There is something deeply dangerous and menacing about the untrue assertion by DHS that it is unlawful to film or observe ICE operations. The essence of the argument is: When ICE shows up, the Bill of Rights is dissolved—for everyone.

Let's be clear: Rights cannot be dissolved, by anyone for any reason.

Under the First Amendment, you have an irreducible right to think, speak, disagree, witness, gather information, share information, assemble peacefully, and to pursue legal redress for any act of injustice, including by government officials or operatives. The rest of the Bill of Rights is similarly absolute: Government cannot ignore or contravene your basic human rights; you cannot be menaced, searched, even touched, without active and specific permission from a legal process, overseen by a judge. Any person who does not physically interfere with law enforcement cannot be touched or interfered with by law enforcement. 

To be a witness to what happens in your community is an absolute and irreducible right. If ICE does not want you to observe them, they need to make the obvious choice of not conducting the operation in question.

If you are a citizen, the government belongs to you. It is your government. ICE agents are not your commanders; they are not the frontline voice of an absolute monarch; they are public servants and so is everyone above them in the chain of command, including the President. 

The 5th Amendment clearly states that “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…” Due process is the irrevocable and irreducible human right of all people in the United States. That is what makes America great—tyranny is prohibited, absolutely, always. 

The 5th Amendment also states that “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury…” The government cannot simply label people enemies of the state; the government does not have unfettered freedom of speech; it must speak truth, act on evidence, and never contravene the letter or the spirit of the law. 

The Trump administration wants you to believe that when ICE shows up, the Bill of Rights is automatically dissolved. This is 100% and absolutely false, and suggests an intention to commit grossly criminal acts. 

In the ruling by a federal judge in Minnesota that ordered ICE to cease all harassment, violence against, gassing, or arbitrary or punitive detention of peaceful protesters and innocent bystanders for Constitutionally protected activity, the judge noted that courts have repeatedly found that: 

The government denying a fundamental constitutional right, even for a moment, is in itself an “irreparable harm”. It is an injustice of the particular kind that the republic was established to make impossible. When the government engages in such activity, it puts a person in the position of being denied the unalienable and irreducible right to live in that protective republic that never treats them as less than fully human.