Murder. I understand that for legal or journalistic integrity reasons Adrian Carrasquillo can't refer to what's happening in detention centers as torture, and Andrew Egger can't refer to the treatment of Mr. Shah Alam as murder. But I sure as hell can!
They murdered the man. Any reasonable person would assume that dropping off a blind man in an empty parking lot in the dead of night in the freezing cold would likely result in death.
Remember how Robespierre, one of the leaders of the French Revolution, didn't seem to mind Madame la Guillotine being used on French citizens? And the delicious irony that he also faced her, and lost.
I wouldn't put it past them to have sat outside the reach of the security cameras and watch him trying to find his way home. It was murder and someone needs to be held accountable.
They won’t be. They weren’t in Minneapolis, and won’t be here. And it’s normal for people to be released from detention without appropriate clothing nor from where they were taken from. It’s all about making it difficult for immigrants regardless of legality.
Which is why Democrats should be introducing a bill RIGHT NOW to require ICE to deliver detainees back to their home upon release. There have GOT to be some rules about how ICE is releasing people. And add into that bill a clause about demanding their papers be returned to them. ICE is not allowed to retain their only set of official papers. My God, this corruption is astounding.
I know that is their usual process and it won't stop until someone is held responsible. No, it won't happen until Trump is gone, but there's no statute of limitations on murder.
Absolutely! I am here in Buffalo and wondering how the heck if the drug dealers of celebrities who overdose are prosecuted for murder why DHS can't be prosecuted, at a bare minimum in this man's case, for negligent homicide?
Thus far there has been a statement from the mayor, and state attorney general Letitia James has released a statement saying they are reviewing their options, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sent a letter to Noem seeking answers.....here on the ground locals are weighing what our options are to better protect our immigrant neighbors. The GoFundMe for Mr. Alam's family raised its goal in under 15 minutes and is still raising money, in part to cover whatever legal costs will come through seeking justice.........
That will be the modus operandi of the administration going forward. In plain English the administration will be snuffing their cigarettes out on the judges foreheads.
No, it is murder. Where do ICE assassins think they could have "immunity" of any legal meaning, let alone "qualified" immunity? JD Vain saying it ain't gonna cut it.
Those SOBs are not qualified in anything except extra-legal actions. How many of them are J6 pardonees, or their unindicted co-conspirators, clever enough not to be caught at the Capitol?
What gives you the impression that ICE is in any legal way comparable to a police force? No training, no oversight, no nothing that controls their actions?
David - I'm incensed as well. Wouldn't a criminal charge of murder require proof of intent for conviction? If less than 1st degree, can sufficient negligence be proven here, given the agents will declare they didn't know their victim's full medical history, aren't trained meteorologists, etc.? All my life I've seen courts & juries give 'law enforcement' more than average benefit of the doubt
J AZ, why do you see a parallel between "law enforcement" and ICE? No training, no oversight. And I think, by now, most potential jurors have a very clear idea why the "benefit of the doubt" is not applicable.
And somehow, I think leaving a helpless, underclothed for the weather man outside in the dark makes a case for murder, at least in civilized countries. Here in Germany, murder convictions have been handed down and upheld on appeal in cases of cars running over pedestrians while engaged in excessive speed, usually in a macho "contest" who has the fastest rocket. At some point, the action of the perpetrator can be presumed to be so egregious that any person would have known that death could result from his/her actions. Who would be believed if s/he said, when I fired the gun at that person, knowing that live ammunition was in it, I did not know it would kill him?
I think maybe we have to reconsider the "untrained" part. Some, I'm sure, are, but the two goons who killed Alex Pretti were veteran officers. They knew what they were doing. They were trained. That wasn't the problem there. Sadism was.
My friend, my inner wolves wrestled over this situation. Sometimes I'm the dreamy idealist here. On this one, I'm taking the dark view. NOT what I wish for but what I expect will happen.
Stipulated: your legal background exceeds mine; the lawyers in my family aren't my uncle, which appears to be the relation that genetically transfers genius (as per the prezident's MIT prof level math abilities). I go by what I've read in the news about legal proceedings & outcomes, supplemented by brilliant legal commenters like Billy Bragg on the case of Rotting v. Remand (1988): "This isn't a court of justice, son. This is a court of law."
Our opinions of ICE/CPB operatives seem similar; the death of Mr. Alam involved Border Patrol, generally viewed as the most violent, least well behaved of the DHS divisions. But our opinions won't decide whether a court would allow them Supremacy Clause immunity for 'acting within the scope of their federal jobs' which they will claim - 5 U.S. Code § 8401. A local attempt to prosecute could well end up in federal court. Then what? Good explainer here: https://www.themcshanefirm.com/blogs/can-a-federal-law-enforcement-officer-be-prosecuted-by-the-local-da/ - this article is from a PA firm but the principles of fed supremacy over state would probably roll about the same in NY.
So suppose the DA seeks a criminal indictment. Here's a case where I'd expect any local grand jury WOULD indict - would DA go for broke on murder, or the lesser criminally negligent homicide? ...cuz he's got to consider, on which would he be more sure of a conviction at trial? An elected DA taking on the DOJ will want to be pretty sure he can secure a conviction (go at the king, ya don't wanna miss)... that's IF there's a trial at local level.
All said, I'm skeptical justice will find these perpretators under our court system. The universe is vast & inexplicable to me - I do hold out a possibility that there comes a reckoning for each of us
Y'know, I've heard that term thrown around a lot. Qualified Immunity. I think it's time to stress test it a little. I mean, if a cop, on duty, kidnaps someone, straps him to a chair, beats the crap out of him and then, in the end, kills him, rolls the body up in a piece of carpet, puts the body in the trunk of the cop car, drives out into a cornfield and buries it, can he use as a defense that the guy "lunged at him with a weapon, thereby putting him in danger, at which point he defended himself?"
I mean, there has to be some limit on what cops can do. Just putting on the uniform doesn't give you the right to kill people, cover it up and lie about it, right?
I know this is a seriously extreme example, but I'd like these ICE guys to point to the official procedure that says that a detained person, after being determined to be legally here, shall be driven out into the middle of nowhere and dumped at the side of the road. That's not how ANYTHING works. I mean, I can understand -- I guess -- just putting the guy out the door of the police station or returning him to wherever he was picked up, but not this.
And the fact that NO ONE considered the special circumstances here: blind, non-English speaking, frail, sub-zero weather, etc. That's just reckless disregard for life if I've ever seen it.
I once felt like that, then I dated a MPLS police officer many years ago. That did not last too long, but he remained an acquaintance and I met more retired officers through him, I was only like 22 yrs old. So, I read alot and stumbled across two books that changed all my thinking of law enforcement. They are novels, so not real, but, it shone a light. both by Joseph Wambaugh.
The Choirboys, and The Onion Field. Changed me forever about some officers.
Actually it helped. I do not consider even most U S Marshalls comparable to any local deputy, trooper or detective, Later on I worked with ( weekends ) local city and county detectives, we were all making money working with concrete, they were all good guys. U S Marshalls feel a lot more empowered to push the law right up to the edge, these CBP/ICE in this current situation, I assume , well, I know, it's out of control. Those books were really good. The author was born in Pa, was a U S Marine at one point and worked withing the L A PD, the books are fiction, but of course some of it came from his persoanl experience, perhaps in attitude alone, attitude he observed perhaps.
I've read Joseph Wambaugh. I loved Echoes in the Darkness. Never read The Choirboys, though.
I would like a consensus to form around the idea that, if you decide to go into law enforcement, you should be ready for what the job is. You're going to deal with, on a daily basis, people having their worst days, with a fair number of complete losers, with people you would never associate with personally, with crazy people. Some of those crazy people will have guns and the gun/crazy combo is very dangerous.
If you don't want that kind of job, there are plenty of others you could get. But if you DO sign up for this and go through the training, then there are rules and standards and accountability associated with that badge, gun and fast car. If you don't (or can't) abide by those rules and standards, then you need to find something else to do and if you lack the self-awareness to take yourself out of the career, then your superiors need to do it for you.
dcicero - I hope you know I’m really not arguing against you. I agree this case is egregious. My difficulty is that I’ve seen so many egregious cases reported well before this recent DHS abuse. Our legal system (NOT calling it justice system) gives far too much latitude to uniformed agents of the state over any private citizen, let alone non-citizens with legal status, let alone with no documentation at all. This flaw hits at every level of jurisdiction. The wealthy may be able to lawyer up and afford some justice. Maybe the 1%?
