It Was Inevitable

The recent use of deadly force by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent that occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota has thrown the nation into widespread protests once again. Recall that Minneapolis was the site of the death of George Floyd who died after coming into contact with Minneapolis police officers.

You know how this works. After the death of someone at the hands of a law enforcement officer, subversives on the American left begin organizing staged protests. They are able to summon a mob of people to show up at moments notice. They are well funded. The goal is to overwhelm government’s ability to adequately respond our counter. Government operates from a reactive position early on and usually for the entire event. Media shows up and films events from the mob’s perspective. One that portrays the mob as peaceful people just out exercising their first amendment right to protest. Any footage they can capture that shows a first responder using any kind of force is exploited without objectivity or balanced descriptions. The response to this shooting by an ICE agent is no different.

This use of force was going to happen and not because these agents are itching to use force. In my view ICE agents have been putting up with too much for too long. They have absorbed assaults, they have been doxxed, they and their families have been subjected to threats, they have been made into villains and all with no assertive response. That is not an effective counter to this violence. These groups are reservoirs of hate and violence. Their goal is to foment violence and to initiate contact with agents. They want the physical fight. These are not your typical peaceful protestors regardless of how they or the accomplice media defines them. These are well organized and well funded insurrectionists using guerrilla warfare type tactics used to topple governments in third world countries. I am encouraged that President Trump has indicated that he may invoke the Insurrection Act in Minneapolis if he has to, in order to keep the peace. They want to burn our republic down. This is a rebellion. It is important to identify this for what it is, otherwise, the wrong tactics and resources will be applied. The mob has seen that the response so far from the government has been tepid at best.

Assaults against these officers has risen 1300% since these operations began about a year ago. Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice have issued numerous warnings about holding people accountable. In one instance, a memo warned the agitators not to cross the red-line. What and where exactly is the red line? This mob has not only crossed the red line, but they have also sprinted past it and still no effective counter response.

Asking ICE agents to fulfill their mission in the face of this opposition makes their’s an impossible task. They are getting no help for the most part from state and local law enforcement because local Democrat politicians have turned this into a political fight against the federal government. Local law enforcement would be very helpful in covering ICE agents flanks as they are attacked as they search for and arrest illegals. Instead, ICE must use their own limited resources that thins their ranks not to mention that these agents are not really trained to do that type of enforcement. We are talking about mob or riot control.

So, we end up with a situation where ICE agents must resort the use force to protect themselves because the mob continues to raise the ante. Irresponsible political rhetoric has dehumanized these agents. This sends a message that it is all right to attack and assault agents.

Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement now realize that they are going to have to use a higher level of force to keep themselves safe. That is job one. In four different instances agents who were under attack have applied deadly force, twice in Portland and twice in Minneapolis. In one of the incidents in Minneapolis an agent shot and killed a woman who weaponized her motor vehicle and drove at the agent after being given several orders to stop her car and get out. It is a classic case of not complying with a lawful order given by an officer. It has been reported that she had received anti-ICE training. Really? Who is conducting this training and who is funding it? This is part of the intelligence gathering operation that I hope is going on to dismantle the infrastructure of this insurrection

I have reviewed numerous videos of the incident. While that is only one piece of the investigation, I am qualified to make some assessments early on. I have investigated many officer uses of deadly force as a detective with the Milwaukee Police Department. I have interviewed involved officers and made conclusions to the local district attorney reviewing the shooting to decide if it was justified or not.

I do not want to hear from the cop hating group, talking heads on television or news reporters. None of these folks know what they are talking about. The only thing that matters to determine whether it was justified is the legal standard. That legal standard is codified in a landmark Supreme Court Decision named Graham versus Conner. In a nutshell it says that officers are faced with making split second decisions under circumstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving. The officer’s use of force cannot be judged under the lense of 20/20 hindsight. It further says that determinations of its reasonableness must be made under the objective reasonableness of a law enforcement officer on the scene who used the force, not what you or I should have done or would have done but what that officer did taking all the facts and circumstance into account.

Taking into count what the Graham v Conner finding says, it is easy for me to determine at this stage that the ICE agent using deadly force did so to save himself from death or great bodily harm of being struck or run over by a car. It was justified.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is former Sheriff of Milwaukee Co, Wisconsin, President of America’s Sheriff LLC, President of Rise Up Wisconsin INC, Board member of the Crime Research Center, author of the book Cop Under Fire: Beyond Hashtags of Race Crime and Politics for a Better America. To learn more visit www.americassheriff.com