The constitutional boundaries governing immigration enforcement are clear, and the Constitution protects U.S. citizens from warrantless arrests, baseless detention, and certainly from physical abuse by federal agents, yet the alarming details emerging from a recent incident in Houston suggest that, for some in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), these distinctions are becoming dangerously meaningless.
According to the Houston Chronicle, what began as an early morning traffic stop quickly pivoted into a shocking display of violence, against U.S.-born teenager, Arnoldo Bazan and his father; as a now viral video shows the pair being beaten, choked, and subjected to racial slurs by ICE agents—an incident that now stands as a vivid example of the agency’s increasingly illegal and abusive behavior, emboldened by an environment of anonymity.
The encounter unfolded as the 16-year-old and his father, Arnulfo Bazan, were driving through southwest Houston on their way to school. According to the teenager’s account during a news conference organized by the local immigrant-rights group FIEL Houston, the pair was pulled over by a vehicle that bore no clear markings of law enforcement…