Any one case - maybe this one? - might gain enough traction and funding. Our system though? That takes winning a lot of seats & sustaining the reforms over some years. We have our work cut out
He's not the first to be thrown out of an ICE or CPB prison with inadequate clothes, no money, no phone and no transportation. Fortunately, citizen volunteers are keeping a watch on the Whipple Building in Minneapolis, and have rescued a few people who were thrown out wearing only light clothing. Theft of their belongings, their papers and cell phones is a given.
It's really nothing new for ICE. When my wife was going through her naturalization process, her lawyers let us know in no uncertain terms that we were NEVER to do anything to antagonize them. Those lawyers understood that ICE (at the time INS) WOULD "lose" documents and say we'd never filed them (or filed them improperly) and that was sufficient cause to stop an immigration process. There was absolutely no accountability and no one had any reason to expect any kind of professionalism out of them.
I'm sorry. your post did NOT surprise me. Why I apologize ? I hate the power of what you and your wife were up against. power/money
there is so much double-standard between white collar crime and everyone else. I know one person, only one who went through the process, she discussed it with me in great detail. Luckily for her she was age 13 and along with her two brothers and her father they got through it, not unscathed.
I also knew a woman from Quebec who married an American citizen , they had met in Alaska. I met her on the cusp of her divorce from him, she was absolutely terrified, had also heard certain words from officials.
She lived in MN on a green card, and I assume she still does. She married a second citizen within one month. She had a five year old son, wanted to stay.
I highly doubt she has completed naturalization, but by now I'm thinking she has also obtained Canadian citizenship for her son as a backup.
To be warned, accused (falsely ) intimidated is a tactic, it is oppression in my view. I wonder if you've healed, I sure hope so. Thank you for sharing personal feelings, we all need to hear and be aware.
Anyone who thought that the regime was having a change of heart about their immigration policy was unbelievably naive. I agree with you. I would add one thing. Let's stop referring the places the snatched humans are being sent to as detention centers and call them what they are, concentration camps.
It's time to drop the polite rhetoric and honestly call out what's happening. This is our country now. We can sanewash or we can face what is happening The later is the only way we can fight it.
Unfortunately, "mainstream media" still uses sanewashing language every chance they get. Can't risk offending the MAGA base’s biggest sickos who never read or watch mainstream media anyway.
Yes. Yes. Yes. I will not be satisfied until this man's death gets as much coverage and outrage as both of those cases demanded. What an ungodly trinity of evil actions by ICE and DHS.
So far Senator Gillibrand has written Noem and state attorney general Letitia James released a statement that her office is looking into what legal options they have for recourse. The GoFundMe set up by his family was to cover the funeral costs and then legal costs of fighting for justice for Mr. Alam, they raised their goal in about 15 minutes and locals are contributing still at quite the clip. Local activists are figuring out what we can do to better support our neighbors, and fundraisers for Justice for Immigrants are popping up all over Buffalo. I went to Mass today and we prayed for Mr. Alam's soul and for his family, in Buffalo we call ourselves "The City of Good Neighbors" and people are very shaken up........
This guy. If anyone ever deserved a helping hand, it was this guy. And look what happened to him.
Let's say there had been someone in the Tim Horton's. ICE dumps this guy in the parking lot. He's disoriented. People see him. I can't help but think that someone would have, at least, called 911 and certainly he would have been brought inside. I mean, he didn't even have shoes. Personally, I would have thought he was having a mental health episode and that a call to 911 would be the way to handle it. Get an ambulance out there with some trained paramedics.
He didn't speak English. I don't know what language he did speak, so, without papers, what would the cops have done? No driver's license that could have pointed to a relative or a home address. Speaking a language no one understands. Blind. Cold. Frail.
Oh my God what a mess. All caused by Kristi Noem's goons. And I'd bet a dollar she's out there today excusing all of this, yukking it up.
You may expect no accountability. They should not. The wheels of justice grind slowly but incredibly fine. There are videos and photographs galore in Minnesota, and in parking lots of closed cafés that can be used as evidence in court. Nazi guards and concentration camp helpers were still being tried in German court well into the 80s and 90, and some even in this century. The Germany created after WWII considered that to be a duty for the victims.
And you don't think that the oligarchs in 1930-1940 supported the Nazis for the same selfish, greedy reasons that the Felon's Broligarchs do? History says otherwise.
I don’t really know enough to comment one way or another. My intuition right now is that our oligarchs are global and “stateless”, and extraordinarily powerful.
my own sister, I have not heard for sure, like from her. Others have told me she turned someone in with a phone call. We no longer have any relationship. She has two granddaughters that have both bore children with Latino men. Neither married when birth took place, one married someone else, the other - she lives with the father of two of her children, he is undocumented, they are not married. I asked my sister's spouse, we seldom speak - if anyone in their circle/family was alarmed or frightened, he said, well if it happens it happens. very callous. My sister, a former RN will not turn in, in my opinion, the individual who lives with her granddaughter. To me, something is very wrong with a woman who previously was a fairly active Democrat, turned maga though new church, so from the pulpit into a severe fringe attitude. In my sister's defense, why do I bother, her life has been full of past pain, challenges, barriers and upheaval. At present she is stable, well off and I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined her doing anything like this change in views.
So, who is going to hold DHS accountable? I hope some big law firm is helping the family of Nurul Amin Shah Alam develop a huge lawsuit for wrongful death. And who in the administration is going to prosecute the ICE goons who left a blind man 5 miles from home in the middle of a cold night, after they LIED about leaving him in a "warm, safe spot?" Pam Bondi? Todd Blanche? It makes my blood boil to know that we will have to wait until after the midterms to have investigations and indictments for the people who have committed these heinous crimes. I fear they will be forgotten in the flood of unlawful activity being perpetrated by Trump and his lackeys. And where is the memorial for Mr. Shah Alam? Where are the flowers and candles and inspirational notes? I hope the fact that he wasn't a white Christian isn't the reason we are not hearing more about this. It is just as huge a deal as Good and Pretti. Please honor this man by remembering his name, too.
Murder? It’s genocide (at least as much as what Israel did and remember immigrants did not perpetuate a massacre and take hostages even though the MAGA lords want you to believe they’re all murderers and rapists)!!!
As an old criminal law practitioner, let me correct the statement that Shah Alam was the victim of “mistreatment.” This was clearly a culpable, prosecutable homicide.
Gregory - depending on rules in the jurisdiction, involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide, perhaps? But then there’s qualified immunity to consider…
Qualified Immunity doesn’t bar criminal charges. Those agents are scum. I arrested a lot of people, and transported them here and there over my career. The idea of marooning a person that’s almost blind in freezing weather would never occur to me, or my colleagues.
As I’ve said before, imagine what these green belly bastards are getting up to on those dark, quiet stretches of the border. That agency needs to be purged after the regime falls. ICE too, of course.
I can’t adequately express how much disgust I feel for those Border Patrol bugs.
Greg - I've personally met BP who seem decent people. Have friends & acquaintances who've witnessed BP save a life, or more generally behave humanely. It CAN happen. Also know people with first hand experiences of the other kind you envision. That happens too.
Used to be, all such happenings were like my old neighborhood - close to the border. This new regime swooping into neighborhoods all over the country... not the same ol' green, a horse of a seriously mutated color. It's not law and it's not order
I’ve known and worked with Border Patrol agents. I don’t care about then. I care about now. They are functionally a paramilitary weapon of an authoritarian. I’m sure the Schutzstaffel had some swell dudes on the payroll too.
They shot Alex Pretti to death. They dumped Nurul Amin Shah Alam on the frigid streets of Buffalo, NY, and he died a grisly death. And on, and on……….
As I understand it (IANAL), it applies to ICE/CBP/DHS who get lumped in as 'law enforcement' - no matter whether you'n'I see em as 'behaving lawlessly.' QI from civil suits, Supremacy Immunity for attempts to criminally charge them under LOCAL jurisdiction, cuz they're federal employees. I pasted this link elsewhere in this thread: https://www.themcshanefirm.com/blogs/can-a-federal-law-enforcement-officer-be-prosecuted-by-the-local-da/
I don't like that this is how our laws are written. Also as I posted, quoting Billy Bragg: "This isn't a court of justice, son. This is a court of law." Our work doesn't end. Keep at it!
