ICE Agents Violently Attack Texas Teens On Their Way To Enlist As Marines

Maybe immigration agents are just perfectly OK with being publicly perceived as the Trump administration’s Gestapo. Perhaps they’re unbothered by millions of people across the country believing they’re government-sanctioned manhunters who scour the countryside looking for brown people with accents to pounce on, while their DHS handlers lie to our faces about them engaging in targeted operations to rid America of “criminal illegal aliens.” Sure, they care enough to conceal their identities with masks or take off as soon as onlookers’ cameras come out. They certainly care enough to attack civilians for filming them. But they don’t seem to care enough about being perceived as violent bullies who target Black and brown people at random to, well, stop being violent bullies who target Black and brown people at random.

This week, two teenagers, who are U.S. citizens, told Telemundo they were on their way to file enlistment papers to join the U.S. Marine Corps when they were violently attacked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who they said pepper-sprayed them, beat them, and detained them for nearly eight hours before letting them go. According to Telemundo, they were allegedly filming ICE agents who were arresting parents outside of Santos Livas Elementary School in Alamo, Texas.

Video footage of the incident shows an agent yanking one of the teens from their car and punching him repeatedly in the face while he lay on the ground, while the other teen, identified as Luis Ochoa, walked away from the vehicle in distress, appearing to be affected by the pepper spray. Luis said he told the ICE agents he was a citizen but was told, “I don’t give a damn.… Your parents can’t help you now.”  

Luis reportedly said he’s rethinking his decision to enlist in the Marines, and his mother told Telemundo, “How are they supposed to serve a country that doesn’t even uphold their basic rights?”

The issue is really two-fold: the agents are violent, volatile, and out of control, and the Trump administration has no interest in holding them accountable or allowing local law enforcement agencies to hold them accountable. If it’s true that these agents simply don’t care how they’re perceived, it’s because they know their actions carry no real consequences.

It’s really that simple.

SEE ALSO:

Is ICE A Terrorist Organization? Intelligence Expert Malcolm Nance Explains

Lawsuit Filed Against ICE In Maryland Over Warrantless Arrests [Op-Ed]