Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents grab college students and migrants from American city streets, igniting fury over reckless tactics. Plainclothes agents, lacking uniforms or visible badges, use unmarked vehicles to detain people like a Tufts student in Massachusetts and a Columbia graduate in New York, often targeting visa holders tied to protests. Fears are rising that unclear identity risks deadly mix-ups. Some warn that a detainee, mistaking agents for thugs, might claim Second Amendment self-defense, sparking violence. Communities demand clarity as tensions climb. With over 32,000 arrests since January 2025, debate rages: lawful action or wild overreach? The nation braces for what looms in this heated clash.
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The scenario applies to “normal” situations as well.
If an undercover cop comes running up at me, one or all of the following applies:
1. He’s waving a gun.
2. He’s waving a badge.
3. He’s shouting “I’m an undercover cop!”
Break it down. There’s no way to verify any of these conditions in the moment of the attack. Is it a real gun? Is the badge fake? Is there any non-cop who cannot claim falsely to be a cop? But, heck, let’s take out the undercover aspect. Who here can, with confidence, identify a real police uniform? And who here couldn’t come up with a credible-looking duplicate? Not something that would pass rigorous inspection, but something good enough to lull someone into compliance for just a couple of seconds of indecision?
I’m surprised the police unions allow these sorts of things to happen. I’m surprised there aren’t a lot of dead cops — and not from desperadoes or drug dealers. “I was on my way to my hairdresser for my perm. Some man came running up at me, so I did what the NRA taught me: six in the center of mass, reload with the speed cylinder, then check the situation. There wasn’t time to have an encounter session. I was scared to death. I literally thought he was trying to kill me.”
Do ICE operatives have to show a badge when asked … or is it really Gestapo II?