Reflecting on Mari’s kind words in the introduction, I wanted to reciprocate. I recently described her to my wife this way: 'Mari is the only person I’ve known who can make me feel intellectually intimidated—not because she’s trying to, but because she has a way of finding the holes in my knowledge and making me want to fill them.' I find this still happens frequently; even now, I rarely finish one of her articles without discovering a new horizon to explore.
Oh wow, I have tears in my eyes! I am so honored by this comment! As a teacher, I can think of no finer tribute than that I inspired you to learn more about something! Sincerely, I am so touched!
This is a fantastically informative piece, but I feel (well, suspect without any solid evidence) that the problem is less the how than the why. Specifically: while it's bad that ICE agents have utterly inadequate training, the deeper problem is that the agency seems now to be geared towards recruiting people who very much want to beat immigrants up. The fundamental problem with the Brownshirts wasn't lack of training, either.
Somehow, I doubt Renee Good's murderer went home that night feeling disturbed and traumatised by his actions.
I've frankly been waiting for someone to make this point.
I don't disagree with you. The character of the people hired is a major question in my mind. As are the motives of the people in the chain of command and at the top.
I didn't speculate on those issues for a couple of reasons: 1) I wanted to maintain a narrow focus on a part of the problem that gets relatively less attention; 2) I can't easily quantify the motives of the 12,000 new agents, nor their superiors and administrators.
I think it is completely appropriate to ask the question of motive, but much harder to answer it in a definitive way.
Thank you for your comment and keep asking hard questions!
With you 100%: the motivation for the mistreatment and the conditions that allow it to happen are separate problems that both feed into this, and it makes total sense to examine each on their merits (or rather lack thereof).
Great information. Great man. I grew up next door to Brent, his dad mom and sister. By the time I met Brent and his family his dad was a Detective , a very good man.
So cool! I am grateful that I got to be friends with Brent in high school, and that he was willing to share his experiences and knowledge with us here.
Hanging out with you (and Kathy K) in physics was often the highlight of my day. The physics was great, but befriending an extraordinary person is not an opportuntiy that comes along very often.
Yep that's me. I was thinking if the line we ran between our decks between pulleys. ( I think it took longer than walking to your house.) ☺️ I drove past a few months ago and sat out front thinking of many of the things we did.
You must have just pulled that memory from my head! I was thinking about that very thing (as well as sleeping out on the decks). I recall that the string lost tension quickly, so that the ice cream pail hung down nearly to the grass.
Remember the night your cat brought home the rabbit? I think we were sleeping on your deck when he brought it back. He seemed pretty proud of himself.
Yeah our pets loved killing things. Before Jake (our little dog) went blind he brought snakes much to my mother's chagrin. Would love to catch up more I'm in Duluth.
I didn't drift far. I'm about 20 minutes north of our old homes, in Rogers. It's funny, my sister still lives within 5 blocks of the old house. Roots. ;-)
Maybe we can have lunch if you make it down to 'the Cities'.
Rod, thanks so much for the comment. Thanks in particular to you and to Mari for remembering my dad in your comment and Mari's introduction.
If you are who I think, then your last name starts with a 'B' and your house had a huge backyard and a pool. I'm trying not to accidentally dox you. :-)
We had some good times, neighbor! I particularly remember sleeping out on our decks on warm summer nights, looking up at the stars and talking until all hours.
It's been a power of years since then. I hope life has been good to you!
I remember on 9/11 having the sort of selfish thought that only a mother would probably have, thinking that if this leads to a war, it will be over before my son comes of age. I had a naïve view, then I guess how such a war would be conducted and from what rural demographics soldiers already were overwhelmingly drawn from. We were still in a 20th century mindset.
Anyway, to my amazement the war was still going on when my son turned 18. But no one in our social circle was encouraging their boys to enlist, beyond a couple of kids from the high school seeking an appointment to West Point or the Naval Academy etc. every year.
There had been a few boys from the area enlisting after 9/11 - but very few and I believe one service death.
The “Long War” was a poorly conducted war, obviously, but we were so insulated from it, because our boys were going to college, and there was no draft. And some might later judge, no honor culture among us, but I have never heard anyone say that so I assume we are going to escape blame.
I can only say that probably you should encourage your well-bred sons to join ICE - but you won’t be blamed if you don’t.
Oh, believe me, in recent weeks I have breathed a sigh of relief that our son is almost 26 and too old to draft. It is selfish, but we moms can’t help feeling this way.
