Weekly Spotlight: Did ICE Direct Agents to Skirt the Fourth Amendment?

ABUSING POWER AND RIGHTS

Stunning allegations about ICE arrest tactics

(Illustration: Ren Velez/ POGO)

A whistleblower disclosure sent to Congress and obtained by the Associated Press alleges the existence of an internal ICE memo that authorizes agents to forcibly enter homes without a judicial warrant, in stunning violation of constitutional law. The Fourth Amendment puts inviolable limits on the government’s ability to break into and search your home. It enshrines the fundamental right to privacy and due process for every person in this country to prevent exactly the kind of lawless, invasive, and blatantly racist targeting we are witnessing from ICE today. Congress and the courts must intervene to determine if this memo is indeed being used to train new ICE recruits and greenlight arrests on administrative warrants alone, as the disclosure suggests, and ensure ICE is not violating constitutional rights. POGO is urging Congress to use every avenue available, including the appropriations process, to rein in this unhinged agency.

• Tell-tale signs: In Minnesota, there are multiple reports of federal agents breaking and entering homes without a warrant.
• Whistleblower disclosures are invaluable and a crucial defense against government abuse and corruption. It’s crucial, for the public’s sake and its own, that Congress strengthen protections for whistleblowers and safeguard the independence of the Office of Special Counsel so civil servants feel compelled to come forward with the truth.

Insurrection Act threat continues to loom large

In a recent interview, President Trump backtracked his threat to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to anti-ICE protests in Minnesota, saying that while he doesn’t think it is necessary yet, it would “make life a lot easier” by allowing him to deploy active-duty troops in American cities. His step back from the brink should be taken with an entire shaker of salt: according to reports, members of the 11th Airborne Division and military police are being put on standby for deployment to the state. This week marked one year under the second Trump administration — a year of unconstitutional, indiscriminate, secretive, and increasingly violent immigration enforcement operations across the country, all of which occurred against a backdrop of reduced oversight. As ICE and Border Patrol begin a new operation in Maine, it is crucial we continue to push for accountability and defend your constitutional rights.

• “The Insurrection Act should only be invoked in the most extreme circumstances. That is not what’s happening here,” writes POGO’s David Janovsky. Read his statement on pogo.org.
• POGO has long urged lawmakers to reform the Insurrection Act, which lies about, ripe for abuse by an overreaching president “like a loaded weapon.” Read our recommendations for Congress on why and how it must rein in this antiquated and overly broad law.

DEPARTMENT OF (IN)JUSTICE

A criminal investigation

A day after appealing a ruling that sought to limit the violent tactics federal agents are using against protestors in Minnesota, the Justice Department issued subpoenas for several Democratic officials in Minnesota — all of whom had in some way criticized the administration’s crackdown in the state — in a criminal investigation that reportedly accuses them of engaging in a conspiracy to impede immigration operations. As we have seen many times over now, retaliatory investigations are becoming a signature tactic in the administation’s playbook for dealing wth its critics. We cannot live in a country where civil servants are scared to stand up in defense of the public’s safety, rights, and well-being for fear of having the weight of the DOJ brought upon their heads. The people deserve a Justice Department that deals in justice and not revenge.

• James B. Comey, Letitia James, Lisa Cook, Jerome Powell, the hit list goes on: A non-exhaustive list of officials who have been targeted by the DOJ.
• Dig Deeper: The Department of Justice’s Broken Accountability System, Brennan Center for Justice.
• Related: In a crucial step toward accountability, a judge has blocked the FBI from reviewing the materials it seized from a Washington Post reporter’s home last week. The raid on the journalist's home was a dangerous and unacceptable affront to the freedom of the press. The courts must force the materials to be returned to the reporter immediately to draw a clear line: the government cannot censor the press by outright stealing reporters’ work.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Fraud is a systemic problem. It demands systemic reform

(Photos: Getty Images; Illustration: Leslie Garvey / POGO)

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that there could be between $233 to $521 billion of government spending squandered to fraud every year. The Feeding Our Future fraud case that has drawn the attention of the nation would only account for about 0.01% of total fraud at the high end of this range. At a hearing on public fund fraud this week, POGO’s Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette argued that while no amount of fraud is acceptable, focusing on one sensationalized instance is political theater and not a real attempt to fix the problem. Only systemic reform would quell the widespread fraud in our government. Read our recommendations to Congress.

• We understand the extent of government fraud in large part due to the work of the GAO. Oversight mechanisms like GAO, the inspectors general system, and whistleblower disclosures are crucial to uncovering and curbing fraud. Each of these internal safeguards has been undermined and attacked by the current administration. Congress must act to protect and strengthen these entities, so fraud, waste, corruption, and abuse don’t go unnoticed and unaccounted for.
• In the news: Catch coverage of Dylan’s testimony in the Washington Examiner and NewsNation.