Dateline, Minneapolis:
There’s a new clip going around of federal agents in Minneapolis that feels like comic-book-villain-level police work. It’s hard to watch without wondering if those “targeted” immigration enforcement operations we hear so much about aren’t just targeting Good Samaritans.
Source: Posted by the incomparable muckraker and multi-hyphenate actress, Tina-Desiree Berg.
“Not Starting?”
You can actually make out the audio here. The soon-to-be-arrested guy asks if the car it isn’t starting, which is an easy problem for any handy person to solve. The undercover federal agent is honestly delivering an Oscar-level performance to lure him into a trap.
She says “It isn’t starting, and it’s making some weird-ass noise.”
Classic, I bet Ted Bundy delivered that exact line to lure victims into the same kind of trap.
Which you know, honestly, if you’ve ever worked on a car in freezing weather, that’s a familiar complaint. The engine is trying to turn over, but doesn’t have the juice. Battery’s dying, it’s cold outside, easy fix with jumper cables (particularly when you have a big-block vehicle like that fine pickup truck in the driveway). Maybe she knows that, maybe she doesn’t, but he thinks he can help, so he sticks around.
This part makes my stomach sink. The trap relies on a basic human impulse: you see someone stuck, you help. That’s especially normal in the Midwest, where “car trouble” is commonplace in wintertime and basically a community event.
“Don’t Move, Don’t Move, Don’t Move”
The arrest footage looks like overkill. Three vehicles, plus the “broken down” honeypot vehicle. Something like a dozen agents. All to capture one unarmed car guy.
No clear announcement of what’s happening, by the way. No visible “stop, we are the police” moment. Just a swarm of armed folks in masks descending on one unlucky Good Samaritan while shouting “don’t move” repeatedly.
Speaking of which, whatever happened to police identifying themselves? Neither of the original two agents with “engine trouble” are badged, obviously. But neither are any of the goon squad that I can tell, and this seems like an optimal setup for mistaking federal agents as random criminals or kidnappers, which is dangerous for everybody.
Even if you think this type of immigration enforcement is good policy, this tactic is bad practice. It escalates risk for everyone involved, including bystanders who have no idea what is happening and might try to intervene to help their neighbor, and it makes every future roadside interaction a little more paranoid.
“Hey, What’s Your Name?”
The abducted man replies when someone shouts to him “hey, what’s your name?” that his name is Arturo.
Just effing rough to listen to.
Unclear if the question is be asked by a federal agent, in which case it’s a big old problem that they don’t know his identity as the feds claim they are proceeding with “targeted” arrests of immigrants.
It could just as easily be an off-camera Good Samaritan though, looking to either provide legal aid or at least comfort for the rest of the family who will not know where their disappeared family member has been taken.
This Sure Doesn’t Look Like the “Worst of the Worst”
DHS loves to talk about targeting the “worst of the worst.” Fine. Sounds like bullshit, but whatever.
Federal agents need to act like they’re going after dangerous people if they’re going to make claims like that.
They need to announce themselves as law enforcement. Use marked units, wearing badges and not wearing masks. Don’t turn ordinary decency into a liability, and don’t risk the agents being mistaken for common criminals or carjackers, with whatever unpredictable consequences that has.
