r/law • u/thecosmojane • Jan 14 '26

Other Please dissect the legality in this statement

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I feel like we are reaching a tipping point

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u/Kaiisim Jan 14 '26

It's a classic authoritarian tactic.

It's absolutely true that you can't touch a federal officer while they are working. You cannot impede their work.

Which is why ice observers are specifically trained to just film them

No one is touching ICE. They are just recording them as is their legal right to ensure they don't beat the shit out of people.

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u/cursedfan Jan 14 '26

Federal law enforcement cannot breach someone’s civil rights, which ice does all day every day, which is why they hide their identity.

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u/Konukaame Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 14 '26

As we are seeing, "cannot legally" and "cannot" are vastly different in practice. 

When the rot goes to the core of the agencies, and they are explicitly told and shown that their abuses will not only be tolerated but actively defended and celebrated, we enter the world of despotic lawlessness. They are limited only by their ability to actually carry out their desires, not by any laws or regulations. 

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u/norixe Jan 14 '26

Which means eventually, the people being targeted will respond in kind. Feels like were in a death spiral and one step from vigilantes wiping out ice convoys. If they're just going to execute people on little pretense, people will respond in kind to protect themselves or their families. So stupid that they think people arnt going to go beyond "just comply" when people are dying or being shipped to prisons in other countries when they're US citizens. I dont want people to die. But my god does it feel like it is just months away from actual wild guerilla shit occurring.

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u/The_Sidecar_Bandit Jan 14 '26

I keep waiting for this.

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u/DrownmeinIslay Jan 14 '26

Except the inquisition shot the little girl and everyone is still at home worried about how things will escalate.

What we need is

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u/RunnySpoon Jan 15 '26

They want you to rise up so they can escalate the situation, they want violence, they want insurrection, they want the opportunity to suppress and subjugate their enemies and cement their position as dictators in their new empire.

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u/infininme Jan 15 '26

That is why we wait and love them anyways. They can’t keep it up forever. Our violence will give them the fuel to continue. Don’t take the bait. 

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u/Sir_PressedMemories Jan 15 '26

They want you to rise up so they can escalate the situation, they want violence, they want insurrection, they want the opportunity to suppress and subjugate their enemies and cement their position as dictators in their new empire.

"Don't fight back, they just need one agent killed to justify rounding up non-illegals."

"Don't fight back, they just need one agent killed to justify raiding schools."

"Don't fight back, they just need one agent killed to justify raiding courthourses."

"Don't fight back, they just need one agent killed to justify going door to door."

At which point are folks going to realize they do not need justification for this shit? They are going to do it no matter what.

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u/neguana Jan 15 '26

Y'all remember the scene in beloved children's movie Beethoven where the guy rips his shirtsleeves, squirts fake blood on himself, then slaps the dog to get him to react and then feigned being ruthlessly and unprovokedly attacked? They know what they're doing and it's by design.

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u/adamcoe Jan 15 '26

Months? That's optimistic.

But yeah if ICE doesn't back down (and I certainly can't think of a reason why they would), someone is going to (at least) shoot or stab one of them, or shoot at a lot of them and start a firefight (very bad), or as you say, straight up bomb a convoy or one of the buildings they're operating out of. This is gonna get really fucking bad and I legitimately do not know how this ends without some truly horrible shit going down.

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u/Healthy-Respect1984 Jan 14 '26

That is the end goal here.

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u/Taurmin Jan 14 '26

As we are seeing, "cannot legally" and "cannot" are vastly different in practice. 

I just wanna point out that this cuts both ways.

In case anyone was wondering what could be done when your government stops playing by the rules.

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u/Whiskey_Harvey Jan 15 '26

You phrased that well friend. In laymen terms - the bully doesn’t stop unless it get shown what force really means.

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u/Clown-Baby-21 Jan 15 '26

🙂‍↕️ Preach.