As I posted in a diary here just 10 days ago, the tactics of I.C.E. everywhere are immoral and beyond excuse. Even in Vail, CO. Just an FYI update.
Last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 10 people in Eagle County during traffic stops. When family members went to get the cars left behind, they found in the vehicles the ace of spades cards printed with “ICE Denver Field Office” and the address of the privately-run immigration detention center in Aurora, according to advocacy group Voces Unidas de las Montañas.
coloradonewsline.com/...
The ace of spades has long been known as “the death card,” and has been used as psychological warfare in the past, dating back to the Vietnam war when U.S. soldiers would leave the card on the dead bodies of soldiers they had killed.
ICE agents in unmarked vehicles reportedly arrested 10 people during imitation traffic stops, who are now being detained at the Aurora immigration facility, and left playing cards behind for their families to find, according to a letter six Congress members from Colorado sent Monday to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
The letter — written by U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Representatives Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Jason Crow and Brittany Pettersen — called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General to open an independent investigation into the Denver field office. The group also requested a full briefing on the incidents in Eagle County and written confirmation of any disciplinary or corrective actions taken.
www.denverpost.com/… (shareable link)
In a Jan. 29 speech on the Senate floor, Hickenlooper called the death cards
“Cruelty for the sake of cruelty.”
What good is a letter?
“It is unacceptable and dangerous for federal law enforcement to use this symbol to intimidate Latino communities,” Hickenlooper, Bennet, DeGette, Neguse, Crow and Pettersen wrote in the joint letter. “This behavior undermines public trust in law enforcement, raises serious civil rights concerns, and falls far short of the professional standards expected of federal agents.”
The letter said they were also “deeply concerned” by allegations that the federal agents were using sirens to falsely act as local law enforcement. “This behavior leads individuals to believe they are lawfully required to pull over for a traffic violation when in reality, the federal government has no authority over local or state traffic regulations,” the letter stated. “Federal agents acting in disguise as local law enforcement is misconduct and should be treated as such.”
(How about 10,000 letters? That’s a risk for us all now, isn’t it? How scary is that?)
- — — — — — — — -
What is happening now?
The ICE Office of Professional Responsibility is conducting a “thorough investigation,” an anonymous homeland security spokesperson said in January. The letter asked for a written report detailing the findings of that investigation.
We’ll see. How many “small acts of torture” are going on, unnoticed, unrecorded? I shudder.
