The lawless are enforcing the law
The immortal words of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago seem oddly pertinent this morning:
“The policeman isn’t there to create disorder; the policeman is there to preserve disorder.”
Two videos that fluttered over the transom last night turn Daley’s malapropism into truth-telling in a time when truth lies bleeding out in the gutter. For those unfamiliar, Daley was defending Chicago Police who were busting the heads of anti-war protesters in Grant Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Decades later, the police determined to preserve disorder in Chicago are Kristi Noem’s ICEmen. They seem less like lawmen than thugs Noem recruited from prison gangs. Handed federal authority, they behave as though intoxicated with it. Working for ICE, they get to bust heads under color of law and draw bonuses for doing it. All while committing crimes with reckless abandon and unqualified immunity.
Set aside for the moment the fates of the victims of ICE/CBP manhandles in these two videos from Chicago. Focus on driving that would promptly land you or me in jail.
The first clip comes from digital creator Erubiel Espinoza. Agents are in the process of detaining someone while neighbors honk their horns in disapproval. Several unmarked vehicles block the street, including a white Jeep Wagoneer(?) sitting crosswise across the street. The Wagoneer whips around in an arc away from the camera into the opposite lane and into the path of a passing (black) sedan that impacts the Wagoneer on the passenger side.
The Wagoneer pulls forward. CBP agents pour out, guns drawn. They yank the stunned and screaming woman driver out of her vehicle, throw her to the pavement and arrest her for the accident they caused. CBP drives off with the victim, leaving her wrecked car in the middle of the street.
The second video from Friday morning you have likely seen. ICE arrested WGN News editor/producer Debbie Brockman for another alleged “assault on a federal law enforcement officer” (Chicago Tribune):
On Friday evening, WGN issued a statement that its employee had been released from ICE detention.
“Earlier today, a WGN-TV creative services employee was detained by ICE,” the station said. “She has since been released, and no charges were filed against her. Out of respect for her privacy, we will have no further statements about this incident.”
But again, watch the masked ICEmen drive as if they are legally bulletproof.
An unmarked silver Chrysler minivan (New Jersey tags) sits angled in the street, partially blocking traffic. A black Chevy SUV sits partially blocking the ICEmen’s exit. It’s not clear if the woman driver is blocked from moving by the Chrysler and other traffic. They shout at her to move, but it’s not clear that she can. So the ICEmen drive away, tires squealing as they sideswipe her car and tear off the bumper.
I would be charged. You would be charged. But the lawless are enforcing the law.
In a society of laws, both incidents of reckless property damage would require the victims be made whole. Good luck with that. The first incident, I’m told, was reported to the Chicago Police Department.
But the most disturbing story from Friday night comes regarding the apartment raid on the South Shore. Author Madiba Dennie announced ominously on Bluesky, “aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage.”
From the Chicago Sun-Times:
Amid the smoke bombs and screams that ricocheted throughout a South Shore building last month during a massive military-style immigration raid, one man heard a knock on his door.
On the other side was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for his help.
“I wasn’t planning on letting her stay, but I didn’t know what the hell was going on,” the man said of his Venezuelan migrant neighbors. But he quickly relented. The little girl was inconsolable and hid under his bed.
“I didn’t want them to take her,” said the man, who didn’t want to be named because he fears he’ll be targeted by federal authorities for his actions.
“I gave her my bedroom, and I just told her, ‘Just stay there. Don’t open, don’t, shh, just stay quiet,’” he recalled telling the mom and daughter as he choked back tears.
The man was wise to remain anonymous. The government may come looking to charge him anyway.
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