The US government is blatantly misrepresenting events captured on video
in an effort to intimidate powerful officials and ordinary citizens who seek to challenge the White House’s policies.

Alec Karakatsanis, the founder of Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, argued:
“By relentlessly telling the population that ‘two plus two equals five’, it helps determine who is willing to go along with ‘two plus two equals five’ and deny basic truths.

“It’s also about a longer-term and more profound assault on the very notion of truth
– to get people so confused that they don’t know what is what,”
said Karakatsanis,
author of Copaganda, a book about false narratives promoted by police.

“This is the classic propaganda tactic of George Orwell’s 1984,” he added.

New York City mayoral candidate Brad #Lander was arrested by federal agents inside an immigration court building on Tuesday, as he asked officers whether they had a judicial warrant to detain an immigrant he was accompanying.

He was released after four hours, and so far, no charges have been filed against him.

Video of the encounter shows plainclothes officers, some in masks, pinning Lander to a wall, handcuffing him and escorting him away.

Lander had held on to the arm of the immigrant who was being targeted.

Still, DHS assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement to the press and on social media soon after the incident that it was Lander who had assaulted officers.

The accusations echo those against US congresswoman LaMonica #McIver, a Democrat, who, DHS claims, assaulted and impeded law enforcement when she and two other representatives arrived at a privately run Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center to inspect the facility on 9 May.

Representatives are authorized to conduct this oversight without prior notice, and McIver said she wanted to ensure the facility was clean and safe and detainees had access to their attorneys.

Shaky videos of the encounter, some released by DHS, showed a chaotic scrum where McIver and others were surrounded by officers, some masked,
as law enforcement and the representative pushed against each other.
Soon after, she was given a tour of the facility, but a month later was indicted for assault, a charge she has strongly denied.

In Los Angeles, David #Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) of California, was arrested on 6 June when he showed up to document an immigration raid at a garment factory.
As he stood outside, blurry footage showed officers pushing him to the ground, with multiple agents on top of him as he was put in handcuffs.
US attorneys charged him with conspiracy to impede an officer.
He was not charged with assault, but even after the complaint was filed, DHS has continued to respond to questions about his case with a statement that says:
“Huerta assaulted Ice law enforcement.”
Huerta was hospitalized after his arrest, before being transported to jail.

And last week, California senator Alex #Padilla was handcuffed and forcibly removed from a DHS press conference as he attempted to ask a question,
with the FBI accusing him of “resisting” law enforcement. He was not charged with a crime.

In a statement to the Guardian on Thursday, McLaughlin said Democratic politicians were “contributing to the surge in assaults of our Ice officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of Ice”,
adding: “This violence against ICE must end.”
DHS has repeatedly asserted in recent weeks that it has seen a major increase in assaults on its officers.
Since May, the department has often cited the claim that Ice officers, who are part of DHS, are facing “a 413% increase in assaults against them”.
Spokespeople for DHS have repeatedly refused to respond to questions about the source of the statistic, how many assaults have occurred and what time periods it was comparing.
In April, a press release had referred to a “300% surge in assaults”.
McLaughlin, of DHS, said in an email late Thursday that Ice officers were “now facing a 500% increase in assaults”,
but again did not respond to inquiries about the figure.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/21/dhs-violence-false-claims?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other