The administration’s racist goon squads have absolutely been steamrolling the Constitution since Trump’s return to office. When ICE et al started roving throughout the nation looking fo…

The administration’s racist goon squads have absolutely been steamrolling the Constitution since Trump’s return to office. When ICE et al started roving throughout the nation looking for anyone non-white enough to be foreign, all rights were considered expendable.

The DHS made swift work of the Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendments by denying arrestees due process and access to legal representation. Officers grabbed people, sent them far from their home states, and shoved them into planes headed to foreign hellhole prisons as quickly as possible in hopes of nullifying the inevitable legal challenges.

The 14th Amendment got kicked while it was still down when the administration decided birthright citizenship was no longer a thing. And the entire administration simply pretends the First Amendment doesn’t apply to anyone who says things or does stuff it doesn’t like.

The Fourth Amendment got turned into a doormat last May when the DHS Office of Legal Counsel (usurping the role usually held by the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel) told federal officers they no longer needed judicial warrants to enter homes so long as they could semi-credibly claim the person they were seeking was subject to immigration court order of removal.

Edit: here is the nyt article this is based on. Thanks lemming n0respect https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/us/politics/ice-expands-power-agents-warrants.html

  • n0respect@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    39·
    6 hours ago

    The posted article is excellent and everyone should read it [techdirt always writes great stuff]. The story’s primary source is [this NYT article via archive.is. Every secondary source fail to mention “collateral aliens”, and I’m here to rectify that.

    ICE is already arresting people just because an officer is suspicious. the NYT article is 2 things:

    1. the director changing the justification of why it’s ok. That being: “the person might not be here later, so we have to arrest them now” … In reality they call this “likely to escape” (same difference).

    2. The new thing is using this justification to arrest anyone who is nearby, who they call “collateral aliens”, in group round-ups.

    In summary: A single ICE officer can think a dude on the corner looks wrong; can arrest him because he might not be there later; then arrest you just because you’re nearby. Now you’re a “collateral alien”, and have no due process and cannot plead your case.