The death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam should outrage us and be all over the news. Absolutely depraved, needlessly cruel, excessively negligent. It's hard to put to words how angry I feel.
The way I am guffawing over the Cheap Shot this morning. Thank you, I needed that this morning. Mr Shah Alam’s tragic death has me seeing red. The blatant lying ALL of yesterday from these shitty people is just incredible. It really is amazing how much this administration has radicalized me into wanting to abolish ICE. He was a legal resident! He was disabled! But Adam Serwer’s words will be the most apt descriptors of this entire era- “The cruelty is the point.”
FOLLOW UP: On Wednesday morning, I mentioned watching a panel of swing voters in the wake of the SOTU and watching one voter claim that what excited him was the $18T in investments. That “swing voter” was a far right candidate for Senate in MI a few years ago!!
I read your comment the other day, and was also upset, just read what you wrote a second time and you are quite accurate. Every time I get upset at anything maga, I force myself to slow down, recall that trump is immature purposefully, an attention hog, a bully and
an ' entertainer '. He happens to be U S President and that in itself irks me to no end.
but, hard for me, but I refuse to give him ALL of my own personal power, and my DAD would often say, " This too shall pass " saves me often. Ada, Serwer's book - I took it home from local library and read it twice and wished it had been longer. Not a criticism of the book, but when I finished I had thought, why is this book not longer. We must look for the good
otherwise we will go insane. I will never respect, honor or give praise ( even if he does one little thing I agree with ) to trump, he's ill. And crude, rude lude and disrespectful, that's on him
The problem is that so long as you're threatening contempt and not actually doing anything there are not actually any consequences for their lawbreaking.
Taking a cue from a couple of comments, and I usually avoid expletives, but this shit must end. Not tomorrow. TODAY. Right now. Lock up leadership. Lock up agents. Drag Miller, Noem, Homan, and Trump in front of Congress and judges. Make current and potential employees, corporate service providers, and land/building leasers question what could possibly justify this sanctioned, inhumane, and illegal behavior... and YOUR part in it. That assessment is not pretty.
There are dreadful consequences, just not accountability.
"Yesterday morning, ICE officers arrested a student... after repeatedly lying that they were searching for a missing child to gain access to her building."
The next time real police say they are "searching for a missing child," many people will not believe them.
Isn't there some law forbidding government officials from lying in the course of their duties? If not, there should be. DHS and DOJ have proven they will lie about anything and everything to try and cover their asses. I am sick of being told we must wait until after the midterms. All this crap must be hung around every Republican's neck - they are choosing to do NOTHING about this massive corruption. The ads: The country must wait for Democrats to hold this administration accountable because Republicans did nothing while they were in power. They allowed open corruption on their watch. Vote them ALL out.
JMP, today March 07th I read something about a man, I suppose Latino, was getting released from a 20 yr stint in some ( ? state/federal ) prison in California.
Ice grabbed him right at the gate, he is in some prison camp, maybe called California City. He was expressing conditions and is now in solitary confinement within that facility. I do not know his original crime, maybe it was extreme, maybe a harsh judge. Maybe he crossed the border twice twenty odd years ago, HIs words bothered me, he said prison was much better. Also, he brought up the mental health in others confined , suicide attempts and desires, very upsetting.
To me, getting released from incarceration, he had a plan in place, and being nabbed in such a manner it kind of hits hard. Then again, my emotions may get the best of my logic at times. To be honest, I could care less if he never started getting any work done towards becoming a citizen, twenty years ago. Maybe I'm just bucking current situ.
Sounds like perhaps prison officials are cooperating with ICE, even in California. I've known many prison guards, having lived near a community with a state prison in California... the majority of them are probably Trump supporters. Whatever his crime, 20 years is harsh enough. If he gets deported, I hope he will find a better life and a road to redemption there. Sorry he, along with all the others, have to suffer the inhumane conditions at these ICE camps. This is another thing I hope the Dems will do when they retake the House - hold individual people responsible for these crimes against humanity.
Disciplinary "threats" absent follow-through lead to what therapists call "parent deafness" wherein the child only hears the "whaa-wha-whaa" sound that adults make in a Peanuts cartoon.
Start with the lying DHS Spox that spouted that stupid story, put 'em under oath and ask: "Do you assert your story as fact? Have you been instructed by a Superior regarding your testimony? If so, who?" Send the Marshalls to fetch the higher-up and repeat. Might fill a cell block by next weekend, mostly with contempt to begin with and escalating from there.
It's what he's always wanted. Lived there all his life, and the place has always treated him like the dirtbag he is. I mean, NYC knows a dirtbag when they see one.
Mamdani is handsome and charismatic. And he makes it feel like NYC likes Trump even though the day he changed his legal residence to Florida was a day NYC breathed a joyful sigh.
Thank you, Andrew Egger, for writing about Nurul Amin Shah Alam's story. The events in this man's life, from his fleeing Myanmar's genocide against the Rohingya, to being arrested for getting lost and carrying a curtain rod as a cane, referred to as a "weapon" in the case, and now this. It makes me sick. Humanity sure has a long way to go to actually live with true compassion and love.
One column will not be enough. This needs to be kept in the headlines for as long as possible. Questions must be asked about who, in particular, made these decisions that led to the death of this man. The fact that we will not SEE accountability is not an excuse to back off DEMANDING it.
Adam Kinzinger sounded the alarm on Trump rigging the election yesterday. It is the first time to see him doing so. By now, we should all expect the worst and be ready to fight back however we can.
With regards to Zohran Mamdani, my guess is that Donald Trump isn't that difficult to figure out: just flatter him in the moment and have him sign off on things immediately before he changes his mind or his handlers get to him. Mamdani knew exactly what he was doing when he brought fake newspapers and posed with him for the press. Plenty of Democrats can learn from this guy.
Also, in regards to the 2020 and 2024 elections, it strikes me that the appeal of Trump and fascism are feelings of domination, conquest, and superiority, and if there's ever a breaking point, it's when people feel vulnerable. In a way fascism works the same way cognitively as cocaine.
2020 and the COVID pandemic provided that sense of vulnerability, which made enough voters change their minds and/or feel compelled to vote for an alternative. The fact that the Biden administration had restored things to relative normalcy made Americans reach for the hard drugs again.
"I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that a triumphant Trumpism would go a long way to blowing out the moral lights around us."
It already has. The further it proceeds, the morally dimmer we get. Hardly an exaggeration.
Just look at Trump's rapsheet and the recent DOJ's attempt to hide credible Epstein accusations against Trump. Newsflash to the party of family values, you picked a very creepy man as prez.
Very creepy indeed. And we’re no longer a “shining city on a hill”, that’s not America First. The prez and his gang are blowing out the moral lights around us as fast as they can, and the rest of the world is getting out their flashlights and going around us. We’ve gone from the country they look to for leadership to the country they ignore as irrelevant.
Well it stuck in people’s heads and goes a long way in explaining how they began conflating religion and American Democracy. We sure are not an attractive example of democracy now.
The GOP left their values completely behind when they nominated Trump ss their candidate in 2024. They knew exactly what they were getting. Everyone who voted for him us culpable. I'm tired if giving a pass for being gullible, uninformed or whatever other excuse people use for their poor judgement or actual by-in. Trump has told us repeatedly who he is. There are no excuses for anyone going along with him.
That should be a main focus of Democrat ads for the midterms. Bullet point a mass of Trump's immoral behaviors, then the question - Is this really how Republicans define "family values?" Republican hypocrisy has no place in American government. It was all a sham. They do not deserve to serve our country. Vote them ALL out.
The foundation of Trumpian apologetics was an explicit choice for moral relativism, under the claim that it was instrumental to a higher purpose -- defeating "the Left."
Yesterday I heard a former evangelical say that an "ends justify the means" attitude is commonplace among white-evangelical Christian nationalists, and that's why they readily; embraced a person of low morals as the hero of their "Christian" agenda. It's clear that a similar attitude prevails among the more educated Trump-boosters.
I just have to compliment ALL of you at The Bulwark! I’m not much of a poster, but your journalism exceeds all others right now! So painful and tragic to see Mr. Shah Alam’s human, alive face knowing what he suffered. And also, so uplifting to invoke Lincoln as we head toward the midterms. This is not a time to look away or cower…it’s a time to cry and grieve and call out the cruelty while we remain strong, resolute and fight for humanity and democracy…thank you for supporting this.
