THE DEPARTMENT OF Homeland Security claimed four times within 48 hours that it had “no documents” in response to records requests from the Freedom of the Press Foundation late last year. These brush-offs raise serious questions about whether the agency is saving its documents anymore, much less creating them in the first place.

Each of our Freedom of Information Act requests was for records likely to exist, and any single “no records” response would have been suspicious. But four in rapid succession is enough to cast doubt on Homeland Security’s record-keeping practices and its compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

These are the records we asked for and DHS claims it simply doesn’t have.

-All emails sent or received by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem containing the terms “CNN” and “ICEBlock”

-The complete archive of Noem’s Truth Social direct messages for her official account, @SecNoem

-All body camera footage from ICE captured as part of Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago

-The request the Secret Service made to the Army Corps of Engineers to raise the water level of an Ohio river to ensure JD Vance had a nice kayaking trip

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    They don’t have body cams…

    That’s why the recent video of Jonathon Ross murdering someone was shot with a cellphone in his left hand while his gun was in his right.

    He was consciously focused on getting video because he felt he had put himself in a position to justify the shooting.

    But they don’t have body cams rolling the whole time because it would catch all the completely unjustifiable shit they do.

    Quick edit:

    This gives the justifiable step of subpoenaing all personal phone records and content of every ICE agent for evidence of abuse of force…

    Our politicians won’t do it yet, but it’s something to keep in mind for after midterms.

    ICE agents won’t delete the worst shit, some idiot will keep it saved. So even a year from now it’s worth doing.

    • ThePantser@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      Or was he recording because he was told he needs to kill someone and be sure to record it. It’s weird that he was recording anything, like does ICE usually record their interactions? What reason prompted his recording?

      • Klox@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        They are recording so that they can dox and harass protestors later, e.g. the bullshit they pulled with Charlie Kirk.

      • AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        AI facial recognition can’t be done in real time with body cams. He was filming her to get her background info / put her in the system as an agitator.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I said they’re not wearing them…

        You said that can’t be true because they’re required to wear them by law.

        The flaw in your logic is you’re assuming ICE agents are following the law.

        Which frankly, is pretty concerning that anyone is operating under that assumption

        • dhork@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          ICE agents don’t feel they need to operate under the law, because they think they are the law.

          Judge Dredd

        • Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          I mean okay but jumping down that person’s throat because you neglected to mention they were required to wear body cams by law but are instead just choosing not to is a bit much lol. I was thinking the exact same thing after reading your initial comment. They are required to wear them during these operations (especially after Chicago). I have no idea whether or not they are but they are supposed to.

          In either case I think it’s pretty obvious the public won’t see any footage of body cams any time soon

      • minnow@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Just because they mandate body cams doesn’t mean the agents are 1) wearing body cams, or 2) turning them on.

        This is a fascist regime, they’ll say anything and do whatever they want. Policy and reality aren’t connected in any meaningful way. All you’ve pointed out is that they’re either lying or ignoring policy, both of which are par for the course.

  • GuyFawkesV@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    This right here is why we’re going to have to be okay handling this with “fuzzy laws” when the time comes. No records because they failed to keep them? Fine, then we impute that the acts alleged were done and would have been supported had proper record keeping occurred.

    We can’t let them benefit from their own bad acts.

    • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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      1 day ago

      I advocate for using records to identify ICE membership if they are Nuremburged as a class. That is much harder to do ethically if they don’t have records.

      This opens the door to fucked up results, if we can’t clearly identify who is and isn’t part of the MAGA apparatus.

      • GuyFawkesV@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        They’ve brought it on themselves. Offer lighter sentences to those who self report AND NAME NAMES; max sentences for those that don’t.

  • Gerudo@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    This is kind of proving they just don’t keep records of anything.

    Or

    They are lying about having the records.

    Both are awful

    • Ænima@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      Signal-gate wasn’t just about someone adding a reporter to a fucked up group text but their use of signal for its forced message expiration ability. Nothing remains or exists if they’re removed 2-weeks later.

          • ghosthacked@lemmy.wtf
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            19 hours ago

            He switched the cellphone to his left hand in order draw his pistol when Renee Good and her wife were clearly not a threat. It was intent to kill, clear as day. He drew his pistol and moved around to the front of the vehicle in order to get in the way of the vehicle and force the narrative that his gun use was defensive. It was a premeditated maneuver by a man with years of law enforcement experience.

  • stylusmobilus@aussie.zone
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    2 days ago

    Wow they denied it and didn’t outright say ‘your mom’ or some shit you’d expect from the best the US has to offer.