That has not happened, and it raises legitimate questions about proportionality, judgment, and respect for constitutional limits.<\/p>\n
These outcomes did not occur in a vacuum. Over the past year, DHS leadership has driven a dramatic shift in tone and culture. Federal officials publicly labeled Renee Good<\/a> — a mother and U.S. citizen \u2014 and Alex Pretti<\/a> \u2014 a nurse who cared for U.S. veterans and also a U.S. citizen \u2014 as \u201cterrorists\u201d before investigations were initiated and without evidence of terrorist ideology or motive.<\/p>\n Official DHS social media accounts routinely post inflammatory content glorifying paramilitary enforcement. This rhetoric has influenced operations, encouraging escalation rather than restraint against American citizens.<\/p>\n When senior officials treat Americans as adversaries — not as neighbors and citizens with rights \u2014 it poisons the workforce. Officers are taught to see the public they serve through the prism of fear rather than duty, and that mindset can become self-fulfilling. Law enforcement that views the public as the enemy, rather than as fellow citizens to protect, and that abandons constitutional limits, does not make us safer. It normalizes escalation, erodes legitimacy, and increases the risk of violence for civilians and officers alike.<\/p>\n History offers a cautionary lesson: when enforcement institutions lose accountability and are insulated from meaningful oversight, their use of power tends to expand rather than contract. That reality should concern all Americans, regardless of where they stand politically.<\/p>\n Equally concerning is the lack of independent accountability. The administration declined to open an investigation into the shooting of Ms. Good and indicated it would investigate the shooting of Pretti internally. Across the country — in red states and blue states alike \u2014 officer-involved shootings are reviewed by independent authorities for a reason: public trust depends on it.<\/p>\n As tensions with protesters have escalated, it is essential to remember where responsibility lies in a constitutional democracy. Citizens have a duty to exercise their First Amendment rights peacefully. But the greater burden of restraint rests with the state. Whistling, shouting, filming arrests, or verbally criticizing officers is not violence. It is annoying — but it is protected speech. Courts have been clear for decades: speech does not become violence simply because it provokes irritation, anger, or discomfort in law enforcement. The public has a right to expect that officers will respond to lawful protest with professionalism and restraint, not force.<\/p>\n DHS argues that officers are simply doing their duty<\/a> by enforcing immigration laws during these operations nationwide to detain immigrants; that they have no choice. That framing is misleading. The executive branch exercises discretion in whom it prioritizes and how operations are conducted. Their choices are directly tied to the outcomes we are seeing. Officials also claim these operations target \u201ccriminals,\u201d yet as of late November, roughly 73% of those detained had no criminal conviction, according to an analysis of publicly available ICE data<\/a> by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).<\/p>\n Having immigration officers walk residential or commercial streets in broad daylight is not how violent criminals are apprehended. Rapists, murderers, and drug traffickers do not announce themselves or surrender voluntarily. Identifying dangerous offenders requires investigative work, intelligence, and coordination — capabilities ICE already possesses. If the objective were to focus on genuinely dangerous individuals, the executive branch could do so. The outcomes suggest something else: an emphasis on meeting numerical targets, regardless of the human or constitutional cost.<\/p>\n Congress recently approved an unprecedented expansion of ICE — a 120% increase in workforce<\/a> and a tripling of their budget \u2013 making it the largest federal law enforcement agency<\/a>, with a budget larger than many other nation’s militaries<\/a>. Rapid growth at this scale carries predictable risks, including reduced vetting of new hires and weakened institutional culture. According to an investigation by Government Executive, training for new hires has been cut by nearly 77%<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some may wonder why events unfolding hundreds of miles away should matter to Coloradans. The truth is that federal enforcement priorities and tactics that are normalized in one place tend to spread unless checked. Throughout history, unchecked power has expanded and carried out similar or worse activities elsewhere — first here, then there. Colorado already sits among the metropolitan areas experiencing one of the highest rates of immigrant arrivals per capita behind only a handful of\u00a0 U.S. cities.<\/p>\n Colorado\u2019s state and local policies have also drawn federal scrutiny. The U.S. Department of Justice has targeted Colorado and Denver in litigation challenging local immigration-related laws, framing them as inconsistent with federal enforcement priorities.<\/p>\n This combination of factors means that Colorado could be next on the list. If so, it is critical that protestors and citizens do two things:\u00a0 document law enforcement actions in line with the law and remain peaceful.\u00a0 The latter, in particular, is absolutely vital.\u00a0 There can be no violence against law enforcement.\u00a0 That will undo all that has been sacrificed.<\/p>\n The executive branch does not have unfettered power, and Congress is not a bystander. It is a co-equal branch with a constitutional duty to conduct oversight and set limits.<\/p>\n Members of Congress must act. Yes, they should immediately hold oversight hearings, demanding accountability from DHS leadership, and using the power of the purse to impose conditions tied to constitutional compliance.\u00a0But we need more. CBP, ICE, and DHS are no longer agencies with the credibility to keep the nation safe. Congress should create a blue ribbon commission to both hold them accountable and issue recommendations of how the agency should be reconstituted. Nothing short of that will be trusted by the American people.<\/p>\nMission of Homeland Security<\/h4>\n
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Colorado could be a target for enforcement<\/h4>\n