"Everyone counts or no one counts". This administration in general and ICE in particular are making it clear that no one counts. Not you. Not me. Not the one's kissing Trump's ass to get what they want. No one! It is going to be up to us to make sure everyone counts.
Nothing will be done until the cost of doing nothing exceeds the cost of doing something.
The death of the man in Buffalo is not all that different than what ICE did when they decided to let people go from the Whipple Building in MPLS. There they would simply open the door and say you can now go, without warm clothing, no phones, and no notification what so ever into the cold Minnesota night. The difference here is MPLS citizens organized to give clothing, a meal, warm shelter and a ride home. Not so with that blind man in Buffalo who spoke no English.
The people of Minneapolis are wonderful. It still makes my blood boil to know ICE is even allowed to do such despicable things to human beings. They are heartless monsters. Which is now being verified as news reports are now saying Noem's ruthlessness with her dog was one example of the character Trump was looking for and one of the reasons he hired her.
Exactly. Miller wants cruelty and death. The Mini Rat Faced Facist wants "those that don't belong " to leave and others to not even consider "Coming to America ".
There's a Cancer in this country. Triple Trumpers. Suppression is possible, but it will always be here.
My sister lived in Germany during the 70's. Even then, she saw the small groups of elderly Nazis sitting, seething venom. They were powerless but not gone. Raising new haters. Biding their time. Never-ending.
There's a quote from Gone with the Wind that's hard to find, but the "good" character, Melanie, goes on a rant about how she hates Yankees so much, she will teach her children and grandchildren to hate them. And the "bad" character, Scarlett, thinks that's pretty weird and unnecessary, but everyone says Melanie is good so it must be what she's supposed to do even if she doesn't want to. The Help plays with this too, where the "good" mother is making Black people feel lesser than and ostracizing them, while the "bad" mother just goes along to get along. There's always going to be a group passing down hate to the next generation, but we have to respond by saying, no, that's not good, that is not being a good person. And everyone hates being a moral scold. And as a woman, I can't point this out without being told I'm why Trump won.
I remember more about Margaret Mitchell than the movie. I thought she had a fascinating life, especially overcoming her depression, as she was wired to lead anything but a ho-hum life.
Yes. And like a cancer, if we expect to heal as a nation, it needs to be removed and the patient needs to be evaluated for years to come to make sure it does not stealthily grow back. To ignore it would be to surrender to our own national death.
We will never be rid of them. The battle never ends. They are like seeds waiting for the right conditions, and then BOOM! They sprout up to flourish until they are hopefully smashed down. For a while………..
A reason for the CEO of Anthropic to say "OH HELL NO"- the US military, using their newest laser thingy (well known for being deadly to party balloons), show down a Border Patrol drone.
I use "edit" all the time, too. No matter how carefully I think I check my posts, I still frequently find errors or typos, or just think of something else I want to add. :)
sko - in 1973 the editor of my college daily paper told me (junior trainee night copy editor) - if these bastards would just learn to type you could go home earlier.
But he never stayed late enough to watch me type. I supplied my own yellow-out. Those 3 dots here are AWESOME! 😊
If only the Pentagon still had a real press pool, someone might ask them to explain why their policy would NOT lead to a replay of that incident, just with the opposite outcome
Sko - in our Entertainment-based media ecosystem, feels like we need Ahhnold to film an explainer on why Skynet won’t be a great idea… drawing on his series of docudramas on the subject. Would probably sway more lo-info voters than anything
Yeah, I guess those dipshits in the Border Patrol, haven’t heard of the term deconfliction of airspace. If you are going to fly an aircraft/drone/party balloon into airspace you have anti-air defenses in, you gotta inform the air defense guys. I learned about that in the Air Force. Aim High!!!
Much like another beloved writer of mine, Heather Cox-Richardson, I love how Bill’s writings are often tied in beautifully with showing the use of historical events in shining light on today’s events. I don’t think I am alone in these thoughts, yet up until ten years ago who would have thought these two thoughtful, knowledgeable writers would ever see their names grouped together in the same paragraph?
Murder. I understand that for legal or journalistic integrity reasons Adrian Carrasquillo can't refer to what's happening in detention centers as torture, and Andrew Egger can't refer to the treatment of Mr. Shah Alam as murder. But I sure as hell can!
They murdered the man. Any reasonable person would assume that dropping off a blind man in an empty parking lot in the dead of night in the freezing cold would likely result in death.
Exactly. This was supposedly the greatest country on Earth. The GOP is destroying it at an incredible pace.
And it's supposedly the party of "Christian Nationalist". If you support this, one thing is certain: you are neither a Christian nor a nationalist.
You're an immoral sadist who urgently needs treatment.
Or, in lieu of treatment, a rope and a sturdy tree.
Noemnothing should be on the scaffold as well.
You need to choose between violence and democracy.
If that's what you believe, you're part of the problem rather than the solution ;-)
Apparently the searches for "how to build a guillotine" have surged.
Remember how Robespierre, one of the leaders of the French Revolution, didn't seem to mind Madame la Guillotine being used on French citizens? And the delicious irony that he also faced her, and lost.
Tough to win that one unless you're Alice Cooper .
now you are trying to lighten the mood. good for you
A good christian nationalist would call you out for your "toxic empathy". They believe in machine gun jesus.
How can you "love your neighbor" if you refuse to cultivate empathy?
You can't.
So you can't be a Christian. It's that easy.
Yes they did. And did so with no remorse. Probably thought it was funny. Makes my blood boil.
I wouldn't put it past them to have sat outside the reach of the security cameras and watch him trying to find his way home. It was murder and someone needs to be held accountable.
They won’t be. They weren’t in Minneapolis, and won’t be here. And it’s normal for people to be released from detention without appropriate clothing nor from where they were taken from. It’s all about making it difficult for immigrants regardless of legality.
Which is why Democrats should be introducing a bill RIGHT NOW to require ICE to deliver detainees back to their home upon release. There have GOT to be some rules about how ICE is releasing people. And add into that bill a clause about demanding their papers be returned to them. ICE is not allowed to retain their only set of official papers. My God, this corruption is astounding.
I know that is their usual process and it won't stop until someone is held responsible. No, it won't happen until Trump is gone, but there's no statute of limitations on murder.
Thank God for that.
Yes, I keep saying that in regards to A Pretti and R Good, here in MN
Yes, they killed that poor man.
Agreed. Thank you to the Bulwark for covering the story about that poor man in Buffalo NY
Absolutely! I am here in Buffalo and wondering how the heck if the drug dealers of celebrities who overdose are prosecuted for murder why DHS can't be prosecuted, at a bare minimum in this man's case, for negligent homicide?
Is the DA in Buffalo planning to pursue charges or at least investigate this murder?
Thus far there has been a statement from the mayor, and state attorney general Letitia James has released a statement saying they are reviewing their options, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sent a letter to Noem seeking answers.....here on the ground locals are weighing what our options are to better protect our immigrant neighbors. The GoFundMe for Mr. Alam's family raised its goal in under 15 minutes and is still raising money, in part to cover whatever legal costs will come through seeking justice.........
I expect the phrase "callous disregard" to get a lot of use in the near future.
And the use of which the powers that be will simply disregard.
That will be the modus operandi of the administration going forward. In plain English the administration will be snuffing their cigarettes out on the judges foreheads.
Jennifer - it’s called qualified immunity 😠
No, it is murder. Where do ICE assassins think they could have "immunity" of any legal meaning, let alone "qualified" immunity? JD Vain saying it ain't gonna cut it.
Those SOBs are not qualified in anything except extra-legal actions. How many of them are J6 pardonees, or their unindicted co-conspirators, clever enough not to be caught at the Capitol?
I hope you look up qualified immunity cases because police do indeed get away with murder under qualified immunity. It’s sick.
What gives you the impression that ICE is in any legal way comparable to a police force? No training, no oversight, no nothing that controls their actions?
David - I'm incensed as well. Wouldn't a criminal charge of murder require proof of intent for conviction? If less than 1st degree, can sufficient negligence be proven here, given the agents will declare they didn't know their victim's full medical history, aren't trained meteorologists, etc.? All my life I've seen courts & juries give 'law enforcement' more than average benefit of the doubt
J AZ, why do you see a parallel between "law enforcement" and ICE? No training, no oversight. And I think, by now, most potential jurors have a very clear idea why the "benefit of the doubt" is not applicable.
