Unadulterated, unconstitutional, murderous tyranny

I have complained about SWAT team raids in countless posts, but now that they’re using them to enforce warrants issued by the Department of Education over defaulted student loans, I thought yet another post was in order.

The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife’s defaulted student loans.

“They busted down my door for this,” Wright said. “It wasn’t even me.”

According to the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General, the case can’t be discussed publicly until it is closed, but a spokesperson did confirm that the department did issue the search warrant at Wright’s home.

The Office of the Inspector General has a law enforcement branch of federal agents that carry out search warrants and investigations.

Imagine. This poor guy was estranged from his wife whose loan was in default, so his door gets broken down in the wee hours of the morning when he’s in his underwear, and he and his three kids spend six hours locked in a police car. No apologies, nothing.

There is a word for this.

Fascism.

And there are a number of words to describe the sort of people who do this to their fellow citizens, but I don’t want to get emotional.

It is high time to disband these criminal gangs of home invaders.

And abolish the Department of Education.

Um, didn’t Reagan once promise that?

So far as I know, only Gary Johnson and Ron Paul are pledged to rid the country of this malevolent cancer.

For the rest, it seems to be business as usual.

LINGERING QUESTION: The apparent misuse of a SWAT team to enforce a student loan raises a very disturbing question over whether the damned apparatchik machinery has decided that the time has come to deploy SWAT teams for the routine arrest at home of anyone, anywhere.

Might police unions be supportive of the idea?

“Officer safety” is one of those popular bureaucratic expressions…

MORE: The story is being changed:

The initial report said the U.S. Department of Education “issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife’s defaulted student loans,” although that story has since been taken down and replaced with an updated version that did not contain the claim about the raid being connected to student loans.

Department of Education Press Secretary Justin Hamilton confirmed to The Huffington Post that the agency’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) did indeed order the action, although he said it was not about an issue over student loans in default.

“While it was reported in local media that the search was related to a defaulted student loan, that is incorrect,” Hamilton said. “This is related to a criminal investigation. The Inspector General’s Office does not execute search warrants for late loan payments.”

“Because this is an ongoing criminal investigation, we can’t comment on the specifics of the case. We can say that the OIG’s office conducts about 30-35 search warrants a year on issues such as bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds.”

That amounts to an outright admission that bureaucrats at the Department of Education think deploying military force to investigate garden-variety, non-violent, criminal activity is perfectly OK.

I call it fascism.

MORE: I like Glenn Reynolds’ reaction:

Tar. Feathers. And defunding.


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15 responses to “Unadulterated, unconstitutional, murderous tyranny”

  1. SDN Avatar
    SDN

    All I will say is that if you have hurricane windows and doors that open out on steel frames it puts a severe cramp in Officer Friendly’s style. Just sayin’.

  2. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    If he had been a Marine with a weapon in his home we would be reading his obit.

    Some stats for Stockton, California:

    Unemployment = 17.3%
    (which ranks 367 out 372 metro area in the country)

    http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm

    Forbes Misery Index = Number 1 in the nation.

    http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/06/most-miserable-cities-business-washington_0206_miserable_cities.html

    Every other home in foreclosure, violent crime, unemployment, and now SWAT teams to enforce delinquent student loans.

    They should pay the poor guy to live there.

  3. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    And to think it all started with dopers. And so few cared.

  4. Bram Avatar
    Bram

    The DOE has Federal Law Enforcement Agents and a SWAT? When did this happen and whose bright idea was this?

  5. John S. Avatar
    John S.

    I really, really hate to say this, but screw “officer safety” if it results in abominable travesties like this.

  6. Eric Avatar
    Eric

    I think that SWAT teams probably know how to blow through any kind of door there is. The bastards would probably love an opportunity to use more of the military grade equipment we’re paying for them to have.

  7. Keith_Indy Avatar
    Keith_Indy

    Next up, SWAT teams breaking in to take you for your state mandated doctors appt…

  8. Randy Avatar
    Randy

    Just more evidence that we really are living in a police state.

  9. Sigivald Avatar
    Sigivald

    Office of the Inspector General.

    They investigate fraud and embezzlement – and are a real Law Enforcement body.

    Thus they have guns, because sometimes even those white-collar crooks are aggressive.

    More current reports than the first one say that this was an OIG warrant and raid, and has nothing at all to do with student loans.

    So, it appears DoE OIG believes she was committing a crime; literally a Federal offense.

    And if that’s true, which seems very likely, there’s no “fascism” here.

    (Was this one “too good to check” for lots of people? It lit up warning lights when I first saw it, and that appears more and more justified as the story gets out…)

  10. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    Sig, the fascism is in the use of SWAT teams period. There are a lot of federal crimes like mail fraud or perjury or simple drug possession where the use of gestapo like tactics is now becoming commonplace.

    It is nothing more than an end run around the posse comitatus law. Police and way too many federal agencies from the IRS to Fish & Wildlife have quasi-military capability.

    But then if you have the mindset that law enforcement can do no wrong, and make excuses for this, you WILL eventually end up with armed resistance. I almost think that’s what they want.

  11. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    It’s only gotten worse since April 22, 2000 when Elian Gonzalez faced a SWAT team:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inselian.jpg

    That should have been a wake-up call.

  12. Eric Avatar
    Eric

    “DoE OIG believes she was committing a crime.”

    So what if she was accused of fraud or embezzlement, like making a false statement on an application? Since when does that justify a SWAT team? Did they send in a SWAT team after Martha Stewart?

    It is my carefully considered opinion that the use of SWAT teams for routine law enforcement does constitute fascism. Especially when warrants emanate from unconstitutional agencies.

  13. Eric Avatar
    Eric

    Was this one “too good to check” for lots of people? It lit up warning lights when I first saw it, and that appears more and more justified as the story gets out

    Actually when I wrote the post (around nine this morning), I did check and all the reports were substantially the same.

    Those who would deploy SWAT teams over non-violent crimes have no business in law enforcement.

  14. Randy Avatar
    Randy

    Sig –

    Note also it was a search warrant, not an arrest warrant. As far as I know, search warrants are issued to search for evidence believed to exist at a certain location. Search warrants do not entitle LEO’s to harrass and handcuff anyone. So why was this man handcuffed and detained for 6 hours, along with his children?

    Sig may feel better about all this knowing it was done in persuit of fraudulent use of DOE funds, I don’t.

  15. […] I call it fascism. […]