Growing number of veterans face arrest while protesting ICE raids
US military veterans increasingly face arrest and injury amid protests over Donald Trump’s deportation campaign and his push to deploy national guard members to an ever-widening number of American cities.
The Guardian has identified eight instances where military veterans have been prosecuted or sought damages after being detained by federal agents.
The latest incident occurred in Broadview, outside Chicago, where 70-year old air force veteran Dana Briggs was charged with felony assault on a federal officer on 29 September.
A widely shared video on social media shows a masked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agent advance on and knock over the elderly veteran during a protest outside an Ice detention center.
Federal prosecutors claim Briggs committed assault when he “made physical contact with an agent’s arm while the agent attempted to extend the safety perimeter”.
Briggs pleaded not guilty and was released on an appearance bond.
Jose Vasquez, a former US army staff sergeant and executive director of the progressive veterans’ organization Common Defense, which counts Briggs as a member, said veterans like Briggs “have stood up at Ice protests and faced arrest because we recognize a pattern of state-sanctioned abuse”. [Continue reading…]
On July 10, I headed to my security guard job at a Camarillo (Ventura County) cannabis farm, not knowing that it was being raided by federal officials looking for immigration violations.
A 25-year-old American citizen, father of two and an Army veteran who served a tour in Iraq, it didn’t occur to me that I was in any danger. As I approached the farm, a protest was underway, with cars bumper-to-bumper, and people walking along the sides of the street. Eventually, I came to a line of masked agents blocking the way.
As a contractor, if I don’t make it to my job site, I don’t get paid. I got out of my car and tried to explain that I was a U.S. citizen and an Army veteran just trying to get to my job.
They didn’t care.
When they started walking toward me, I got back in my car. But soon, they were banging on my door and gave opposing directions to “pull over to the side” and “reverse” while also trying to open my door. I was able to reverse and get out of the way, but then agents started using tear gas to disperse the protesters, which filled up my car and left me choking.
Again, they approached the car and told me to reverse, but I couldn’t even see where I would be going. And again, agents contradicted themselves, telling me to back up and trying to open the door. Suddenly, an agent smashed my window and pepper-sprayed me. I was pulled from the car, and one agent knelt on my neck while another knelt on my back.
My wallet with my identification was in the car, but the agents refused to go look and confirm that I was a citizen. Instead, I sat in the dirt with my hands zip-tied with other detainees for four hours. When I was sitting there, I could hear agents asking each other why I had been arrested. They were unsure, but I was taken away and thrown in a jail cell anyway. [Continue reading…]