And somehow, I think leaving a helpless, underclothed for the weather man outside in the dark makes a case for murder, at least in civilized countries. Here in Germany, murder convictions have been handed down and upheld on appeal in cases of cars running over pedestrians while engaged in excessive speed, usually in a macho "contest" who has the fastest rocket. At some point, the action of the perpetrator can be presumed to be so egregious that any person would have known that death could result from his/her actions. Who would be believed if s/he said, when I fired the gun at that person, knowing that live ammunition was in it, I did not know it would kill him?
I think maybe we have to reconsider the "untrained" part. Some, I'm sure, are, but the two goons who killed Alex Pretti were veteran officers. They knew what they were doing. They were trained. That wasn't the problem there. Sadism was.
My friend, my inner wolves wrestled over this situation. Sometimes I'm the dreamy idealist here. On this one, I'm taking the dark view. NOT what I wish for but what I expect will happen.
Stipulated: your legal background exceeds mine; the lawyers in my family aren't my uncle, which appears to be the relation that genetically transfers genius (as per the prezident's MIT prof level math abilities). I go by what I've read in the news about legal proceedings & outcomes, supplemented by brilliant legal commenters like Billy Bragg on the case of Rotting v. Remand (1988): "This isn't a court of justice, son. This is a court of law."
Our opinions of ICE/CPB operatives seem similar; the death of Mr. Alam involved Border Patrol, generally viewed as the most violent, least well behaved of the DHS divisions. But our opinions won't decide whether a court would allow them Supremacy Clause immunity for 'acting within the scope of their federal jobs' which they will claim - 5 U.S. Code § 8401. A local attempt to prosecute could well end up in federal court. Then what? Good explainer here: https://www.themcshanefirm.com/blogs/can-a-federal-law-enforcement-officer-be-prosecuted-by-the-local-da/ - this article is from a PA firm but the principles of fed supremacy over state would probably roll about the same in NY.
With that in mind, how would the Erie County district attorney proceed? Erie County NY is currently having some tough budget issues - see https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/politics/erie-co-legislature-passes-budget-amendments-removes-plans-for-new-sheriffs-jail-in-alden/71-d2c4ef55-14e5-4cad-a555-fb8c7f3070eb . Will the DA decide to devote tight resources to take on the federal government? Local authorities will have challenges obtaining ANY cooperation from the feds who conducted and oversaw the abuse of Mr. Alam. We know Pam Bondi doesn't have the best attorneys, but she has an unlimited budget to throw away defending administration 'heroes.'
So suppose the DA seeks a criminal indictment. Here's a case where I'd expect any local grand jury WOULD indict - would DA go for broke on murder, or the lesser criminally negligent homicide? ...cuz he's got to consider, on which would he be more sure of a conviction at trial? An elected DA taking on the DOJ will want to be pretty sure he can secure a conviction (go at the king, ya don't wanna miss)... that's IF there's a trial at local level.
All said, I'm skeptical justice will find these perpretators under our court system. The universe is vast & inexplicable to me - I do hold out a possibility that there comes a reckoning for each of us
Peace, brother - j
There is a duty to protect even the most hardened criminal, even lifers... .
Y'know, I've heard that term thrown around a lot. Qualified Immunity. I think it's time to stress test it a little. I mean, if a cop, on duty, kidnaps someone, straps him to a chair, beats the crap out of him and then, in the end, kills him, rolls the body up in a piece of carpet, puts the body in the trunk of the cop car, drives out into a cornfield and buries it, can he use as a defense that the guy "lunged at him with a weapon, thereby putting him in danger, at which point he defended himself?"
I mean, there has to be some limit on what cops can do. Just putting on the uniform doesn't give you the right to kill people, cover it up and lie about it, right?
I know this is a seriously extreme example, but I'd like these ICE guys to point to the official procedure that says that a detained person, after being determined to be legally here, shall be driven out into the middle of nowhere and dumped at the side of the road. That's not how ANYTHING works. I mean, I can understand -- I guess -- just putting the guy out the door of the police station or returning him to wherever he was picked up, but not this.
And the fact that NO ONE considered the special circumstances here: blind, non-English speaking, frail, sub-zero weather, etc. That's just reckless disregard for life if I've ever seen it.
I once felt like that, then I dated a MPLS police officer many years ago. That did not last too long, but he remained an acquaintance and I met more retired officers through him, I was only like 22 yrs old. So, I read alot and stumbled across two books that changed all my thinking of law enforcement. They are novels, so not real, but, it shone a light. both by Joseph Wambaugh.
The Choirboys, and The Onion Field. Changed me forever about some officers.
Actually it helped. I do not consider even most U S Marshalls comparable to any local deputy, trooper or detective, Later on I worked with ( weekends ) local city and county detectives, we were all making money working with concrete, they were all good guys. U S Marshalls feel a lot more empowered to push the law right up to the edge, these CBP/ICE in this current situation, I assume , well, I know, it's out of control. Those books were really good. The author was born in Pa, was a U S Marine at one point and worked withing the L A PD, the books are fiction, but of course some of it came from his persoanl experience, perhaps in attitude alone, attitude he observed perhaps.
I've read Joseph Wambaugh. I loved Echoes in the Darkness. Never read The Choirboys, though.
I would like a consensus to form around the idea that, if you decide to go into law enforcement, you should be ready for what the job is. You're going to deal with, on a daily basis, people having their worst days, with a fair number of complete losers, with people you would never associate with personally, with crazy people. Some of those crazy people will have guns and the gun/crazy combo is very dangerous.
If you don't want that kind of job, there are plenty of others you could get. But if you DO sign up for this and go through the training, then there are rules and standards and accountability associated with that badge, gun and fast car. If you don't (or can't) abide by those rules and standards, then you need to find something else to do and if you lack the self-awareness to take yourself out of the career, then your superiors need to do it for you.
will maybe do a duplicate, was not paying enough attention.
the book, The Choirboys is pointing out they are NOT choirboy off duty ( and otherwise ) many occupations have plenty of unethical participants.
The Choirboys is saying they are NOT choirboys off duty ( and otherwise )
things get out of hand. I could add this is not the only occupation where this occurs, dirty bankers and unethical behavior in many areas.
dcicero - I hope you know I’m really not arguing against you. I agree this case is egregious. My difficulty is that I’ve seen so many egregious cases reported well before this recent DHS abuse. Our legal system (NOT calling it justice system) gives far too much latitude to uniformed agents of the state over any private citizen, let alone non-citizens with legal status, let alone with no documentation at all. This flaw hits at every level of jurisdiction. The wealthy may be able to lawyer up and afford some justice. Maybe the 1%?
Any one case - maybe this one? - might gain enough traction and funding. Our system though? That takes winning a lot of seats & sustaining the reforms over some years. We have our work cut out
He's not the first to be thrown out of an ICE or CPB prison with inadequate clothes, no money, no phone and no transportation. Fortunately, citizen volunteers are keeping a watch on the Whipple Building in Minneapolis, and have rescued a few people who were thrown out wearing only light clothing. Theft of their belongings, their papers and cell phones is a given.
Well, we have been letting the police steal the belongings of the homeless for a few years now. This was the logical next step.
It's really nothing new for ICE. When my wife was going through her naturalization process, her lawyers let us know in no uncertain terms that we were NEVER to do anything to antagonize them. Those lawyers understood that ICE (at the time INS) WOULD "lose" documents and say we'd never filed them (or filed them improperly) and that was sufficient cause to stop an immigration process. There was absolutely no accountability and no one had any reason to expect any kind of professionalism out of them.
That is terrifying and I absolutely believe it.
I'm sorry. your post did NOT surprise me. Why I apologize ? I hate the power of what you and your wife were up against. power/money
there is so much double-standard between white collar crime and everyone else. I know one person, only one who went through the process, she discussed it with me in great detail. Luckily for her she was age 13 and along with her two brothers and her father they got through it, not unscathed.
I also knew a woman from Quebec who married an American citizen , they had met in Alaska. I met her on the cusp of her divorce from him, she was absolutely terrified, had also heard certain words from officials.
She lived in MN on a green card, and I assume she still does. She married a second citizen within one month. She had a five year old son, wanted to stay.
I highly doubt she has completed naturalization, but by now I'm thinking she has also obtained Canadian citizenship for her son as a backup.
