Since President Bush virtually rescinded some constitutional guarantees of privacy and the sanctity of the home in the name of fighting terrorism, pushy behavior has become the norm for some federal law enforcement personnel who relish tough-guy, in-your-face police-state tactics.
This may now have hit close to home. Agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement swooped into the valley at dawn and reportedly seized some 20 foreign-born persons for undisclosed violations using tactics that one resident later described as chilling and frightening.
She said agents pounded on her door and demanded entrance. Then, without so much as a by-your-leave, they searched her quarters with the claim that they were seeking a sexual predator.
Alarmingly, the woman says agents did not identify themselves nor did they have a search warrant, one of those constitutional protections the Bush administration has dismissed as irrelevant. Understandably, the Idaho chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is investigating to determine if rights were violated. How far ACLU will get is problematic: Not even the U.S. Congress has had much luck penetrating the inner workings of Bush security forces or taming their behavior with demands they observe the constitution.
The sickening irony is that as constitutional rights shrink at home, President Bush is claiming to be the messianic deliverer of democracy to countries abroad.
Those who defend invasion of households as necessary to arrest illegal immigrants or terrorism suspects while bypassing established laws are effectively endorsing a lawless, tyrannical government that ignores liberty, freedom and citizens' rights.
