Arizona Sheriff Gets Shitty Because People Protested An ICE-Led Drug Raid

Legal Issues

from the dogs,-fleas,-laying-down-with,-etc. dept

What a surprise. The most intellectually dishonest people in the nation still have the biggest bullhorns. That’s why a regular-ass drug raid that occurred in Tucson, Arizona somehow makes headlines in New York City. Here’s the New York Post, disingenuously reporting the (Arizona) news:

A massive raid on a suspected cartel member found in Arizona with a huge stockpile of drugs and guns was interrupted by “idiots” who thought it was “an ICE raid,” according to a sheriff.

Investigators had spent around six months investigating the unidentified cartel member, who had crept back into the country despite previously being deported, according to Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple.

When they finally raided his home in southwest Tucson late Wednesday, they found millions of fentanyl pills as well as 32 pounds of cocaine, 22 pounds of meth, four guns — and some unexpected opposition.

“Here’s the crazy part — some idiots, thinking it was an ICE raid, came down and protested,” the sheriff said.

While the protesters may have looked a bit out of place protesting what appears to be a legitimate “worst of worst” raid performed by law enforcement, they’re hardly idiots. The raid was led by ICE agents with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Department in tow, which is why it probably looked exactly like just another ICE raid performed for the sole purpose of ejecting brown people from this country, whether or not they’ve committed any criminal acts.

Of course, New York’s cop-friendliest paper (and that’s in a city that also hosts the New York Times) doesn’t limit itself to burying the lede. It ensures the most damning contradiction of this sheriff’s manufactured outrage doesn’t even make it into print. If someone reads nothing but the Post’s coverage, they might come away thinking protesters are protesting literally any law enforcement activity. You have to visit the links contained in the article to see why protesters might have thought this was just another bullshit immigration raid:

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office and ICE agents were executing a search warrant for narcotics violations at a home in the area of Irvington and Midvale Park.

That important information is contained nowhere in the NY Post’s “reporting.” That’s an essential part of the whole — something the sheriff willfully ignored just so he could call anti-ICE protesters “idiots.”

ICE raids draw crowds these days. And ICE has no one to blame but itself for this outcome. Sheriff Ross Teeple is the real idiot here, something that can be inferred from his full comment to local reporters:

“Last night, we had people protesting a drug bust,” Teeple said. “These idiots came out and protested us getting 5 million fentanyl pills off the streets. They don’t have individual thought, they have group think.”

Group think? Really? This is coming from a law enforcement officer who likely believes firmly in the power of the “thin blue line” and definitely thinks he and his agency should never face protests or criticism for partnering with ICE to conduct raid of homes. Being in law enforcement is the very definition of “group think.” This is why when one cop fires a gun, every other cop in the area tends to open fire as well, even if they haven’t personally experienced anything approaching a threat to their lives or safety. This is why there’s a code of silence that permits bad cops to carve out decades-long careers despite repeated misconduct. And this is why the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has been permanently sidelined by the group-thinkiest, most pro-cop president we’ve ever had the misfortune of seeing ascend to the Oval Office. (Twice!)

If you don’t like your law enforcement stuff being mildly inconvenienced by the presence of protesters, just opt out of partnering with ICE. You’re under no legal obligation to contribute to its anti-immigrant actions. If you’re just there to bask in the reflected glory of a drug bust that happens to involve a migrant, suck it up. But with ICE being the focal point of protests across the nation, it’s extremely stupid to put the public on blast because you’ve failed to realize you’ll often be judged by the company you choose to keep.

Filed Under: donald trump, ice, immigration, mass deportation, pinal county sheriff, ross teeple