#minneapolis-raids

#minneapolis-raids

Lawyers love legal reasoning. It promises a clean, clear path through sticky, tricky territory. But legal reasoning can enable grotesque real-world outcomes, like torture, or arresting journalists, or masked government agents detaining and disappearing people. On this week's Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is in conversation with Joseph Margulies, Professor of Practice of Government at Cornell University. Margulies litigated some of the biggest cases of egregious human rights violations of the post-9/11 "War on Terror", an experience that informed his recent piece in the Boston Review:

My partner, an immigrant from Brazil, shows love through acts of service. At first, I was confused. I had been raised to see romantic love, partner love, as centered on acts of adoration, big and intense actions designed to make me, the beloved, feel exceptional. My partner, who is romantic but not in that way, finds this focus on exceptional love confusing.

Taken Wednesday in Minneapolis, it shows an unidentifiable protester face down on the ground; two Border Patrol agents are on top of him, holding him there, while a third unloads pepper spray into his face from just inches away. The photo ran on the front page of The Minnesota Star Tribune on Friday and already feels like a defining image of the long ICE incursion in Minneapolis-a powerful illustration of how the agency has acted, in broad daylight, with excessive force and impunity.

Agents shot and killed a 37-year-old US citizen at about 9am on Saturday, with other observers watching and videotaping their actions, in an area called Eat Street, a corridor of largely immigrant-owned restaurants and businesses. Footage appears to show moment Alex Pretti is shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis video It is the second killing in the city after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot dead by a federal agent in south Minneapolis on 7 January.

The deceased has been identified as an ICU nurse Minnesota Governor Tim Walz condemned the 'horrific shooting' and said the federal government cannot be 'trusted to lead' probe DHS said the man was armed during his struggle with the officers, but it is not clear in videos if the man is holding his weapon. Man was lawful gun owner. Trump accused Minnesota and Minneapolis leaders of 'inciting insurrection' The shooting comes amid ongoing protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) anti-migrant operations

The killings in Minneapolis of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have been compared to the murder of George Floyd, because they all happened within a few miles of one another, and because of the outrage they inspired. There's an important difference, though: In 2020 the United States was in turmoil, but it was still a state of law. Floyd's death was followed by investigation, trial, and verdict-by justice. The Minneapolis Police Department was held accountable and ultimately made to reform.

The plan, when I went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Career Expo in Texas last August, was to learn what it was like to apply to be an ICE agent. Who wouldn't be curious? The event promised on-the-spot hiring for would-be deportation officers: Walk in unemployed, walk out with a sweet $50k signing bonus, a retirement account, and a license to brutalize the country's most vulnerable residents without consequence-all while wrapped in the warm glow of patriotism.