Weapons Violations, Misconduct, and Whistleblower Retaliation at ICE (theintercept.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

(Bret) Bradford — a darling of right-wing deportation coverage, from the New York Post to Fox News — touts his determination to “restore law and order in our communities.” He recently lauded “the brave men and women at ICE Houston” for their “unwavering dedication,” and for working “tirelessly every day to enhance public safety.”

Scores of internal documents reviewed by The Intercept paint a different picture and suggest a commitment to safety and law and order may stop at the entrance to ICE’s Houston Field Office.

The files lay out a series of allegations against Bradford and other top Houston ICE officials, including retaliation against a whistleblower who reported being intimidated with an “8-inch tactical knife” by a fellow ICE officer in a facility that does not allow weapons. The whistleblower also alleges another supervisor knowingly lied on an official document.

An email from the whistleblower sent to the Congressional DOGE Caucus earlier this year reported “corruption” among top Houston ICE officials. Bradford “turned a blind eye to the criminal activity and has taken no action against the officials,” wrote the whistleblower. The allegations of retaliation are further detailed in public documents from the Merit Systems Protection Board, which reviews cases of government employees who are contesting demotions or terminations.

top 5 comments

sorted by: hot top new old

[-] [email protected] 15 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

If you threaten somebody with a lethal weapon in a context where they are defenseless and the surrounding context/society does not place a massive red flag on you for doing so, both the person with the lethal weapon and the society are condemnable.

The point of a weapon is for when you have decided that in order to protect others you must take action, when people use weapons like this to threaten it is an admission that they should not be allowed the responsibility of handling such weapons by the adults around them.

I remember one of the first things I learned about gun safety scared me with a jolt the first time I heard it. It was "don't point a gun at someone you don't intend to kill" .... which I think is wise advice and it enrages me that U.S. media not only is so casual with weaving together guns and hero worship, but that the casualness extends to making casual lethal threats which are one of the scariest things you will ever see because they promise a future you will never want to see if they can continue to thrive out in the open while people ignore them and go about their day.

I didn't understand immediately that part of the wisdom of not pointing a gun at someone you don't intend to kill is that someday (already even?) you will find yourself in a situation where you believe you have decisive power over someone when you are only being lead to believe you do, and in that moment how you choose to use that decisive power, whether you let it reside calmly as an almost trickster spirit or whether you rip it out of the holster and brandish it like a baby having a tamper tantrum (how characters use guns in US media mostly) decides whether the far more powerful observer will intercede and snuff you out because it has seen behind your mask.

Trust isn't a plan, it isn't a geometry or particular formula, it is the spontaneous improbable (yet oh sooooo probable) coordination of elements that saw a new fork in the road and took it.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I go to the range a lot and take firearm safety incredibly seriously and it makes me lose my fucking mind at how fucking stupid people are at the range, almost every time I go. Its fucking sickening how many people who own firearms in the US have no control over their ego

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If you pick a gun up to stoke your ego, you have already admitted you shouldn't have picked up the gun in the first place since ego does nothing for your accuracy, ability to judge whether you have identified a target, or to reframe your perspective on an unfolding conflict in order to best respond.

Can you imagine what those range idiots who are all jacked up on anger and fear ready to start a fight at a.... gun range (where everybody has a gun...?)... would be like in an actual war? Either they wouldn't be able to handle it or they would get the creepiest fucking smile on their face. Either answer disgusts me because it points out the daming fact that these people are obsessed with violence itself, not the tools and history that surround it, the violence and power trip at the heart of it is the drug for them.

Notice those people and make sure you are always more skilled than they are at whatever they are doing :).

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

When I was a young teen I lived on the street for a time. I often thought about getting a knife for defense, but realized I didn't know how to use it properly ... or what someone could do to me if they got a hold of the knife.

All weapons should be respected for the damage they can do, both to the victim and the attacker.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Yeah, I used to carry around pocket knives when I was a kid as a sort of power trip thing but then I thought about whether it would be worse to win or lose a knife fight and decided if someone did attack me unless I thought my life was truly in danger (or someone else) I would NEVER pull the knife out...

...like seriously, the movies make it seem like it wouldn't be terrifying, awful and traumatizing for anybody involved no matter how it went.....

Don't take my word for it, wear some shitty clothes you use to do chores, get a friend, get two sharpies and have a fake knife fight with the sharpie as the stand in for the knives and then look at all of the sharpie marks over both of you no matter who "won". You will never desire to get in a knife fight ever again after that point.

Yeah nope, a knife is an awful weapon for the wielder, the victim and the observer. Much better to get a leatherman and have a whole set of actually useful tools along with a knife that doesn't scream "IM DANGEROUS" but rather "Im your uncle who loves woodworking's favorite multitool".

this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025

67 points (98.6% liked)

News

29885 readers

3640 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]