ICE promises bystanders who challenged Charlottesville raid will be prosecuted [View all]

Source: Charlottesville Daily Progress

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ICE promises bystanders who challenged Charlottesville raid will be prosecuted

After ICE raided a downtown Charlottesville courthouse and arrested two men, the federal agency is promising to prosecute the bystanders who challenged their authority.

Hawes Spencer 9 hrs ago

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has broken its silence, conceding its agents were responsible for the arrest of two men during a raid on a downtown Charlottesville courthouse and promising that the bystanders who questioned those agents will be prosecuted. … ICE also blasted the area's top prosecutor, who has announced he will be investigating the raid, as "posturing for the media."

"It is shameful," wrote an ICE spokesman who declined to be named in a Saturday morning statement, "that the Commonwealth Attorney, a sworn officer of the court and fellow law enforcement officer, has decided to prioritize politics over public safety -- placing a criminal's wellbeing above that of the brave women and men in law enforcement, whom the Commonwealth Attorney took an oath to support."

The spokesman was pushing back against Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Hingeley, who has announced an investigation into the raid and warned that "further actions like the courthouse arrests yesterday would constitute a grave danger to our community."

Hingeley has taken particular issue with the manner of the detention. Of the three plainclothes ICE agents captured on camera arresting one of the two men as he emerged from Albemarle County General District Court on Tuesday, one was wearing a balaclava masking his face and none displayed badges or arrest warrants to the man.

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Read more: https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/crime-courts/article_e6ce6e4a-4161-476f-8d28-94150a891092.html