Heidi Li Feldman9h ago

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
Show threadHeidi Li Feldman9h 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 Feldman9h 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 Feldman9h 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 threadDan Cross

@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.

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