I apologize for my own inability to completely follow your post.
But I heartily agree that we need to keep in mind that the military and law enforcement must draw their members from the populace.
Officers have all the strengths and the weaknesses that we collectively share. The best results, in my opinion, come when moral and intelligent people are involved in public service. And when these individuals are trained to the highest practical standard.
True. Unfortunately, there was no thought of this as the number swelled to high double digit millions; instead, the decision to assemble such a force occurred approximately 15 minutes ago.
The job being a risky one much like serving in the military, it probably will not be competitive if recent history is any guide.
You may be right. I lack the prescience to say more.
I am heartened by one fact. Back when I was applying for law enforcement jobs in Minnesota, beginning during the recession of 1990, I was often among literal hundreds of applicants. Each one of them was as well educated and trained to be a police officer as I was.
Now that was 'yesterday', and today I understand that agencies are facing a relative dearth of applicants. But I think that there must be a road forward that can restore the prestige and desirability of a career in law enforcement. One way that starts, I believe, is recapturing the public trust. One way to do that is to increase accountability and create uniform, widespread and demanding training standards. Screening officers and accepting only those of high moral character and suitable personality seems wise as well.
Law enforcement officers wield too much power to be allowed to serve if they are unsuited to the job or poorly trained. We must demand more, and if we do we will need to compensate the officers accordingly.
Finally, I should address the elephant I've left standing in the room: political and departmental leadership needs to comport itself in a moral and constitutional manner. This is not happening in the case of ICE (my opinion). Rather there seems to be a pattern of command that is racheting up pressure on officers toward misconduct, and then turning a blind eye when they act out. We all know how to deal with this elephant - by voting it out of Congress.
Thanks, Mari! Both for the kind introduction and for allowing me to guest on your platform. I can only hope that I didn't let your readership down. We are used to a high standard!
Reflecting on Mari’s kind words in the introduction, I wanted to reciprocate. I recently described her to my wife this way: 'Mari is the only person I’ve known who can make me feel intellectually intimidated—not because she’s trying to, but because she has a way of finding the holes in my knowledge and making me want to fill them.' I find this still happens frequently; even now, I rarely finish one of her articles without discovering a new horizon to explore.
Oh wow, I have tears in my eyes! I am so honored by this comment! As a teacher, I can think of no finer tribute than that I inspired you to learn more about something! Sincerely, I am so touched!
This is a fantastically informative piece, but I feel (well, suspect without any solid evidence) that the problem is less the how than the why. Specifically: while it's bad that ICE agents have utterly inadequate training, the deeper problem is that the agency seems now to be geared towards recruiting people who very much want to beat immigrants up. The fundamental problem with the Brownshirts wasn't lack of training, either.
Somehow, I doubt Renee Good's murderer went home that night feeling disturbed and traumatised by his actions.
I've frankly been waiting for someone to make this point.
I don't disagree with you. The character of the people hired is a major question in my mind. As are the motives of the people in the chain of command and at the top.
I didn't speculate on those issues for a couple of reasons: 1) I wanted to maintain a narrow focus on a part of the problem that gets relatively less attention; 2) I can't easily quantify the motives of the 12,000 new agents, nor their superiors and administrators.
I think it is completely appropriate to ask the question of motive, but much harder to answer it in a definitive way.
Thank you for your comment and keep asking hard questions!
With you 100%: the motivation for the mistreatment and the conditions that allow it to happen are separate problems that both feed into this, and it makes total sense to examine each on their merits (or rather lack thereof).
Great information. Great man. I grew up next door to Brent, his dad mom and sister. By the time I met Brent and his family his dad was a Detective , a very good man.
So cool! I am grateful that I got to be friends with Brent in high school, and that he was willing to share his experiences and knowledge with us here.
Right back at you!
Hanging out with you (and Kathy K) in physics was often the highlight of my day. The physics was great, but befriending an extraordinary person is not an opportuntiy that comes along very often.
Oh, you were definitely the highlight of physics class for me and Kathy too! (Well, that and Mr. Netland’s bed of nails. 😂)
Yep that's me. I was thinking if the line we ran between our decks between pulleys. ( I think it took longer than walking to your house.) ☺️ I drove past a few months ago and sat out front thinking of many of the things we did.
You must have just pulled that memory from my head! I was thinking about that very thing (as well as sleeping out on the decks). I recall that the string lost tension quickly, so that the ice cream pail hung down nearly to the grass.
