Stumbled across this really well-written piece from the Chronicle of Higher Education on the creeping police state as it continues to play out under the guise of “Border Patrol” — even hundreds of miles from the actual border, in this case with Canada. Example after example highlights how the bloated, inept, and vastly overfunded Dept. of Homeland Security with its many tentacles strives to justify its existence by arbitrarily questioning and arresting foreign students, researchers, and pretty much anybody they care to, with no recourse for those they inconvenience and harass.
This bit had me laughing out loud:
The operations officer at the Swanton, Vt., sector office, Mark Henry, said it didn’t set up highway checkpoints to use excessive manpower. “We set them up based on intelligence,” he said. “Naturally our first concern is with terrorists and weapons of mass destruction, but we’re an all-threats agency, so it can be related to narcotics trafficking and all kinds of law enforcement.”
Riight, Mr. Henry. So basically you’re saying you have a carte blanche and unlimited resources to do whatever you want in the way of police stating, as long as you vaguely associate it with some nebulous “threat” that can be anything at all? Nice work if you can get it. As a Green Card holder I’m forever worried about the day when some overly enthusiastic thug with a badge decides he just doesn’t care that my papers are in order and feels that I should help him meet his “enforcement” quota.
Ugly times, ugly.
