FWIW, I do place an enhanced expectation of conduct on anyone who is “concealed carry” . . . and if they do use their side arm that results in injury/death of another, I do have high standards for them to justify their actions to say “they were justified”.
This goes for private citizens, civil servants, or military personnel.
If using or showing a firearm changes the situation, I see your point.
In the sequence of “tackle protester, discover holstered, concealed firearm, take firearm, kill protester”, there was no greater expectation for Alex Pretti’s actions in that situation due to his firearm.
I totally agree. In this situation, Pretti is not under scrutiny, IMO, as he wasn’t using the side-arm.
My statement is in regards to the use of the side-arm. And by “use”, I’m including any actions where the side-arm is in your hands (not just the discharge of it).
Someone I know whowent to an ICE recruiting event(he got DOGEd out of the govt and is looking to get vested for pension/health as he has disabled kids…he’s also in a jurisdiction where all he’ll be doing is interviewing people picked up for DUI to see if they’re deportable) said that yeah, most of the people at the recruiting event were yahoos looking to get a gun and badge and if they’re lucky get to shoot people. He also said that the worst of them washed out of training pretty quickly because they were too gd stupid to read a flowchart and follow the most basic instructions.
He also said in scenario training exercises with actors, right around half of them(half of all, not half the ones who washed out) did the wrong thing, like jumping in to help beat a non-resisting suspect/civilian who was in the middle of getting pummeled by an officer.
Source: MSN
If I was a Republican, I’d agree to this, but would also back it only if Democrats agreed to include steep penalties to states/localities that don’t cooperate with federal agents when they legally go after illegals. No more sanctuary cities, unless you want to face steep penalties.
A story about the ICE facial recognition app Mobile Fortify:
Here’s the Company That Sold DHS ICE’s Notorious Face Recognition App | WIRED?
Might be paywalled. Pieces that caught my attention, some of which has been previously reported:
This software uses photos taken for TSA PreCheck and Global Entry, among many other sources. Article: " In a declaration earlier this month, a Minnesota woman said her Global Entry and TSA PreCheck privileges had been revoked after interacting with a federal agent she was observing who told her they had “facial recognition.” In another declaration for a separate lawsuit, filed by the state of Minnesota, an individual who was stopped and detained by federal agents says an officer told them, ‘Whoever is the registered owner [of this vehicle] is going to have a fun time trying to travel after this.’”
So if you observe ICE again you may be considered a domestic terrorist or have travel restrictions placed on you.
Article: " The consequences of an incorrect match can be devastating. 404 Media that a woman was detained after being misidentified twice by the app."
The app makes errors, and if it incorrectly identifies you there may be dire consequences.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/29/rand-paul-dhs-alex-pretti-00754259
Everyone has taken the “Someone else will step up” philosophy. Rand Paul is apparently that someone. For now.
If he actually comes out strongly against the administration and ICE I will give him the props he deserves but reading the article you posted it seems more like he has Susan Collins level concern right now. At least that’s the vibe I got.
ICE’s story?
He ran into a wall.
Note also covered by NYT, but since that’s paywalled I provided the link above
I got this email this morning from my son who works in Minneapolis:
I got into work yesterday (Friday) to learn that my front desk legal assistant had her second run-in with ICE Thursday evening. She’s an American citizen by birth, but Sri Lankan by ethnicity. She’s taken to proactively carrying her passport with her, but had left it home this one time.
She was getting gas Thursday evening, and a pair of ICE agents approached her. One of them put an actual gun to her head and demanded to see her citizenship papers.
She was able to talk her way out of it, thankfully, and was safe in the end. But you know that there will be zero accountability for this.
His office is about two miles from each of the shootings/killings/murders. He went in early a couple days so he could just go over and walk the street and see the memorials. I expect he will be at a march somewhere today.
I can’t believe this is happening in America. Sorry.
i think part of the political difficulty is that stories like this almost defy belief.
12 years ago i probably wouldn’t have believed them.
i can’t tell whether much of america who support trump just don’t hear about stories like this, or don’t believe those stories, or approve of them. it must be a mix, i guess, but in what proportion?
I’m sure it’s a mix. But whatever percentage fully supports is too high, even if it’s just 1 person.
Female US citizen films ICE, gets guns pointed at her, gets roughed up a bit, gets detained …
She filmed her arrest. Video:
I agree.
I was hospitalized this week for pneumonia. I would estimate that three quarters of the very competent healthcare workers who so cheerfully looked after me were non-white. They were great. I can only imagine what their lives would be like if they had to face the daily fear of interrogation by an ICE-like agency. I expect my caregivers were probably all here legally and some were probably multigenerational.
It is not surprising that British Columbia had a huge response when it launched its recruitment drive in the US for healthcare workers. Your loss is our gain.