The story below shows how lawless and belligerent ICE has gotten. The laws and the legal authority of a judge mean nothing to them. There is a video at the link below.
On a personal note I have a doctor’s appointment this morning for steroid injections. Depending on how it goes I may need them for the next three months. I will try to do a video to explain as it is too hard to type out. I am way too tired starting from when Ron and I had what we think is Covid a few months ago. Hugs
“If they had the wrong person, then they didn’t know who they were looking for, which calls into question whether they had the legal right to seize anybody,” Weizenbaum said. “It’s very frightening.”
Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos referred to the ICE agents’ actions as an “attempted abduction,” adding that it only emphasizes “the danger of flooding our streets with masked thugs who can’t tell the difference between a hardened criminal and a high school student.”
A Rhode Island Superior Court intern was briefly taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Providence Thursday afternoon before a judge intervened, according to the state’s Judiciary office.
The student, a high school intern at Superior Court, was reportedly detained by the agents outside the Licht Judicial Complex on Benefit Street.
Superior Court Judge Joseph McBurney insisted the agents had the wrong person. It was not until ICE verified their information and admitted the intern was not their intended target that he was released.
Multiple sources told Target 12 that Rhode Island sheriffs earlier noticed someone taking photos of the intern inside the courthouse and in Superior Court Judge McBurney’s courtroom. When approached, the individual identified himself as an ICE agent and was told to abide by standard courthouse rules, and to stop taking pictures.
The intern was reportedly shaken, so McBurney offered to drive him home. ICE agents then surrounded the judge’s car and demanded everyone to exit the vehicle, threatening to smash in the windows if they did not comply.
Dana Smith, Head of Security Operations for R.I. Superior Court, confronted the agents and told both the judge and the intern to stay inside the car. After an argument, ICE confirmed they had misidentified the teen and left. The intern was released once his ID was checked.
Community reaction
“This egregious incident underscores both the community’s and the Judiciary’s concerns about how ICE is conducting its operations in Rhode Island,” R.I. Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell said.
Citing that climate, Suttell said the Judiciary understands recent calls to expand the use of virtual court hearings in Providence.
“The need to balance constitutional considerations, the public’s right of access, and the integrity of testimonial and evidentiary processes do not allow for a fully virtual court system,” Suttell said. “What occurred today, however, reinforces the Judiciary’s need to focus on ways to enhance access to virtual hearings and to educate the public as to how to request such hearings.”
Attorney Miriam Weizenbaum was outside the courthouse as the intern was being detained.
“If they had the wrong person, then they didn’t know who they were looking for, which calls into question whether they had the legal right to seize anybody,” Weizenbaum said. “It’s very frightening.”
Gov. Dan McKee described the intern’s wrongful detainment as being “an outrageous and indefensible act that could have completely upended a young person’s life. “
“Rhode Islanders should not have to fear federal agents operating with such reckless disregard for the law and human dignity,” McKee said. “This was not a harmless mistake. It was the direct result of callous and chaotic policies by the Trump administration. Moreover, ICE’s failure to exercise even a shred of due diligence is shameful and underscores just how broken and dangerous these federal policies are.”
McKee said he supports the judiciary’s commitment “to enhance access to virtual hearings and promote safe access to courts.”
Rep. Seth Magaziner called the incident “completely unacceptable.”
“This is yet another example of the disregard for civil liberties by immigration enforcement under the Trump administration,” Magaziner said, adding that he will “continue to call out the administration’s reckless actions.”
Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos referred to the ICE agents’ actions as an “attempted abduction,” adding that it only emphasizes “the danger of flooding our streets with masked thugs who can’t tell the difference between a hardened criminal and a high school student.”
Matos commended Judge McBurney for using his position to speak up, while condemning those who continue to support ICE.
Tim White (twhite@wpri.com) is Target 12 managing editor and chief investigative reporter and host of Newsmakers for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.
California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business.
Federal agents stand guard while blocking a road leading to an agricultural facility in Camarillo, Calif., where federal agents and immigration officers carried out an operation on July 10.Daniel Cole / Reuters file
LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration filed a lawsuit Monday over California’s new laws banning federal agents from wearing masks and requiring them to have identification while conducting operations in the state.
