Former US president Barack Obama on Saturday condemned the operations of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Minnesota, comparing their behavior to conduct seen “in dictatorships.”
Thousands of federal agents, including those from ICE, carried out weeks of sweeping raids and arrests in what US President Donald Trump’s administration said were targeted missions against criminals.
The operation was ended this week.
Photo: AP
Obama last month criticized the actions of ICE agents as unlawful, but went further in an interview with left-wing political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen, which was released on Saturday.
“The rogue behavior of agents of the federal government is deeply concerning and dangerous,” Obama said.
Obama called the behavior of the ICE officers — which included two fatal shootings that sparked mounting pressure on the administration’s mass crackdown — as the sort that “in the past we’ve seen in authoritarian countries and we’ve seen in dictatorships.”
However, Obama, the only black president in US history, said he had found hope in communities pushing back against the operations.
“Not just randomly, but in a systematic, organized way, citizens saying: ‘This is not the America we believe in,’ and ‘we’re going to fight back,’ and ‘we’re going to push back with the truth and with cameras and with peaceful protests,’” he said.
“That kind of heroic, sustained behavior in subzero weather by ordinary people is what should give us hope,” he said. “As long as we have folks doing that, I feel like we’re going to get through this.”
White House Border Czar Tom Homan on Thursday announced the end of the aggressive immigration operation in Minnesota that had triggered large protests and nationwide outrage.
Obama also criticized a lack of shame and decorum in the country’s political discourse, responding for the first time to a post on Trump’s social media that depicted him and former US first lady Michelle as monkeys.
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