Yep. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had herself, what for her, was a delightful day yesterday. All the talk has been about her goons roughing up California (and Democratic) Senator Padilla but “ICE Barbie” got all gussied up in ‘tactical” garb and joined her KKK ICE Agents in their raid on a quiet house earlier. A pregnant woman who also happens to be a U.S. citizen was in the shower when her brother-in-law alerted her to the scene outside. It was ICE, led by the Queen herself there to arrest the woman’s husband. The problem was they were at the wrong home!
As this article from The Hill tells us Sabrina Medina and her children were forced out into the yard. They showed her a warrant (I know. They actually went to the trouble of getting an arrest warrant!) proving they had a right to search the house for and arrest. She and her kids were forced outside while they searched for Medina’s husband David. Except as she explained to them not only was her husband not home, his name is Jorge Medina! Oops.
The Hill didn’t say just what the Medina ICE Barbie wanted to arrest had done. But you know what? If he was one of those vicious, hardened, violent criminals she and Trumpty insist exist by the millions in this country I rather doubt he’d be living with a U.S. citizen wife and four kids in a modest neighborhood of oldish but decently maintained houses in a working class area. Check out the pictures in the linked article. It’s hardly what you’d think of as dangerous, “crime ridden’ “gang territory..” Anyway it seems ICE (again) hadn’t done their due diligence and went off half-cocked.
Or rather half-assed but they DID by golly act like you’d expect ICE to act. They didn’t believe Sabrina Medina and searched the home anyway. After first turning away a run of the mill home security they saw outside to prevent there being a record of what they were doing. Again, oops.
Cameras inside the home captured the heavily armed ICE agents going through the residence room by room, all while Noem, donning a bulletproof vest and ballcap, watched from the street.
The Homeland Security chief would later mention the Huntington Park raid at the press conference where Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was roughly shoved out of the room, pushed to the ground, cuffed and briefly detained.
I’ll get to that second paragraph in a minute. First I again want to note the house they raided wasn’t in what you’d call a rough neighborhood. Second, if Noem was along they didn’t really expect there was any danger, that the “criminal” they were after wasn’t so dangerous in the first place. Third, while ICE Barbie of course showed her face her goons covered their mouths and noses to hide THEIR identities. Fourth, LOTS of agents were on hand for this event, I guess because it was going to be a bigly photo op of ICE Barbie overseeing a bigly arrest she could brag about at a presser she’d hold later in the day. Ah, but she got all dressed up for the prom and got stood up! Which brings me to that second paragraph from the linked article I highlighted.
Yes, Noem did it seems bring up that morning’s “raid’ but I suspect she was light on the details. That she gave the impression she’d taken part in, or at least “oversaw.” Or directed or commanded or some such bullshit. But she had to be frustrated about the whole big operation having flopped. Loaded for bear perhaps? And telling the folks looking out for her security at her press conference to be extra aggressive and “put on a show” if she gave them some sort of sign that an attendee was ‘out of line?’ That even asking a “rude” question in a bit of too loud a voice and/or interrupting her was enough to “go after” someone? Hell, I’d say odds are she figured some local official might be there and express objections to events this past week in Los Angeles. Arresting one of THEM would satisfy her urges!
THAT would explain a lot about what happened to Senator Padilla. Noem knew exactly who he was. I’ll bet some of the folks who manhandled him out of the room and then put handcuffs on him did too. Sure, she (and others) lied about him never identifying himself even though people were taking video and there’s ample evidence he did say who he was. Of course they could claim ‘anyone can say they are someone’ but I call bullshit. Noem got her photo op. It just might not wind up playing out the way she hoped it would. The point is that she works for a reality TV President and had promised him a reality TV show episode and even briefly detaining a Senator (a Democrat of course), forcing him onto his face and handcuffing him was the ‘money shot.’
Well, ICE Barbie had a bad day yesterday. Let’s just hope no one took her to an animal shelter where she could shoot puppies in the face…
***From Ursula*** Zoomers, if you can help the Little Political Blog That Could keep trekking through cyberspace, we would appreciate it. My medical issues are still ongoing. I need to have a minor operation to remove a skin tumor. The hits just keep on coming, like a ’50s radio station. Thank you for all you do. Ursula
She didn’t shoot any faces in this debacle.
Just her own feet.