On Jan. 7, an ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, shot Renee Good three times in the head while she was in her car. Since then, multiple shootings of the same nature have taken place, including the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. Besides the horrific nature of these killings themselves, what happened after is perhaps even more concerning. From local law enforcement being blocked from examining evidence to self investigations, the lack of transparency over the processes meant to keep federal law enforcement accountable has become apparent.
The Unraveling of Accountability.
First and foremost, the fact that local law enforcement have been denied even the ability to investigate in these cases (even with court warrants) is quite concerning. Not only this, but the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), not even the FBI, has actually been investigating their own agents, which is quite concerning. It doesn’t take a legal expert to understand the fact that an agency investigating itself would clearly allow for impartiality, especially when Kristi Noem, Secretary of the DHS, made statements claiming that the victims of these killings were “domestic terrorists” before any investigation went underway.
Secondly, the Trump administration claiming that these agents are protected by “absolute immunity” (meaning they cannot be liable for their actions within the scope of their duty) is not only unprecedented but extremely dangerous. Absolute immunity is extremely rare and has typically only been applied to the likes of judges and prosecutors. It is deeply irresponsible for the federal government to claim that these agents, who have been involved in so many killings across the country already, have absolute immunity from prosecution. This, along with self-investigation within the DHS will only embolden aggressive agents and take away any sense of accountability on their part.
The cases of those such as Renee Good and Alex Pretti where we see little to no accountability by the federal government are not just isolated incidents. They are an intentional product of a federal force with little oversight and large funding—an immigration enforcement agency which now resembles that of an untrained militia.
What Happens Next
What happens in the upcoming year will have enormous consequences on whether this pattern of violence and lack of accountability from the DHS will continue. The next funding deadline for Congress will take place on January 30th, where the funds from the last continuing resolution (which ended the longest government shutdown in history in November) will expire. However, this appropriations bill includes funding for the DHS. Because of this, after the killing of Alex Pretti, Chuck Schumer (leader of the Senate Democrats) announced that Democrats would vote against any additional funding for the DHS. Further, some democrats have called for Kristi Noem to be impeached, though this would be nearly impossible due to the senate supermajority needed to do so.
On a longer term look, with the midterms in November coming up, whether or not Democrats win control of congress (or even one chamber) will be critical around their ability to oversee Trump’s increasingly aggressive immigration policy. Currently, with a republican trifecta, there is little preventing the DHS from doing whatever they want. With a congressional majority Democrats would be able to regain legislative power on funding (rather than depend on the senate filibuster) and oversight. They could even potentially dissolve ICE as an agency, as more and more democrats have voiced their opinion to do so.
Overall, there increasingly seems to be an accountability crisis within federal law enforcement, one that threatens the civil liberties of every American. Congress’s actions and the upcoming midterm elections will be critical in deciding whether or not federal power can operate without any checks.
Written by Christian Do
