#dhs-response

#dhs-response

"Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say ICE out," "We're not savage, we're not animals, we're not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans," "I know it's tough to not hate these days. And I was thinking, sometimes we get contaminated. The hate gets more powerful with more hate," "The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please, we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don't hate them; we love our people. We love our family, and that's the way to do it - with love. Don't forget that, please."

Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who worked for the VA, was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents on Saturday. Shortly afterwards, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called Pretti a domestic terrorist; other Trump administration officials also made comments accusing him of brandishing his weapon and intending to kill or massacre federal agents, among other unfounded claims. Video evidence taken by several bystanders, reviewed in frame-by-frame detail by multiple media outlets, contradicted these claims.

In another time, the exposé of an extraordinarily lax hiring process at an agency tasked with keeping the nation safe would be of bipartisan concern. After all, if ICE is going to arm agents and send them out into America's streets, it should at least know whom it's sending. Even supporters of ICE's mission should want to know that the agency is hiring effective people to carry that mission out.