Your tax dollars at work
ICE’s new funding level is larger than the combined budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, Bureau of Prisons, and U.S. Marshals Service. Who are these people?
“ICE was generally known as a place made up of people who couldn’t get jobs at the more established and reputable federal policing agencies — so, FBI, U.S. Marshals, DEA, ATF, etc. Because of this, it has a high proportion of people who are there because they want to wear a uniform, knock people around and act tough. That’s an aspect of every policing organization. But more professional organizations do their best to weed those people out on the front end and instill discipline that keeps those impulses in check. There’s much less of that at ICE. So it’s never had a good reputation within federal law enforcement.
“Another fact about ICE is that you get used to dealing with a population with very few rights and protections (few de jure and even fewer de facto). That’s a context that is going to bring out the worst in people and acclimate people in the direction of abusive behavior. Because again, it’s a population with little redress.”
Under the Tsar, they were the Checka. In the USSR, they were the KGB. In the GDR, they were the Stasi. In Hoxha’s Albania, they were the Sigurimi. Every totalitarian government has their thug enforcers.
ICE: America’s secret police
“ICE was generally known as a place made up of people who couldn’t get jobs at the more established and reputable federal policing agencies — so, FBI, U.S. Marshals, DEA, ATF, etc. Because of this, it has a high proportion of people who are there because they want to wear a uniform, knock people around and act tough. That’s an aspect of every policing organization. But more professional organizations do their best to weed those people out on the front end and instill discipline that keeps those impulses in check. There’s much less of that at ICE. So it’s never had a good reputation within federal law enforcement.
“Another fact about ICE is that you get used to dealing with a population with very few rights and protections (few de jure and even fewer de facto). That’s a context that is going to bring out the worst in people and acclimate people in the direction of abusive behavior. Because again, it’s a population with little redress.”
Under the Tsar, they were the Checka. In the USSR, they were the KGB. In the GDR, they were the Stasi. In Hoxha’s Albania, they were the Sigurimi. Every totalitarian government has their thug enforcers.
ICE: America’s secret police