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An examination of cases in which people were arrested for supposedly assaulting an immigration agent finds that nearly half of those charges were either dropped or resulted in no conviction — suggesting that federal law enforcement has engaged in widespread misconduct in carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
The New York Times report, published on July 18, examined the close to 550 cases in which individuals — generally protesters and/or immigrants — were arrested for assault due to their alleged conduct during interactions with immigration agents since President Donald Trump returned to office. Of those arrests, 459 cases have been resolved so far.
Of those, 246 cases ended in a guilty plea from those who were charged. Only four cases that went to trial resulted in a conviction.
Conversely, 213 of the total assault cases observed resulted in jury acquittals, judges tossing out the charges, or prosecutors withdrawing the case.
The DOJ is accustomed to a higher success rate, with around 90 percent of people who face charges from the department typically either being found guilty or making a guilty plea arrangement.
“There seems to be a pattern of charges being filed without any merit,” former Chicago-based federal prosecutor Jimmy Arce told the Times.
The report comes as federal immigration agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), are facing renewed scrutiny for their violent tactics in cities across the U.S.
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Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) temporarily suspended ICE agents from engaging in traffic stops after agents shot and killed two men, one from Maine and the other from Texas. Neither individual was engaged in illegal actions at the time of their stop.
After that enforcement action was halted, President Donald Trump intervened, demanding on Truth Social that the pause be lifted.
“We CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands,” Trump wrote.
In the wake of these killings, new polling reveals that most Americans are deeply distrustful of ICE.
, only 38 percent of voters say they have “a great deal” of or “some” confidence in the agency. Meanwhile, 53 percent said they have “only a little” or no confidence “at all” in ICE.
A plurality of respondents, 48 percent, said they’d like to see the agency abolished, with 40 percent disagreeing.
Trump himself has seen his polling numbers on immigration slip dramatically. Once a strong issue for the president, only 39 percent now approve of how he’s handling immigration, according to the poll, while 54 percent disapprove.
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