We heard last week President Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan announced Operation Metro Surge was coming to an end. No matter how you feel about immigrants and illegal immigration, there seems one simple question we should all ask and demand those responsible for it answer.
Was it really worth it?
Fortunately, New Prague didn’t see even a sliver of what happened in Minneapolis. Yet the agency is keeping an eye on our neighbors in rural communities.
There are many questions associated with this announcement. We should demand answers to questions like: When and how many Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and border patrol agents will leave Minnesota? Will we see the results of inquiries of people killed by ICE agents and will they be held accountable? What happened to the innocent people ICE arrested during Operation Metro Surge? How does the government justify arguably ignoring people’s constitutional rights? How much did Operation Metro Surge actually cost?
ICE came to Minnesota in December to arrest the socalled ‘worst of the worst’ criminals who came to the United States illegally and committed serious crimes here. Illegal aliens who enter this country the first time are guilty of a misdemeanor offense, a crime on par with a parking ticket, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website. People deported and return illegally are guilty of a felony offense under U.S. code. In the 10 weeks of the operation, ICE and border patrol agents arrested about 4,000 people, Homan said.
According to FactCheck.org, “In January, nearly 43% of those detained had no convictions or charges, according to publicly available ICE data. Meanwhile, people arrested by ICE with criminal convictions — not merely pending charges — fell from 44.7% in Trump’s first three months to 31.8% in the three months ending in mid-October, according to FactCheck. org. Administration officials claim most of those without charges in the U.S. have convictions or pending charges in their home country, but DHS has provided no data supporting the claim.
What is also distressing about Operation Metro Surge is the sledgehammer with which ICE ignored people’s constitutional rights. We are, still, a country of laws and rights. The agency decided it can issue itself administrative search warrants, not warrants issued by a judge, to break into peoples’ houses and businesses and arrest people and arguably deny them due process.
Friday, Feb. 13, The Hill reported a federal judge in Minnesota found ICE isolated detainees in Minnesota from seeing their attorneys, ruling the action likely violated their constitutional rights. Aliens have reportedly been denied a constitutionally-guaranteed bond and deportation hearing. The agency has been accused of violating peoples’ rights under the first, fifth, 10th and 14th amendments.
“The Constitution does not permit the government to arrest thousands of individuals and then disregard their constitutional rights because it would be too challenging to honor those rights,” U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, a Trump appointee, wrote in her decision last week.
North Star Policy Action says the 10-plus week Operation Metro Surge cost taxpayers $18 million per week. A city of Minneapolis study says the economic impact of Operation Metro Surge exceeded $203 million. Small businesses bore the brunt of the impact.
This amount doesn’t include any potential settlements with the families of Renee Nicole Good or Alex Pretti – the two people unnecessarily killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. Sadly, published news reports indicate the state had to take court action to prevent the federal government from destroying evidence related to the two shootings after the federal government declared Good and Pretti “domestic terrorists” and the federal government would investigate itself with a predictable outcome.
Operation Metro Surge wasn’t ended solely because of its cost. With the congressional mid-term elections on the horizon and President Trump predicting his third impeachment and possible removal from office should the Democrats take control of the Congress during a House GOP retreat last month, a PBS national poll indicates 60% of Americans don’t approve of masked, unidentified heavily-armed law enforcement breaking into houses and businesses arresting people, including children and people who aren’t the target of the surge, and denying them constitutional rights. We know the polls matter.
Well, was it worth it?