To be warned, accused (falsely ) intimidated is a tactic, it is oppression in my view. I wonder if you've healed, I sure hope so. Thank you for sharing personal feelings, we all need to hear and be aware.
Anyone who thought that the regime was having a change of heart about their immigration policy was unbelievably naive. I agree with you. I would add one thing. Let's stop referring the places the snatched humans are being sent to as detention centers and call them what they are, concentration camps.
It's time to drop the polite rhetoric and honestly call out what's happening. This is our country now. We can sanewash or we can face what is happening The later is the only way we can fight it.
Unfortunately, "mainstream media" still uses sanewashing language every chance they get. Can't risk offending the MAGA base’s biggest sickos who never read or watch mainstream media anyway.
Yes. This was murder EXACTLY the way Alex Pretti's and Renee Good's deaths were murders.
Yes. Yes. Yes. I will not be satisfied until this man's death gets as much coverage and outrage as both of those cases demanded. What an ungodly trinity of evil actions by ICE and DHS.
Add that he spoke little or no English and that he was wearing cloth booties from detention.
It was probably obvious that the cafe was closed when he was dropped off.
Though they lied, saying that they had dropped him at a warm place.
Anyone know if the local police are going to do anything? Is the DA going to press charges?
So far Senator Gillibrand has written Noem and state attorney general Letitia James released a statement that her office is looking into what legal options they have for recourse. The GoFundMe set up by his family was to cover the funeral costs and then legal costs of fighting for justice for Mr. Alam, they raised their goal in about 15 minutes and locals are contributing still at quite the clip. Local activists are figuring out what we can do to better support our neighbors, and fundraisers for Justice for Immigrants are popping up all over Buffalo. I went to Mass today and we prayed for Mr. Alam's soul and for his family, in Buffalo we call ourselves "The City of Good Neighbors" and people are very shaken up........
That sounds like good progress.
This guy. If anyone ever deserved a helping hand, it was this guy. And look what happened to him.
Let's say there had been someone in the Tim Horton's. ICE dumps this guy in the parking lot. He's disoriented. People see him. I can't help but think that someone would have, at least, called 911 and certainly he would have been brought inside. I mean, he didn't even have shoes. Personally, I would have thought he was having a mental health episode and that a call to 911 would be the way to handle it. Get an ambulance out there with some trained paramedics.
He didn't speak English. I don't know what language he did speak, so, without papers, what would the cops have done? No driver's license that could have pointed to a relative or a home address. Speaking a language no one understands. Blind. Cold. Frail.
Oh my God what a mess. All caused by Kristi Noem's goons. And I'd bet a dollar she's out there today excusing all of this, yukking it up.
And Stephen Miller is enjoying it. I do not doubt that for one second. He is a sadist, but he has others carry out his sadistic fantasies.
Some things need to be known. An autopsy report is one.
Yep. And they are anonymous, like all secret police, so they dont have any accountability. This is truly Stalin style.
And not one hint about accountability. And we naturally expect NO ACCOUNTABILITY. We have been well trained in a very short time.
You may expect no accountability. They should not. The wheels of justice grind slowly but incredibly fine. There are videos and photographs galore in Minnesota, and in parking lots of closed cafés that can be used as evidence in court. Nazi guards and concentration camp helpers were still being tried in German court well into the 80s and 90, and some even in this century. The Germany created after WWII considered that to be a duty for the victims.
I hope. But we are up against Nazis who are also oligarchs.
It will take a big chunk of our national resources to unwind this, even if that’s ever “allowed”.
And you don't think that the oligarchs in 1930-1940 supported the Nazis for the same selfish, greedy reasons that the Felon's Broligarchs do? History says otherwise.
I don’t really know enough to comment one way or another. My intuition right now is that our oligarchs are global and “stateless”, and extraordinarily powerful.
They are anything but "stateless", but why would that make a difference anyway if they commit crimes in the US and have property, etc. here?
And yet any mention of ICE on Nextdoor gets an overwhelming "so, you support ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS invading our country!"
A large fraction of this country are monsters.
Yep. I see it all the time.
my own sister, I have not heard for sure, like from her. Others have told me she turned someone in with a phone call. We no longer have any relationship. She has two granddaughters that have both bore children with Latino men. Neither married when birth took place, one married someone else, the other - she lives with the father of two of her children, he is undocumented, they are not married. I asked my sister's spouse, we seldom speak - if anyone in their circle/family was alarmed or frightened, he said, well if it happens it happens. very callous. My sister, a former RN will not turn in, in my opinion, the individual who lives with her granddaughter. To me, something is very wrong with a woman who previously was a fairly active Democrat, turned maga though new church, so from the pulpit into a severe fringe attitude. In my sister's defense, why do I bother, her life has been full of past pain, challenges, barriers and upheaval. At present she is stable, well off and I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined her doing anything like this change in views.
If a civilian had done the same, they'd be arrested and charged with murder, yeah.
So, who is going to hold DHS accountable? I hope some big law firm is helping the family of Nurul Amin Shah Alam develop a huge lawsuit for wrongful death. And who in the administration is going to prosecute the ICE goons who left a blind man 5 miles from home in the middle of a cold night, after they LIED about leaving him in a "warm, safe spot?" Pam Bondi? Todd Blanche? It makes my blood boil to know that we will have to wait until after the midterms to have investigations and indictments for the people who have committed these heinous crimes. I fear they will be forgotten in the flood of unlawful activity being perpetrated by Trump and his lackeys. And where is the memorial for Mr. Shah Alam? Where are the flowers and candles and inspirational notes? I hope the fact that he wasn't a white Christian isn't the reason we are not hearing more about this. It is just as huge a deal as Good and Pretti. Please honor this man by remembering his name, too.
Adam Serwer of the Atlantic, said it best: the cruelty is the point. Which now in Trump II, extends to getting people killed.
his book was good , but too short.
Murder? It’s genocide (at least as much as what Israel did and remember immigrants did not perpetuate a massacre and take hostages even though the MAGA lords want you to believe they’re all murderers and rapists)!!!
As an old criminal law practitioner, let me correct the statement that Shah Alam was the victim of “mistreatment.” This was clearly a culpable, prosecutable homicide.
And yet; no discussion about any prosecution that I’ve seen in media.
Gregory - depending on rules in the jurisdiction, involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide, perhaps? But then there’s qualified immunity to consider…
Qualified Immunity doesn’t bar criminal charges. Those agents are scum. I arrested a lot of people, and transported them here and there over my career. The idea of marooning a person that’s almost blind in freezing weather would never occur to me, or my colleagues.
As I’ve said before, imagine what these green belly bastards are getting up to on those dark, quiet stretches of the border. That agency needs to be purged after the regime falls. ICE too, of course.
I can’t adequately express how much disgust I feel for those Border Patrol bugs.
Greg - I've personally met BP who seem decent people. Have friends & acquaintances who've witnessed BP save a life, or more generally behave humanely. It CAN happen. Also know people with first hand experiences of the other kind you envision. That happens too.
Used to be, all such happenings were like my old neighborhood - close to the border. This new regime swooping into neighborhoods all over the country... not the same ol' green, a horse of a seriously mutated color. It's not law and it's not order
I’ve known and worked with Border Patrol agents. I don’t care about then. I care about now. They are functionally a paramilitary weapon of an authoritarian. I’m sure the Schutzstaffel had some swell dudes on the payroll too.
They shot Alex Pretti to death. They dumped Nurul Amin Shah Alam on the frigid streets of Buffalo, NY, and he died a grisly death. And on, and on……….
Does QI apply to ICE? I imagine that will be battled out in court too.
As I understand it (IANAL), it applies to ICE/CBP/DHS who get lumped in as 'law enforcement' - no matter whether you'n'I see em as 'behaving lawlessly.' QI from civil suits, Supremacy Immunity for attempts to criminally charge them under LOCAL jurisdiction, cuz they're federal employees. I pasted this link elsewhere in this thread: https://www.themcshanefirm.com/blogs/can-a-federal-law-enforcement-officer-be-prosecuted-by-the-local-da/
I don't like that this is how our laws are written. Also as I posted, quoting Billy Bragg: "This isn't a court of justice, son. This is a court of law." Our work doesn't end. Keep at it!
You quoted Billy Bragg??? 😍
oh gawd please don't tell me he's flipped out like Clapton or Van Morrison!