The federal government has argued the laws threaten the safety of officers who are facing “unprecedented” harassment, doxing, and violence and said it will not comply with them.
California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business under a bill that was signed in September by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The law prohibits neck gaiters, ski masks and other facial coverings for local and federal officers, including immigration enforcement agents, while they conduct official business. It makes exceptions for undercover agents, protective equipment like N95 respirators or tactical gear, and it does not apply to state police.
Newsom also signed legislation requiring law enforcement to wear clear identification showing their agency and badge number while on the job. The laws require federal law enforcement agencies to issue a mask policy by July 1, 2026, and a visible identification policy by Jan. 1, 2026.
“California’s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release.
The lawsuit said there have been multiple incidents where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were followed and their families threatened. It cites a case of three women in Los Angeles who are being accused of livestreaming while following an ICE agent home and posting the address on Instagram.
“Given the personal threats and violence that agents face, federal law enforcement agencies allow their officers to choose whether to wear masks to protect their identities and provide an extra layer of security,” the lawsuit said.
Newsom has called the practice of masked federal agents arresting people across the state “dystopian.”
Critics have raised concerns about the increased role of federal agents in local policing and often unidentified agents conducting immigration enforcement activities.
“If the Trump administration cared half as much about public safety as it does about pardoning cop-beaters, violating people’s rights, and detaining U.S. citizens and their kids, our communities would be much safer,” a spokesperson for Newsom’s office said in a statement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a memo in October to law enforcement agencies across the country advising officers to clearly identify themselves in the field. It cited several incidents where masked criminals posed as immigration officers robbed and kidnapped victims.
The federal government also said in its lawsuit that the laws violate the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits states from regulating the federal government. It said the law banning federal officers from wearing masks discriminates against the federal government because it exempts state police.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said it was reviewing the complaint.
“It’s problematic when Californians can’t tell the difference between a law enforcement officer who is charged with protecting them and a criminal who is attempting to cause them harm,” Bonta’s office said in a statement. “The FBI itself has warned that the practice of ICE agents obscuring their identity has led to a rise in copycats committing crimes, threatening public safety and eroding trust in law enforcement.”
December 20, 1946 The morning after Viet Minh forces under Ho Chi Minh launched a nighttime revolt in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, French colonial troops cracked down on the communist rebels.Ho and his soldiers immediately fled the city to regroup in the countryside. That evening, the communist leader issued a proclamation that read: Ho Chi Minh, Paris 1946 “All the Vietnamese must stand up to fight the French colonials to save the fatherland. Those who have rifles will use their rifles; those who have swords will use their swords; those who have no swords will use spades, hoes, or sticks. Everyone must endeavor to oppose the colonialists and save his country. Even if we have to endure hardship in the resistance war, with the determination to make sacrifices, victory will surely be ours.” The first Indochina War thus began.
December 20, 1960 North Vietnam announced the formation of the National Front for the Liberation of the South (usually known as the National Liberation Front or NLF), designed to replicate the success of the Viet Minh, the umbrella nationalist organization that successfully liberated Vietnam from French colonial rule. National Liberation Front flag Ho Chi Minh biography(2 separate links)
December 20, 1990 Kansas reservist Dr. Yolanda Huet-Vaughn refused orders to serve in the first Gulf War (Desert Storm) and was later sentenced to prison. The Kansas medical board withdrew her hospital privileges.“The issue was not whether I belonged in the military but whether the military belonged in the Middle East waging war. I did not want to focus on the personal decision. I was trying to focus on the decision for which each and every American would have to be responsible.” — Yolanda Huet-Vaughn What if they gave a war and nobody came?
December 20, 1994 100,000 Chechnyan civilians linked hands in a 65 km-long human chain (40 miles) to protest the Russian invasion of their country and attack on their capital, Grozny. Read more (It’s a NYT; if you can’t get it see it at Wikipedia.)
December 20, 1999 The Vermont Supreme Court rulled in Baker v. State of Vermont that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex. History of the Freedom to Marry
Scottie's Playtime 