<[link removed]>



ICE expands surveillance state in new and awful ways



So on Nov. 12, we learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was going
to hire bounty hunters to track down immigrants and feed them to ICE. But what
if government officials made that much, much worse? Welcome to this week.

Fam, is it a good sign of a healthy democracy if the government starts paying
people to snitch on their neighbors?

404 Media is reporting that ICE is recruiting ex-military and ex-law
enforcement officers to—you guessed it—track down immigrants and feed them to
ICE. For their troubles, they get $300 for every person whose address
they—allegedly, come on!—verify and then turn over to the gaping, vicious maw
of ICE.

Sure, this is theoretically limited to ex-military and ex-cops, but those
folks aren’t magically still in the military or law enforcement. They’re
private citizens with no particular expertise, and there is certainly no reason
that this can’t just expand to anyone who is willing to take $300 a pop to
surveil and betray their neighbors.




 



No sugar-coating it: Daily Kos needs your help. Can you chip in $5 today?
<[link removed]
On Record&addr1=&city=Cedar Knolls&state=District of Columbia&phone=>

Donate $5
<[link removed]
On Record&addr1=&city=Cedar Knolls&state=District of Columbia&phone=>

 



Where the bounty hunter thing was extremely bad, at least in that situation,
ICE would be giving names to licensed professionals who track people down for a
living. Yes, the bounty hunter industry is already marred by a lack of
oversight and rife with abuse. But at the bare minimum, they are also people
who literally track down other people for a living and have a license to do so.

But since that doesn’t seem to be enough, it’s now time to just throw open
the doors—and toss some cash—to anyone craven enough to do this. 404 Media
found that at least one government contractor appears to be soliciting
applications via LinkedIn. It’s somehow grimly hilarious that this is all
taking place on the world’s most boring social network, the place where CEOs
burble on about their “rise and grind” routine. Wouldn’t this sort of thing be
more successful over at X? It’s already a Nazi bar, so it seems like it would
be a dandy place to find terrible people.



It’s not a stretch to say that you can draw a direct line from SB8, the Texas
bounty hunter law, to this awful plan. In that instance, Texas empowered
literally anyone to sue someone who aided or abetted someone obtaining an
abortion. This weaponization of private actors has led to things like a dude
suing his ex-wife’s friends because they may have helped her get a medication
abortion.




 



No billionaire backers, no paywalls. Daily Kos news exists because of YOU, our
donor community. Now, we need your help. Please donate today.
<[link removed]
On Record&addr1=&city=Cedar Knolls&state=District of Columbia&phone=>

Click here to donate $5 today
<[link removed]
On Record&addr1=&city=Cedar Knolls&state=District of Columbia&phone=>

 



In Texas, if the abortion bounty hunters prevail in court—and the law is
written so that it is nearly certain they would do so—they get at least
$10,000. Whoo! Makes that $300 per immigrant look pretty paltry. To get your
money in Texas requires a trial, but to get your ICE money, you just have to
slide over some addresses.

There’s no information on what happens if, as is completely inevitable, some
ex-deputy sheriff in need of some extra cash turns over the wrong person
accidentally. And of course, there’s no information as to what happens if, as
is also completely inevitable, someone decides to deliberately turn in someone
they know full well is not undocumented, either for harassment, a quick buck,
or both.



Can these random ex-cops be successfully sued? They’re not federal agents,
they don’t work for the government at all, and they’re not licensed to track
people down. This should be a slam dunk, with these folks getting sued into
oblivion for taking part in this. Somehow, though, it seems unlikely that there
will be any consequences.

The people who will do this are going to be the absolute worst people in the
world.

Imagine getting hyped to turn your neighbor over to the most vicious, lawless
government agency of our lifetime. For $300.

What a paltry sum to sell your soul for.



Click here to check out this story on DailyKos.com.
<[link removed]>




 



We're not asking for much



The average donation to Daily Kos has been just $9.44. These donations may
seem small, but they're a big deal to us. In fact, they are our largest source
of income. We literally couldn't do the work we do without them. Can you join
thousands of other Daily Kos readers and help us with a donation of $9.44 right
now?

Donate $9.44
<[link removed]
On Record&addr1=&city=Cedar Knolls&state=District of Columbia&phone=>



 



You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Daily Kos.
To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe
<[link removed]>
ormanage
<[link removed]
On Record&city=Cedar Knolls&state=District of Columbia&country=United
States&metadataCustom=testunsub> which newsletters you receive.