Memphis Residents File Lawsuit Alleging ICE Is Violating Constitutional Rights

While the wide-scale operations conducted by ICE and Border Patrol have largely wound down due to the nationwide backlash over the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers, that is not the case in Memphis. ICE continues to have a pronounced presence in the city as part of a task force with local law enforcement. Sadly, it comes as no surprise that a group of Memphis residents has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over how federal agents have conducted themselves in the city. 

You’d think the widespread negativity against ICE would make the task force act on its best behavior, but when have weak men ever acted responsibly when given a modicum of power? 

The New York Times reports that the lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the Memphis residents focus on how federal agents have treated citizens while they’re acting as lawful observers. In a series of sworn declarations in court, the citizens provided photos and videos showing what they alleged to be violations of their First Amendment rights by federal agents. 

From The New York Times:

In their declarations on Thursday, the residents accused agents of trailing them home in unmarked cars, taunting them by name and threatening them with arrest while they record traffic stops or other law enforcement activity. Their work, they said, is not just about documenting how federal agents are conducting themselves in Memphis neighborhoods, but also about helping inform the relatives of those who are detained.

The interactions have been complicated by a Tennessee law that passed last year, which requires people to move at least 25 feet away from police officers if they are told to back up. (News outlets have separately sued over the law, arguing that it is vague and could interfere with reporting.)

Hunter Demster, a longtime Memphis activist who filed a declaration on Thursday, estimated that the law had been invoked at least 40 times against him, and said that he was often given conflicting instructions on how far back to move. It has made it difficult to record, he said, infringing on his constitutional rights.

“I’m not trying to get in the middle of any action. I’m just there with a camera and eyeballs, and it’s important because we have got to have some accountability,” Melissa Peeler, 58, who joined the lawsuit, told the Times. “If I’m not out there, I’m just putting my head in the sand, and that’s not right either.

Natalie Baldassarre, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said in a statement that the agency denies the allegations and that it would not “tolerate any action that puts our law enforcement officers at risk.” 

Y’all are literally patrolling the streets with military-grade weapons. How the hell do people armed with camera phones put your officers at risk? The dual narrative that ICE and Border Patrol agents are simultaneously a force to be feared and the most delicate little snowflakes is getting to be exhausting. 

Scarlet Kim, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU, told The Times that lawful observers are necessary because often the Trump administration isn’t telling the truth. One needs only to look at how they tried to lie on Renee Good and Alex Pretti to get where Kim is coming from. 

“A lot of times the narrative that the government is telling is not correct, and we’ve been relying a lot on people on the street lifting up their phones and recording what’s happening for the public to really understand what federal agents are doing,” Kim told The Times. 

One of the (many) downsides of a Trump presidency is that so much insanity is happening regularly that something like ICE’s continued abuses of power falls out of the public consciousness. Just because ICE seems to be moving more quietly over the last few months doesn’t mean that they’re not still in our streets harassing citizens and undocumented folks alike.

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