"Poli'ticks" MMXXVI

I was wondering if anyone was going to do it! It’s really early in the year but we already have:

-A new South American colony (nothing could go wrong there);
-Threatened a war with a NATO member state; and
-And the White House added its official account of January 6, which is totally true and not a complete fabrication.

This was the most damning view of ICE murdering the woman in Minneapolis that I’ve seen

Hmm, I wish I hadn’t posted that video.

But there is a reason this thread died out. I don’t have any common ground with someone who supports Republicans, which believe that illegally terrorizing neighborhoods, illegally renaming arts centers for dear leader, illegally renaming departments created by statute, illegally selectively prosecuted “enemies”, illegally firing bureaucrats, illegally asking for loyalty tests for hiring, destroying the FDA, destroying HHS, leading us into an illegal occupation with Venezuela (while inviting China and Russia to do the same in their heretofore nonexistent "spheres of influence), and and and and are all OK.

All of the violence blocks out the grifting and, perhaps intentionally, the Epstein files.

But Joe Biden!

It’s some real wag the dog shit.

Another example of how Trump is the epitome of an egomaniac (in case it wasn’t already obvious).

I’m not opposed to federal ICE agents lawfully arresting illegal immigrants.

However, what should citizens do when it’s the federal agents that are breaking the law?

Imagine ICE agents breaking down your door with weapons drawn and without a warrant. You are then handcuffed and forcibly removed from your home without the decency of being allowed to put on a shirt or pants.

In another example…
This video shows two Target employees at work (both American citizens) getting detained by ICE. Both employees were eventually released after their identities and legal status had been confirmed.

https://youtube.com/shorts/GNyi9gki7pQ?feature=share

And another example…
An off duty police officer was pulled over and boxed in by the vehicles of ICE agents.

And yet another example…
A man was assaulted by ICE and detained for 9 hours. Granted he was following them, but that alone is not a crime, and he was not obstructing them. ICE eventually released him and never arrested him (since he had not committed any crimes).

There have been countless cases in which federal ICE agents are not following the law; on the contrary, they are directly violating the constitutional rights of everyday American citizens. There’s no oversight, no accountability, and no consequences. This should be alarming for everyone.

The Fourth Amendment is apparently irrelevant to ICE.

An internal memo and whistleblower complaint reveal an ICE directive stating ICE agents can forcibly enter homes without a judge’s warrant.

Full article and link below.

https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/immigration-officers-assert-sweeping-power-to-21307655.php

By REBECCA SANTANA,
Associated Press
Updated Jan 21, 2026 5:38 p.m.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.

The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.

The shift comes as the Trump administration dramatically expands immigration arrests nationwide, deploying thousands of officers under a mass deportation campaign that is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis.

For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration’s immigration crackdown.

The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president’s immigration crackdown. New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo’s guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo, according to the whistleblower disclosure.

It is unclear how broadly the directive has been applied in immigration enforcement operations. The Associated Press witnessed ICE officers ramming through the front door of the home of a Liberian man in Minneapolis on Jan. 11 with only an administrative warrant, wearing heavy tactical gear and with their rifles drawn.

The change is almost certain to meet legal challenges and stiff criticism from advocacy groups and immigrant-friendly state and local governments that have spent years successfully urging people not to open their doors unless ICE shows them a warrant signed by a judge.

The Associated Press obtained the memo and whistleblower complaint from an official in Congress, who shared it on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive documents. The AP verified the authenticity of the accounts in the complaint.

The memo, signed by the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, and dated May 12, 2025, says: “Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose."

The memo does not detail how that determination was made nor what its legal repercussions might be.

When asked about the memo, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to the AP that everyone the department serves with an administrative warrant has already had “full due process and a final order of removal.”

She said the officers issuing those warrants have also found probable cause for the person’s arrest. She said the Supreme Court and Congress have “recognized the propriety of administrative warrants in cases of immigration enforcement,” without elaborating. McLaughlin did not respond to questions about whether ICE officers entered a person’s home since the memo was issued relying solely on an administrative warrant and if so, how often.

Whistleblower Aid, a non-profit legal organization that assists workers exposing wrongdoings, said in the whistleblower complaint obtained by The Associated Press that it represents two anonymous U.S. government officials “disclosing a secretive - and seemingly unconstitutional - policy directive.”

A wave of recent high-profile arrests, many unfolding at private homes and businesses and captured on video, has shined a spotlight on immigration arrest tactics, including officers’ use of proper warrants.