Remember the night your cat brought home the rabbit? I think we were sleeping on your deck when he brought it back. He seemed pretty proud of himself.
Yeah our pets loved killing things. Before Jake (our little dog) went blind he brought snakes much to my mother's chagrin. Would love to catch up more I'm in Duluth.
I didn't drift far. I'm about 20 minutes north of our old homes, in Rogers. It's funny, my sister still lives within 5 blocks of the old house. Roots. ;-)
Maybe we can have lunch if you make it down to 'the Cities'.
Rod, thanks so much for the comment. Thanks in particular to you and to Mari for remembering my dad in your comment and Mari's introduction.
If you are who I think, then your last name starts with a 'B' and your house had a huge backyard and a pool. I'm trying not to accidentally dox you. :-)
We had some good times, neighbor! I particularly remember sleeping out on our decks on warm summer nights, looking up at the stars and talking until all hours.
It's been a power of years since then. I hope life has been good to you!
Thanks Mari and Brent for this thoughtful and vitally important piece.
Thanks for the comment and thank you for sharing the piece, Patrice. Blessings!
Thanks, Patrice—and thanks for restacking! I’m grateful to Brent for sharing his expertise (and excellent writing!).
Absolutely agree! I also shared outside of substack.
Thank you again!
Really great info. Thanks for this post!
Thank you for taking the time to comment!
I remember on 9/11 having the sort of selfish thought that only a mother would probably have, thinking that if this leads to a war, it will be over before my son comes of age. I had a naïve view, then I guess how such a war would be conducted and from what rural demographics soldiers already were overwhelmingly drawn from. We were still in a 20th century mindset.
Anyway, to my amazement the war was still going on when my son turned 18. But no one in our social circle was encouraging their boys to enlist, beyond a couple of kids from the high school seeking an appointment to West Point or the Naval Academy etc. every year.
There had been a few boys from the area enlisting after 9/11 - but very few and I believe one service death.
The “Long War” was a poorly conducted war, obviously, but we were so insulated from it, because our boys were going to college, and there was no draft. And some might later judge, no honor culture among us, but I have never heard anyone say that so I assume we are going to escape blame.
I can only say that probably you should encourage your well-bred sons to join ICE - but you won’t be blamed if you don’t.
Oh, believe me, in recent weeks I have breathed a sigh of relief that our son is almost 26 and too old to draft. It is selfish, but we moms can’t help feeling this way.
I apologize for my own inability to completely follow your post.
But I heartily agree that we need to keep in mind that the military and law enforcement must draw their members from the populace.
Officers have all the strengths and the weaknesses that we collectively share. The best results, in my opinion, come when moral and intelligent people are involved in public service. And when these individuals are trained to the highest practical standard.
True. Unfortunately, there was no thought of this as the number swelled to high double digit millions; instead, the decision to assemble such a force occurred approximately 15 minutes ago.
The job being a risky one much like serving in the military, it probably will not be competitive if recent history is any guide.
You may be right. I lack the prescience to say more.
I am heartened by one fact. Back when I was applying for law enforcement jobs in Minnesota, beginning during the recession of 1990, I was often among literal hundreds of applicants. Each one of them was as well educated and trained to be a police officer as I was.
Now that was 'yesterday', and today I understand that agencies are facing a relative dearth of applicants. But I think that there must be a road forward that can restore the prestige and desirability of a career in law enforcement. One way that starts, I believe, is recapturing the public trust. One way to do that is to increase accountability and create uniform, widespread and demanding training standards. Screening officers and accepting only those of high moral character and suitable personality seems wise as well.
Law enforcement officers wield too much power to be allowed to serve if they are unsuited to the job or poorly trained. We must demand more, and if we do we will need to compensate the officers accordingly.
Finally, I should address the elephant I've left standing in the room: political and departmental leadership needs to comport itself in a moral and constitutional manner. This is not happening in the case of ICE (my opinion). Rather there seems to be a pattern of command that is racheting up pressure on officers toward misconduct, and then turning a blind eye when they act out. We all know how to deal with this elephant - by voting it out of Congress.
I agree completely. As for your last bit, let it be soon and within our time!
Thanks, Mari! Both for the kind introduction and for allowing me to guest on your platform. I can only hope that I didn't let your readership down. We are used to a high standard!
Awww, shucks! I am just grateful that you could offer readers new and important information and perspective.