ICE Chief Calls for Congress to Discipline Dem Lawmaker for ‘Gestapo’ Remark

[babylonsister]

ICE Chief Calls for Congress to Discipline Lawmaker for ‘Gestapo’ Remark
By John Bicknell, CQ Staff


The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will ask Congress to consider taking disciplinary action against one of its members for a statement he made equating ICE agents with the Gestapo, a senior agency official said Wednesday.

Luis V. Gutierrez , vice chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee that handles immigration, has called for a moratorium on ICE enforcement actions until Congress passes a comprehensive overhaul, something it has failed to do in each of the past two years.

In a column written for Politico, Gutierrez, D-Ill., commenting on recent ICE arrests of illegal immigrants in Iowa, said: “You know who is in charge now? The Gestapo agents at Homeland Security. They are in charge.”

A senior ICE official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Julie L. Myers, the assistant secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was “absolutely appalled and deeply angered” by the statement. The official said Myers would send a letter to senior members of Congress asking that disciplinary action be taken against Gutierrez’ for his remarks.

more...

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=3&docID=news-000002935682

[TexasObserver]

1. Tell ICE: If the goose stepping jackboot fits, wear it!!

[Ian David]

2. I second that! n/t

[tanyev]

3. But if an ICE employee shows up at the next office Halloween party

wearing a Gestapo agent costume, Ms. Myers will be happy to award a prize.

[ellenfl]

4. i was just reading about the

american citizens picked up and held for long periods without outside communication . . . in total violation of law. gestapo might be too nice.

ellen fl

[babylonsister]

9. I think 'gestapo' is too nice also; I'm glad this man made ICE's

activities an issue. I just hope censure isn't considered.

[BR_Parkway]

5. Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...... just saying n/t

[KharmaTrain]

6. Luis Doesn't Take Crap From Anyone

I've watched this man's career for over 20 years...and he doesn't mince words. While he's Puerto Rican, he's become a big champion for all Hispanics and I'm hoping he's part of a President Obama administration.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. Truth hurts n/t

[Solly Mack]

8. Fuck'em.

[rurallib]

10. Is Myers the daughter of the former chair of the JCS?

I know this is barely relevant, but I believe she is. Just amazes me how the reich wing progresses incompetent offspring.

[babylonsister]

11. Yes, I think she is. nt

[Donald Ian Rankin]

12. I'm sorry, but Gutierrez was well over the line, and should be rebuked.

If you don't approve of America's immigration laws, the people to blame are those who make them, not those who uphold them.

To compare an organisation that rounded up people based on race or political affiliation and sent them to extermination camps with one that rounds up people who are breaking the law and sends them back to their home countries is not justifiable.

For a member of the government to compare the ICE to Nazis for upholding the laws they are employed to uphold is massively out of line, and he ought to apologise.

It's especially hypocritical coming from a member of the body that passes the laws the ICE are enforcing.

[Sal Minella]

13. The people arrested were chained (shackled) together and batched through the

quickie "court" process ten at a time -- is this the way our laws are written?

Anybody who bothered to read any of the news accounts would not believe this dog-and-pony show was following the laws we have on the books.

quote:
=====================================
This unprecedented criminalization of undocumented workers gave ICE totalitarian control over both administrative detention and criminal prosecution. .....Thus, attorneys specializing in immigration law were denied access to these criminal proceedings, while an immigration detainer denied workers the right to bail, which criminal defendants enjoy. Co-opted by ICE, a busy federal court stopped prosecuting meth traffickers to run arraignments 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., stretch habeas corpus and put meatpackers* in jail.
======================================
from: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/OPINION01/808050365/1036/OPINION

Anyone who thinks U.S. law was followed in this case really should read this piece. The news stories support every statement the translator makes. (The shackles chained each prisoner's wrists to his/her waist, so weeping people could not even wipe their noses.)

* "Meatpackers" refers to the illegally-hired employees -- the owners of the plant have not yet been charged, as far as I know.

--------------------------------
for further reading on the Grotesque Theatrics at Postville
http://happening-here.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-happened-at-postville.html

[The Stranger]

14. Bullshit. He has a right to speak freely.

If the Gestapo over at Homeland Security doesn't like it, then that is just too bad.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

17. Think about that for a second.

"He has a right to speak freely". It sounds so reasonable, but what you're actually saying is "no member of Congress should ever be censored for anything they say".

He should, indeed, be permitted to say what he wants, but equally Congress should be permitted to rebuke him for doing so.

[EFerrari]

19. You mistake ICE for an agency that is upholding the law.

They way they round up people BASED ON RACE and herd them shackled and cuffed IN GROUPS for ILLEGAL HEARINGS without benefit of counsel sure sounds like Gestapo tactics to me.

1. The German internal security police as organized under the Nazi regime, known for its terrorist methods directed against those suspected of treason or questionable loyalty.
2. gestapo pl. ge�sta�pos A police organization that employs terroristic methods to control a populace.

[CitizenPatriot]

15. so it's OK to ACT like the Gestapo

but if someone says the word Gestapo, then THEN we punish them?

If they take action against him or this, but leave Bush et al free to golf and kill, it will be the height of hypocrisy.

I it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it is a fuc*ing duck. Sorry.

[devilgrrl]

16. LOL! It's like kids in at a playground anymore.... BTW, ICE behaves like the Gestapo.

:hi:

[bdf]

18. Comparing ICE to the Gestapo is a vile calumny

The Gestapo were good at their job.