"I didn't go there to protest. I didn't bring a sign. I didn't bring anything. I just went to stand and bear witness, Koelsch said. What he saw shook him. Koelsch, 59, had never seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection officers up close in full tactical gear, masked, armed with rifles and pistols, blocking off the street. About 50 to 75 agents stood in the road. Dozens of civilians watched from the sidewalk. People were yelling. Then the teargas came."
"My chest started getting tight, he said. I felt like throwing up. He dropped to his knees, then scrambled half a block away. After a few minutes, he could breathe again. Koelsch had spent four years as a supervisory asylum officer at the Department of Homeland Security before nearly eight years on the bench as an immigration judge in Baltimore. He investigated individuals with alleged ties to terrorism and later presided over asylum cases."
"I was proud to do my part in protecting the country. But then to see these officers out in the streets, basically harassing civilians, I just felt kind of sad, he said. It just really repulsed me because they and I took the same oath. And I didn't think they were living up to it. Four months before the Pretti killing, Koelsch had resigned. I was actually planning on retiring in two years when I turn 62, he said."
"His departure came amid a broader push by the Trump administration, supported by Elon Musk's department of government efficiency (Doge), to offer buyouts to federal employees seen as obstacles to its deportation agenda."
A former immigration judge in Maryland traveled to Minneapolis to visit family and arrived near the shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents. He walked toward the scene without protesting or carrying signs. He saw Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers in full tactical gear, masked and armed, blocking a street with dozens of agents while civilians watched and yelled. Tear gas was deployed, causing him to feel chest tightness and nausea, and he moved away to breathe again. He had served in Homeland Security and as an immigration judge, taking the same oath as the agents. He resigned four months before the killing amid federal buyouts tied to deportation priorities.
#immigration-enforcement #ice-and-cbp #tear-gas-and-crowd-control #oath-and-accountability #federal-employment-buyouts
Read at www.theguardian.com
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