A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history. wired.com
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The decision to use an offensive, heavily armed paramilitary unit for street-level immigration sweeps in American cities is a first, and a bellwether of the Trump Administration’s project to militarize domestic law enforcement operations. 🔗 wired.com
BORTAC and BORSTAR’s uses of force in Chicago included punching and kicking protesters, throwing tear gas, macing civilians, firing pepperballs and 40mm foam rounds into crowds, shocking people with tasers, unleashing dogs, and shooting unarmed civilians, killing at least one of them.
“It’s clear the administration likes the optics of BORTAC—the long guns, the camouflage, the body armor … [However], it’s malpractice to have paramilitary teams try to impose order by force,” John Sandweg, the former director of ICE from 2013 to 2014, tells WIRED. 🔗 wired.com
This violence tracks with a loosening of the Border Patrol’s use of force guidelines following former CBP head (and longtime BORTAC member) Gregory Bovino’s directives. Read the full story: wired.com
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