Most immigration arrests are carried out under administrative warrants, internal documents issued by immigration authorities that authorize the arrest of a specific individual but do not permit officers to forcibly enter private homes or other non-public spaces without consent. Only warrants signed by judges carry that authority.

All law enforcement operations — including those conducted by ICE and Customs and Border Protection — are governed by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects all people in the country from unreasonable searches and seizures.

People can legally refuse federal immigration agents entry into private property if the agents only have an administrative warrant, with some limited exceptions.

Federal agents this month rammed the door of the Minneapolis home of a Liberian man with a deportation order from 2023, who was then arrested. Documents reviewed by The AP revealed that the agents only had an administrative warrant — meaning there was no judge who authorized the raid on private property.

The memo says ICE officers can forcibly enter homes and arrest immigrants using just a signed administrative warrant known as an I-205 if they have a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals or a district judge or magistrate judge.

The memo says officers must first knock on the door and share who they are and why they’re at the residence. They’re limited in the hours they can go into the home — after 6 a.m. and before 10 p.m. The people inside must be given a “reasonable chance to act lawfully.” But if that doesn’t work, the memo says, they can use force to go in.

“Should the alien refuse admittance, ICE officers and agents should use only a necessary and reasonable amount of force to enter the alien’s residence, following proper notification of the officer or agent’s authority and intent to enter,” the memo reads.

The memo is addressed to all ICE personnel. But it has been shown only to “select DHS officials” who then shared it with some employees who were told to read it and return it, Whistleblower Aid wrote in the disclosure.

One of the two whistleblowers was allowed to view the memo only in the presence of a supervisor and then had to give it back. That person was not allowed to take notes. A whistleblower was able to access the document and lawfully disclose to Congress, Whistleblower Aid said.

Although the memo was issued in May, David Kligerman, senior vice president and special counsel at Whistleblower Aid, said it took time for its clients to find a “safe and legal path to disclose it to lawmakers and the American people.”

ICE has been rapidly hiring thousands of new deportation officers to carry out the president’s mass deportation agenda. They’re trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia.

During a visit there by The Associated Press in August, ICE officials said repeatedly that new officers were being trained to follow the Fourth Amendment.

But according to the whistleblowers’ account, newly hired ICE officers are being told they can rely solely on administrative warrants to enter homes to make arrests even though that conflicts with written Homeland Security training materials.

ICE officers often wait for hours for the person they’re hoping to arrest to come outside so they can make the arrest on the sidewalk or at the person’s work — public places where they are allowed to operate without the risk of infringing on the person’s Fourth Amendment rights.

Whistleblower Aid called the new policy a “complete break from the law” and said it undercuts the “Fourth Amendment and the rights it protects.”

Another citizen was killed by federal agents this morning.

Alex Pretti was a 37 year old that worked as an ICU nurse. He was recording video of federal agents and then he defended a woman after a federal agent pushed the woman to the ground. There are several videos of the incident and Alex is seen with his phone in his hand. Not a gun. He did have a firearm permit though and he was in legal possession of his 9mm handgun.

The federal agent claims he feared for his life and shot Alex in self defense.

Look at how many agents were surrounding Alex. Does his death seem justified?

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino was relieved of his command in Minneapolis.

The development follows intense backlash over how top federal officials, including Bovino, responded to the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti.

Bovino, citing no evidence, suggested over the weekend Pretti intended to “massacre” federal agents. Some of the claims by Bovino and other officials were contradicted by witnesses and video from the scene.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gregory-bovino-border-patrol-leave-minneapolis/

In my opinion, Kristi Noem should be relieved of her position with the DHS. Noem and Bovino echoed the same propaganda, almost as if they were reading the same script.

Let’s start this post with three VERY simple facts and finish with one simple opinion/conclusion.

Fact #1:
Kash Patel is the director of the FBI.

Fact #2:
The official mission of the FBI is:

To protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.

Fact #3:
The director of the FBI doesn’t know the law regarding the 2nd amendment, and worse, is spreading incorrect information to the public during a TV interview.

Opinion:
Of all people, the f’ing director of the FBI should know the basic essentials of the 2nd amendment. Or at the very least, should take 30 seconds to Google it before opening his mouth and spewing blatantly false information to the general public. If that extremely low bar can’t be met, the person should not be the director of the FBI.

Kash Patel on Fox news:

Factual 2nd amendment info:

(Sorry for the audio and video being out of sync at times.)