Heidi Li Feldman

Important reporting on the paramilitary forces being used by DHS in American cities. https://www.wired.com/story/border-patrol-bortac-borstar-use-of-force-midway-blitz/ 1/

‘BORTAC and its sister unit, Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue, or BORSTAR, were once reserved for desert rescues, executing high-risk warrants, conflicts with armed drug cartels, and manhunts.’

Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown

A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history.

WIRED
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Show threadHeidi Li Feldman6h ago
‘THE AGENTS SENT to Chicago—and Los Angeles, North Carolina, Boston, Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Sacramento—come from a secretive, tightly knit world. Their names … are typically excluded from official documents and shielded from public records requests. In the streets of American cities, they are usually masked, identified only by “call signs” that are sometimes visible on their uniforms and mean nothing to people demanding badge numbers.’ 2/
Show threadHeidi Li Feldman6h ago

‘BORTAC and BORSTAR agents are not police—they are paramilitaries who operate by a different standard and with different rules of engagement, trained and suited not for law enforcement but for war.

A WIRED review of over 78 incident reports from Operation Midway Blitz found that BORTAC and BORSTAR agents were, as a group, the most violent of the hundreds of federal agents deployed to Chicago.’ 3/

Show threadHeidi Li Feldman6h ago
‘Of the 234 federal law enforcement personnel WIRED identified in these reports, BORTAC and BORSTAR agents represent almost a quarter of all personnel involved in documented confrontations with civilians during Operation Midway Blitz.’ 4/
Show threadHeidi Li Feldman6h ago
‘Hennepin County attorney Mary Moriarty is actively investigating 17 separate incidents involving federal agents for potential criminal conduct. At least two of those incidents—the January 21 gassing of a crowd in South Minneapolis and a chaotic enforcement action outside Roosevelt High School—involve BORTAC personnel, per videos and photographs taken on scene.’ 5/
Show threadHeidi Li Feldman6h ago
‘Under Donald Trump..they have been sent into the streets of major US cities. The result is the largest known deployment of BORTAC and BORSTAR agents in US history….The decision to use an offensive, heavily armed paramilitary units for street-level immigration sweeps in American cities is a first—a bellwether of the Trump administration’s project to militarize domestic law enforcement operations.’ 6/6
Show threadBrent Guernsey, Artrocity Studio5h ago

@heidilifeldman

Sounds like Russia's OMON paramilitary police that Gorbachev sent to kill people in the breakaway Baltic states.

Show threadTom von Alten5h ago
@heidilifeldman The new brownshirts.
Show threadJohn Carlsen 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇪🇺4h ago

@fortboise @heidilifeldman

Hitler had brownshirts.

Trump has brown shorts.

Show threadDan Cross2h ago

@heidilifeldman much as I appreciate this reporting, I want to point out that these BORTAC and BORSTAR people are _also civilians_. They may be engaging in some kind of quasi-military cosplay, but they're not recognized combatants in an armed conflict, nor members of some military service. They are, therefore, civilians.

This is not your fault, of course, but I really wish that journalists would stop referring to general members of the public as "civilians" when writing about these things.

Show threadJohn Carlsen 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇪🇺5h ago

@heidilifeldman

I'd sure like to know why this doesn't violate the Posse Comitatus Act, and why the Act isn't used to stop this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

Posse Comitatus Act - Wikipedia