legal safeguards in place, and people are challenging abuses in court. That doesn’t change my view that what we’re doing is wrong.
mechoman444@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Specifically acquitted, no.
I couldn’t find a case where someone was acquitted specifically because they fought an unidentified or plainclothes ICE agent. If that had happened, it’d probably be a pretty high-profile precedent.
What I did find were multiple cases where charges were dropped, people were released, or courts ruled against ICE after video evidence contradicted the agents’ version of events or judges found the arrests or detention were unlawful.
So it’s not true that the courts are just rubber-stamping everything ICE does. They’re ruling against ICE all the time. The bigger issue is that many of those rulings are case-specific and don’t automatically change ICE’s practices nationwide.
Those are two very different questions.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
I’m also interested in this second question.
Are courts actually doing anything to stop ICE, or just awarding damages with taxpayer money? Dropped charges won’t help if you’re in a Salvadoran death camp.
mechoman444@lemmy.world 2 days ago
A lot of our constitutional protections still apply and are still being enforced. For example, when an immigrant is arrested, the government is now required to provide a probable cause hearing, something that was not consistently happening at the beginning. As far as I can tell, people are being released when a court determines that their arrest was unlawful or unsupported by probable cause.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a complete shit show. My point is that it isn’t simply lawlessness. There are still legal safeguards in place, and people are challenging abuses in court. That doesn’t change my view that what we’re doing is wrong.