Leah Litman

a federal statute authorizing an ICE officer to do A, B, or C, the federal law is going to win out.

But that just means those cases come down to, was the ICE officer acting within the scope of their powers?

Were they doing things that were reasonably necessary to carry out their responsibilities?

I think from videos, it is clear they are going way beyond that.

But

That's just part of what makes those cases difficult is they are often litigated in terms of, was the officer doing something that is reasonably necessary to carry out their duties?

And it's not often that you have, frankly, this brazen or this widespread of federal officers so systematically going –

beyond the scope of their duties.

And so the fact that we haven't seen that many state prosecutions of federal officers, that's just because historically, you know, the federal government doesn't behave like this.

That was so galling to read.

I mean, I cannot imagine being a person who was willing to move forward with an investigation into the widow of the shooting victim.

Rather than the person that shot her, you know, this is very much part of their campaign to dehumanize, you know, their victims.

It doesn't really matter who the victim is if you get in their way.

Their view is you've lost all of your rights.

You've lost your humanity.

And they can just tar and feather you with whatever label strikes them as convenient.

And they will lie their way through it and use the full force of the federal government to try to do so.

That was one of the more horrifying, I think.

things that has come out about this administration and an administration that finds new horrors every hour of every day.

And for me, during the first Trump administration, the child separation policy was one of the more just horrific, grotesque policies.