Hard Pass

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42033604

Sat 17 Jan 2026 08.00 EST

Two protesters have been blinded by so-called “less-lethal” munitions deployed by federal officers during an anti-ICE protest last week in Santa Ana, California, according to reports.

Widely seen video recorded at the Santa Ana protest showed a homeland security agent shoot Kaden Rummler, 21, in the face with a less-lethal munition at a distance of only a few feet. Doctors found glass shards and plastic fragments in his skull and a fragment of metal lodged just shy of his carotid artery.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/hOoeb ]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/40573684

"While masked officers terrorize communities—smashing into cars, harassing citizens, and inflicting violence with impunity—Trump’s corporate backers are laughing their way to the bank."

Wed 21 Jan 2026 16.08 EST

The tactics of the federal force, too, have grown more aggressive and indiscriminate. Armed officers have appeared at schools, daycares, churches and mosques. Masked agents are stopping residents at traffic lights, or on their walk to the grocery store, demanding – at gunpoint – that they prove their citizenship.

The agents are targeting not only undocumented immigrants, but also those with legal immigration status and valid visas, US citizens and tribal citizens. On Tuesday, a group of local law enforcement officers said even their agents were being pulled over, reporting that off-duty police officers of color had been stopped and questioned at gunpoint by the administration’s immigration force.

“These masked men with no regard for the rule of law are causing long-term damage to our state and to our country,” said the mayor of Lewiston.

Just a year and a half ago, Senator Rand Paul sponsored a bill that would make it illegal for federal government employees to ask internet companies to remove any speech. Now, in a NY Post op-ed, Paul proudly announces that he did exactly that—formally contacting Google executives to demand they remove a video he didn’t like.

Lawyers, journalists, and others are alarmed by an internal US Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo claiming that ICE agents can forcibly enter a private residence without a judicial warrant, consent, or an emergency.

A medical examiner has determined that an Cuban migrant held in solitary confinement at an immigration detention facility in Texas died as a result of homicide.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42034383

Wed 21 Jan 2026 16.08 EST

The tactics of the federal force, too, have grown more aggressive and indiscriminate. Armed officers have appeared at schools, daycares, churches and mosques. Masked agents are stopping residents at traffic lights, or on their walk to the grocery store, demanding – at gunpoint – that they prove their citizenship.

The agents are targeting not only undocumented immigrants, but also those with legal immigration status and valid visas, US citizens and tribal citizens. On Tuesday, a group of local law enforcement officers said even their agents were being pulled over, reporting that off-duty police officers of color had been stopped and questioned at gunpoint by the administration’s immigration force.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42034557

Wed 21 Jan 2026 21.24 EST

When she arrived, Stenvik said the father’s car was still running and the father and son had already been apprehended. An agent had taken Liam out of the car, led the boy to his front door and directed him to knock on the door asking to be let in, “in order to see if anyone else was home – essentially using a five-year-old as bait”, the superintendent said in a statement.

Stenvik said another adult living in the home was outside during the encounter and had pleaded to take care of Liam so the boy could avoid detention, but was denied. Liam’s older brother, a middle schooler, came home 20 minutes later to find his father and brother missing, Stenvik said. Two school principals from the district also arrived at the home to offer support.

Marc Prokosch, an attorney representing the family, said the family has an active asylum case and shared paperwork showing the father and son had arrived to the US at a port of entry, meaning an official crossing point.

“The family did everything they were supposed to in accordance with how the rules have been set out,” he said. “They did not come here illegally. They are not criminals.” He said there was no order of deportation against them and he believes the father and son have remained together in detention.