from the accountability-is-the-ultimate-threat dept

The DHS has been hyping assault stats for weeks, making it sound like there’s an actual war on ICE officers. The reality was much more underwhelming: the 700% increase touted in press releases reflected a mere 69 more assaults on officers than during the same period in 2024. Hardly worth remarking on, especially since ICE enforcement activities have exponentially exploded during the same time period as the agency does everything it can (legal or not) to hit Trump advisor Stephen Miller’s 3,000-arrests-per-day quota.

But anything opposed to ICE must be portrayed as dangerous, if not a direct, literal assault on the law and law enforcement officers. Presenting context-free stats and referring to any protest as “violent” aids and abets Trump’s martial law plans for the nation by justifying the administration’s decision to send a few thousand soldiers to Los Angeles, California.

It’s only going to get stupider and more dangerous. Dell Cameron of Wired was given access to a recent bulletin issued to law enforcement by the DHS. The document was obtained via a public records request by nonprofit group, Property of the People. (The group has yet to post the document at its site, however, so we can’t actually see it for ourselves at the moment. But click through anyway, because it may be posted by the time this post has been published on Techdirt.)

The bulletin apparently kicks off by blaming the media for inflaming hatred towards ICE and creating an atmosphere conducive to “embracement of anti-ICE messaging.” Noem’s DHS would never, under any circumstances, suggest it might be Trump’s policies, as well as ICE officers’ insistence on hiding everything but their eyes during raids, that might be causing this, um, “embracement” of anti-ICE sentiment.

After making far more credible points about a small minority of protesters who may be armed with anything from glass bottles to rocks to “paint-filled fire extinguishers,” the bulletin moves on to portray pretty much anything anti-ICE protesters do as “violent tactics.”

[T]he guidance urges officers to consider a range of nonviolent behavior and common protest gear—like masks, flashlights, and cameras—as potential precursors to violence, telling officers to prepare “from the point of view of an adversary.”

Protesters on bicycles, skateboards, or even “on foot” are framed as potential “scouts” conducting reconnaissance or searching for “items to be used as weapons.” Livestreaming is listed alongside “doxxing” as a “tactic” for “threatening” police. Online posters are cast as ideological recruiters—or as participants in “surveillance sharing.”

If the DHS actually believed these assertions, it could just be dismissed as paranoid ravings from an agency headed by someone who desires the same white-centric nation most of Trump’s administration does. And, of course, that will always be partly true as long as Kristi Noem heads the agency.

But it’s far more likely the DHS doesn’t actually believe the bullshit it’s spouting, but recognizes the purpose it serves. And one of those purposes is premeditated justification of engaging in unprovoked violence against protesters. It also appeals directly to the “us vs. them” mentality so many law enforcement officers at every level possess. This bulletin tells them they’re right to direct violence at anyone using more than their feet to move around, as well as anyone seeking to document the violence cops are perpetrating against their fellow citizens.

This is escalation masquerading as an intelligence briefing. Cops seldom need an excuse to start rioting, but this bulletin — one that comes backed with the implied law enforcement expertise of the Department of Homeland Security — gives them plenty of excuses to start cracking heads and violating rights just in case they need something more than “just because” when protesters start inconveniencing ICE’s kidnapping squads.

And every situation needlessly escalated and every unnecessary confrontation provoked might result in a violent reaction, which will keep that snowball rolling until might is the only right this government is willing to recognize.

Filed Under: dhs, ice, jric, mass deporation, police accountability