...oh, heart eyes... phew!
I've long loved me a good cockney electric guitar busker
No, he is still the cockney socialist you love. He has avoided the far right mind virus afaik.
The death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam should outrage us and be all over the news. Absolutely depraved, needlessly cruel, excessively negligent. It's hard to put to words how angry I feel.
The way I am guffawing over the Cheap Shot this morning. Thank you, I needed that this morning. Mr Shah Alam’s tragic death has me seeing red. The blatant lying ALL of yesterday from these shitty people is just incredible. It really is amazing how much this administration has radicalized me into wanting to abolish ICE. He was a legal resident! He was disabled! But Adam Serwer’s words will be the most apt descriptors of this entire era- “The cruelty is the point.”
FOLLOW UP: On Wednesday morning, I mentioned watching a panel of swing voters in the wake of the SOTU and watching one voter claim that what excited him was the $18T in investments. That “swing voter” was a far right candidate for Senate in MI a few years ago!!
#1 Fan - CNN panels proving to be pretty sus 🤔
Making their Mama's so proud 😩
The cruelty becomes known worldwide and people will no longer come to the US as refugees. And that’s what MAGA wants.
Hell, people will no longer come to the US for business or tourism.
True. Lots of Canadians are no longer vacationing in the US.
I read your comment the other day, and was also upset, just read what you wrote a second time and you are quite accurate. Every time I get upset at anything maga, I force myself to slow down, recall that trump is immature purposefully, an attention hog, a bully and
an ' entertainer '. He happens to be U S President and that in itself irks me to no end.
but, hard for me, but I refuse to give him ALL of my own personal power, and my DAD would often say, " This too shall pass " saves me often. Ada, Serwer's book - I took it home from local library and read it twice and wished it had been longer. Not a criticism of the book, but when I finished I had thought, why is this book not longer. We must look for the good
otherwise we will go insane. I will never respect, honor or give praise ( even if he does one little thing I agree with ) to trump, he's ill. And crude, rude lude and disrespectful, that's on him
The problem is that so long as you're threatening contempt and not actually doing anything there are not actually any consequences for their lawbreaking.
Taking a cue from a couple of comments, and I usually avoid expletives, but this shit must end. Not tomorrow. TODAY. Right now. Lock up leadership. Lock up agents. Drag Miller, Noem, Homan, and Trump in front of Congress and judges. Make current and potential employees, corporate service providers, and land/building leasers question what could possibly justify this sanctioned, inhumane, and illegal behavior... and YOUR part in it. That assessment is not pretty.
yup, think back to first inauguration words from foolish trump. this/the American Carnage stops right now
yeah, right.
you are right, it is ' shit ' .
Silver Symposium:
There are dreadful consequences, just not accountability.
"Yesterday morning, ICE officers arrested a student... after repeatedly lying that they were searching for a missing child to gain access to her building."
The next time real police say they are "searching for a missing child," many people will not believe them.
Gosh, how could that possibly go wrong?
These people are such monsters.
Isn't there some law forbidding government officials from lying in the course of their duties? If not, there should be. DHS and DOJ have proven they will lie about anything and everything to try and cover their asses. I am sick of being told we must wait until after the midterms. All this crap must be hung around every Republican's neck - they are choosing to do NOTHING about this massive corruption. The ads: The country must wait for Democrats to hold this administration accountable because Republicans did nothing while they were in power. They allowed open corruption on their watch. Vote them ALL out.
JMP, today March 07th I read something about a man, I suppose Latino, was getting released from a 20 yr stint in some ( ? state/federal ) prison in California.
Ice grabbed him right at the gate, he is in some prison camp, maybe called California City. He was expressing conditions and is now in solitary confinement within that facility. I do not know his original crime, maybe it was extreme, maybe a harsh judge. Maybe he crossed the border twice twenty odd years ago, HIs words bothered me, he said prison was much better. Also, he brought up the mental health in others confined , suicide attempts and desires, very upsetting.
To me, getting released from incarceration, he had a plan in place, and being nabbed in such a manner it kind of hits hard. Then again, my emotions may get the best of my logic at times. To be honest, I could care less if he never started getting any work done towards becoming a citizen, twenty years ago. Maybe I'm just bucking current situ.
Sounds like perhaps prison officials are cooperating with ICE, even in California. I've known many prison guards, having lived near a community with a state prison in California... the majority of them are probably Trump supporters. Whatever his crime, 20 years is harsh enough. If he gets deported, I hope he will find a better life and a road to redemption there. Sorry he, along with all the others, have to suffer the inhumane conditions at these ICE camps. This is another thing I hope the Dems will do when they retake the House - hold individual people responsible for these crimes against humanity.
YES, accountability. My brother worked in a Mn state prison for twenty years, and a younger brother put in 15 and then left. both voted for trump.
One is deceased, a believer till the end. I too hope he gets out of there
it was an online article, huffington post, which I seldom read, caught my eye.
It is like a mother keeps screaming at a misbehaving child but not following through with consequences.
If only their mother's had managed them 😞
Disciplinary "threats" absent follow-through lead to what therapists call "parent deafness" wherein the child only hears the "whaa-wha-whaa" sound that adults make in a Peanuts cartoon.
Start with the lying DHS Spox that spouted that stupid story, put 'em under oath and ask: "Do you assert your story as fact? Have you been instructed by a Superior regarding your testimony? If so, who?" Send the Marshalls to fetch the higher-up and repeat. Might fill a cell block by next weekend, mostly with contempt to begin with and escalating from there.
I love that Mamdani plays the old bastard like a fucking flûte. You go, Zohran! Get it done!
He got Trump to believe that somebody in New York likes him.
It's what he's always wanted. Lived there all his life, and the place has always treated him like the dirtbag he is. I mean, NYC knows a dirtbag when they see one.
Mamdani is handsome and charismatic. And he makes it feel like NYC likes Trump even though the day he changed his legal residence to Florida was a day NYC breathed a joyful sigh.
Isn't it embarrassing that our President grins like a Cheshire Cat when flattered like that?
Whose a good boy? He's a good boy. Yes he is!
Mamdani and Putin know how to pull the strings of Trumpster. Go figure? Go for the vainness, his ego and money.
Thank you, Andrew Egger, for writing about Nurul Amin Shah Alam's story. The events in this man's life, from his fleeing Myanmar's genocide against the Rohingya, to being arrested for getting lost and carrying a curtain rod as a cane, referred to as a "weapon" in the case, and now this. It makes me sick. Humanity sure has a long way to go to actually live with true compassion and love.
Thank you for filling in those details.
You're welcome. Amy Goodman did a piece on him on Democracy Now this morning: https://www.democracynow.org/2026/2/27/nurul_amin_shah_alam
I love Amy Goodman. Glad she is on this.
One column will not be enough. This needs to be kept in the headlines for as long as possible. Questions must be asked about who, in particular, made these decisions that led to the death of this man. The fact that we will not SEE accountability is not an excuse to back off DEMANDING it.
I believe he was a Rohingya. A persecuted group in Myanmar.
Adam Kinzinger sounded the alarm on Trump rigging the election yesterday. It is the first time to see him doing so. By now, we should all expect the worst and be ready to fight back however we can.
Indeed. Cardio, cardio, cardio, and weights.
With regards to Zohran Mamdani, my guess is that Donald Trump isn't that difficult to figure out: just flatter him in the moment and have him sign off on things immediately before he changes his mind or his handlers get to him. Mamdani knew exactly what he was doing when he brought fake newspapers and posed with him for the press. Plenty of Democrats can learn from this guy.
Also, in regards to the 2020 and 2024 elections, it strikes me that the appeal of Trump and fascism are feelings of domination, conquest, and superiority, and if there's ever a breaking point, it's when people feel vulnerable. In a way fascism works the same way cognitively as cocaine.
2020 and the COVID pandemic provided that sense of vulnerability, which made enough voters change their minds and/or feel compelled to vote for an alternative. The fact that the Biden administration had restored things to relative normalcy made Americans reach for the hard drugs again.
Everything about our current situation begs for psychological analysis. The baseline is; we are unhealthy.
McRob - apt comparison ✔️
"Flattery and favors", as a smart person said it.
"I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that a triumphant Trumpism would go a long way to blowing out the moral lights around us."
It already has. The further it proceeds, the morally dimmer we get. Hardly an exaggeration.
