Chuck Darwin“In the long arc of our immigration enforcement history, Minnesota will be the major inflection point,”
Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow with the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute, told the Guardian.
“Accountability, at least the beginning of accountability, started in Minnesota after the death of Pretti.”
Now, the reckoning over ICE’s recent shooting of #Sosa #Celis has marked a stark shift for the agency.
Instead of applauding the officers as heroes in the face of clear evidence casting doubt on their statements,
as Kristi Noem, the recently ousted homeland security secretary, used to do,
#Todd #Lyons, the ICE director, has said the officers involved were put on administrative leave and may face dismissal or criminal prosecution themselves for making false statements.
“Lying under oath is a serious federal offense,” an ICE spokesperson said in an emailed statement to the Guardian.
“The US attorney’s office is actively investigating these false statements.
Upon conclusion of the investigation, the officers may face termination of employment, as well as potential criminal prosecution.”
The shift has cast a spotlight on accountability at an agency that gained notoriety for its recklessness and impunity over a year-long campaign targeting Democratic-led cities including Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Chicago.
“I would characterize it as baby steps and symbolic oversight, at least so far,”
said Gabe Sanchez, a researcher at the Brookings Institution.
“But it would appear that there is some movement toward accountability.
We’re moving in the right direction.”
The question now hanging over the agency is whether those changes will signal a real shift toward greater accountability and transparency,
or simply a softer tone coupled with goodwill gestures.
Ken Everett (Ken's Blogspot)
MusiqueNow 
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