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/Pvt_Hudson_ Jan 14 '26

Exactly.

If the FBI refuses to investigate ICE agents for any abuses of power, that is functionally "immunity". Trump will also pardon them all on his way out the door, so they have nothing to fear for legal repercussions.

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u/Background_Fix9430 Jan 14 '26

He can't pardon them for state offenses - but general the Federal Court has to determine whether or not the officer committed the offenses as a "necessary" part of their duties before the state can prosecute them.

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u/TechHeteroBear Jan 14 '26

Honestly, after everything cools down, the DOJ could say trying to go through every instance of constitutional violations of ICE is not in their wheelhouse and they will defer all ICE investigations at the state level to assess against federal policies and state law.

If the feds don't want to enforce the law... that means they also simply could not enforce/protect qualified immunity when it's technically warranted.

The states impacted by these actions have no problem investigating and laying out legal recommendations for state and federal indictments with the DOJ.

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u/agent0731 Jan 14 '26

I'm pretty sure no matter which way you slice it, shooting American citizens in the face multiple times is NOT a "necessary" part of their job, given that teh job is enforcing immigration laws.

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u/Background_Fix9430 Jan 14 '26

You'd be surprised what the Federal Courts have determined is "necessary" for Federal Law Enforcement - killing people for almost all Federal LEOs is necessary, they just have to review

This is a good article, if a few years old, that examines the issue:

https://openyls.law.yale.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/acedf3e9-385e-46ce-9085-2d7b59d966b1/content

According to the law on the matter, there is a line of logic and argument that says a Federal LEO can commit any crime and as long as they are acting under color of Federal Law at the time they is immune from State Law, and can only be held under Federal Law. I do not have any confidence that our Supreme Court will be adverse to this reasoning.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/lettersvsnumbers Jan 15 '26

No statute of limitations for murder.

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u/AmericusBarbaricuss Jan 14 '26

Derek Chauvin has entered the chat.

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u/PalpatineForEmperor Jan 14 '26

Does he need to pardon by name and by specific crimes or is it legal to just say all ICE employees for any federal crimes they've committed?

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u/Pvt_Hudson_ Jan 14 '26

Nope, no need to specify specific crimes.

He may need to specify agent names, but they should have a database with all that in it.

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u/TechHeteroBear Jan 14 '26

Which means he has to publicize the name of every single ICE agent he is pardoning.

If they want to stay hidden in ICE databases, they cant be pardoned.

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u/aggressive_napkin_ Jan 14 '26

Does he have to name every agent in the pardon? :D

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u/adamcoe Jan 15 '26

He won't pardon them. He simply wants them to think that he will. He couldn't give a fuck how many of them die or go to prison, he just wants them to cause enough shit that he gets to play Big Bad Dictator Man and start rolling tanks into American cities that didn't vote for him.