Just look at Trump's rapsheet and the recent DOJ's attempt to hide credible Epstein accusations against Trump. Newsflash to the party of family values, you picked a very creepy man as prez.
Very creepy indeed. And we’re no longer a “shining city on a hill”, that’s not America First. The prez and his gang are blowing out the moral lights around us as fast as they can, and the rest of the world is getting out their flashlights and going around us. We’ve gone from the country they look to for leadership to the country they ignore as irrelevant.
we never were, a speechwriter of R Reagan's borrowed that from the Bible.
Well it stuck in people’s heads and goes a long way in explaining how they began conflating religion and American Democracy. We sure are not an attractive example of democracy now.
was a fantastic speech, but a better speechwriter. Reagan was a radio announcer, maybe sports when very young, even then he had a good
voice, I voted against him as I'd hear he was quite the cad out in Hollywood
( women ) not an especially present father either. Nancy was not much better
( men ) anyway he never got my admiration, he screwed Carter over
did not like his campaign. You are absolutely right it is still in people's mind
and it is not even close to being true, it is arrogance. We are safer here, never see the true horrors at home - war. I mock him, using saint ronnie.
he had charm, good ole boy.
The GOP left their values completely behind when they nominated Trump ss their candidate in 2024. They knew exactly what they were getting. Everyone who voted for him us culpable. I'm tired if giving a pass for being gullible, uninformed or whatever other excuse people use for their poor judgement or actual by-in. Trump has told us repeatedly who he is. There are no excuses for anyone going along with him.
That should be a main focus of Democrat ads for the midterms. Bullet point a mass of Trump's immoral behaviors, then the question - Is this really how Republicans define "family values?" Republican hypocrisy has no place in American government. It was all a sham. They do not deserve to serve our country. Vote them ALL out.
The foundation of Trumpian apologetics was an explicit choice for moral relativism, under the claim that it was instrumental to a higher purpose -- defeating "the Left."
Yesterday I heard a former evangelical say that an "ends justify the means" attitude is commonplace among white-evangelical Christian nationalists, and that's why they readily; embraced a person of low morals as the hero of their "Christian" agenda. It's clear that a similar attitude prevails among the more educated Trump-boosters.
Yes. The common refrain: "Jesus is my savior; Trump is my president."
Also, "faith in Jesus" apparently doesn't involve being like Jesus for MAGA Christians.
I just have to compliment ALL of you at The Bulwark! I’m not much of a poster, but your journalism exceeds all others right now! So painful and tragic to see Mr. Shah Alam’s human, alive face knowing what he suffered. And also, so uplifting to invoke Lincoln as we head toward the midterms. This is not a time to look away or cower…it’s a time to cry and grieve and call out the cruelty while we remain strong, resolute and fight for humanity and democracy…thank you for supporting this.
"Everyone counts or no one counts". This administration in general and ICE in particular are making it clear that no one counts. Not you. Not me. Not the one's kissing Trump's ass to get what they want. No one! It is going to be up to us to make sure everyone counts.
Nothing will be done until the cost of doing nothing exceeds the cost of doing something.
That gap gets narrower each day.
The death of the man in Buffalo is not all that different than what ICE did when they decided to let people go from the Whipple Building in MPLS. There they would simply open the door and say you can now go, without warm clothing, no phones, and no notification what so ever into the cold Minnesota night. The difference here is MPLS citizens organized to give clothing, a meal, warm shelter and a ride home. Not so with that blind man in Buffalo who spoke no English.
The people of Minneapolis are wonderful. It still makes my blood boil to know ICE is even allowed to do such despicable things to human beings. They are heartless monsters. Which is now being verified as news reports are now saying Noem's ruthlessness with her dog was one example of the character Trump was looking for and one of the reasons he hired her.
Exactly. Miller wants cruelty and death. The Mini Rat Faced Facist wants "those that don't belong " to leave and others to not even consider "Coming to America ".
There's a Cancer in this country. Triple Trumpers. Suppression is possible, but it will always be here.
My sister lived in Germany during the 70's. Even then, she saw the small groups of elderly Nazis sitting, seething venom. They were powerless but not gone. Raising new haters. Biding their time. Never-ending.
There's a quote from Gone with the Wind that's hard to find, but the "good" character, Melanie, goes on a rant about how she hates Yankees so much, she will teach her children and grandchildren to hate them. And the "bad" character, Scarlett, thinks that's pretty weird and unnecessary, but everyone says Melanie is good so it must be what she's supposed to do even if she doesn't want to. The Help plays with this too, where the "good" mother is making Black people feel lesser than and ostracizing them, while the "bad" mother just goes along to get along. There's always going to be a group passing down hate to the next generation, but we have to respond by saying, no, that's not good, that is not being a good person. And everyone hates being a moral scold. And as a woman, I can't point this out without being told I'm why Trump won.
I remember more about Margaret Mitchell than the movie. I thought she had a fascinating life, especially overcoming her depression, as she was wired to lead anything but a ho-hum life.
keep on scolding
Yes. And like a cancer, if we expect to heal as a nation, it needs to be removed and the patient needs to be evaluated for years to come to make sure it does not stealthily grow back. To ignore it would be to surrender to our own national death.
We will never be rid of them. The battle never ends. They are like seeds waiting for the right conditions, and then BOOM! They sprout up to flourish until they are hopefully smashed down. For a while………..
A reason for the CEO of Anthropic to say "OH HELL NO"- the US military, using their newest laser thingy (well known for being deadly to party balloons), show down a Border Patrol drone.
https://www.wtae.com/article/us-military-laser-shoots-down-cbp-drone-el-paso/70525745
Excuse the typo- SHOT DOWN a CBP drone...
Sko, whenever I make a mistake, (and I do it plenty of times!) I simply click on the three dots after my piece and edit. Works every time!
Editing is for editors.
Although I did not know there was an edit button, so thanks! ;D
I use edit all the time. I make typos a lot. Then there’s autocorrect!
I use "edit" all the time, too. No matter how carefully I think I check my posts, I still frequently find errors or typos, or just think of something else I want to add. :)
I am a hunt and peck typer, but I still make mistakes.
Yep!
I hate auto correct when it comes to names!
Some of the “corrections” are wild!
sko - in 1973 the editor of my college daily paper told me (junior trainee night copy editor) - if these bastards would just learn to type you could go home earlier.
But he never stayed late enough to watch me type. I supplied my own yellow-out. Those 3 dots here are AWESOME! 😊
Those three dots are among civilization's greatest inventions!
Hell, I reread my stuff three times and I still make mistakes!
Good catch. If you click on the 3 dots by your post and choose "edit" you can fix the original post by changing the error and then click on "save."
Another reason: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident
If only the Pentagon still had a real press pool, someone might ask them to explain why their policy would NOT lead to a replay of that incident, just with the opposite outcome
Sko - in our Entertainment-based media ecosystem, feels like we need Ahhnold to film an explainer on why Skynet won’t be a great idea… drawing on his series of docudramas on the subject. Would probably sway more lo-info voters than anything
Judging from today's AI, it wouldn't have waited as long as Skynet did to kill people...
"Google’s AI Deletes User’s Entire Hard Drive, Issues Groveling Apology: “I Cannot Express How Sorry I Am”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/google-ai-deletes-entire-drive
I'd read that story too. Sounds like HAL 9000 with upgraded Insincerity Module
Saw that news earlier. Those guys are starting to make these guys look pretty good...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx9Tovevx6w
a light moment, thanks
Yeah, I guess those dipshits in the Border Patrol, haven’t heard of the term deconfliction of airspace. If you are going to fly an aircraft/drone/party balloon into airspace you have anti-air defenses in, you gotta inform the air defense guys. I learned about that in the Air Force. Aim High!!!
Greg - their new abbreviated training may not include 'avoiding collateral damage.' The schocking & the awing is mainly the point 😬
Just so.
Much like another beloved writer of mine, Heather Cox-Richardson, I love how Bill’s writings are often tied in beautifully with showing the use of historical events in shining light on today’s events. I don’t think I am alone in these thoughts, yet up until ten years ago who would have thought these two thoughtful, knowledgeable writers would ever see their names grouped together in the same paragraph?
I suspect Bill is one of the very few political writers currently writing who will be read by the next generations.
I agree. I find myself trying to bookmark those historical links and quotes that he uses in my mind so that I can share them.
Don’t blame you. He nails it time after time.
Bill is pretty well read!