this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
142 points (99.3% liked)

Progressive Politics

2579 readers
282 users here now

Welcome to Progressive Politics! A place for news updates and political discussion from a left perspective. Conservatives and centrists are welcome just try and keep it civil :)

(Sidebar still a work in progress post recommendations if you have them such as reading lists)

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary courtesy of CantStopPoppin:


On February 1, 2025, a disturbing campaign of surveillance began targeting a Spokane family. According to firsthand accounts, ICE agents started shadowing the family nearly two months before the dramatic incident. In a calculated move, one of the agents even pretended to hit the family’s parked car. This staged accident was designed to give them a pretext to detain the husband on the spot while investigators “looked him up” as part of their covert operation.

Then, on April 30, 2025, the situation escalated dramatically. ICE agents arrived at the Diaz home without a warrant and refused to properly identify themselves. In the ensuing chaos, Martin R. Diaz—a devoted business owner, long-time U.S. resident of over 33 years with no connection to any gangs—was brutally tackled and restrained right outside his home. Witnesses report that this aggressive intervention was the culmination of a meticulously planned operation that had been in motion for weeks.

After the violent confrontation, Diaz was swiftly transported to a high-security facility in Northern Idaho, a detention center known for hosting individuals with links to extremist groups, including members of the Proud Boys. The combination of prolonged stalking, deceptive tactics, and forceful detention has raised significant questions about ICE's methods and the apparent disregard for due process.

A TikTok video capturing parts of these unsettling events has gained widespread attention for showing the shocking tactics employed by the agents. You can view the TikTok coverage here.

For a detailed report and further analysis of this case, including interviews with community members and legal experts, please read the in-depth coverage by KREM here.

https://www.tiktok.com/@kendall.diaz6/video/7499238185369734430

This incident has ignited fierce debate among civil rights advocates, community leaders, and legal experts, as many call for a thorough investigation into ICE's practices. As the community seeks answers and accountability, this case serves as a stark reminder of the potential consequences when law enforcement agencies overstep established legal boundaries.


top 14 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] SARGE@startrek.website 5 points 4 hours ago

Non-uniformed chucklefucks claiming to be law enforcement while acting like gang members and thugs, getting ready to break into a house?

Sounds like a good time for armed resistance to arrest the clearly illegal kidnapping or robbery. If they are armed and make any move toward weapons, there is only one response. Defend your life, and defend the victims, with all the force necessary to do so.

I actually think ICE WANTS this to happen so they can justify being even harsher or just straight up executing people in the street. It's not like law enforcement hasn't executed someone in front of dozens of witnesses while being recorded...

[–] Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works 37 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

This pisses me off. I live in Spokane and didn't hear about this. I don't have cable TV and don't watch much news, however.

I couldn't follow the tiktok link since I refuse to download the app, so I found another link to the story here.

The sad thing is, Washington may be a VERY blue state, but Spokane and the east side is fairly red, aligning more with Idaho. Not to say that everyone here is a MAGA loving inbred, but it's more than you expect from the only state that went more blue this election. Until these atrocities start to happen to these people, I fear little change will occur.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

This isn't perfectly representative of the entire WA political situatiin, but here's WA State House of Representatives by Party:

Here's another way of looking at it, the Partisan Voting Index, by County:

WA is only a very blue state because the mass of people live between Bellingham and Olympia.

Get 50 miles away from the Salish Sea and basically, everyone is a Republican.

Spokane is a very weird oddball of... basically being a swing city/county, within WA the state.

It is also surrounded by MAGA loving inbreds, and is extremely close to Idaho, which is basically just Gilead at this point.

Indeed, there is still an ongoing Republican plan to try and break off the eastern counties of Oregon and Washington, and merge them into 'Greater Idaho'.

https://greateridaho.org/

They used to be more public about Phase 2, incorperating eastern WA as well.

... And now that Trump is dictator, the chances of this happening are... a whole hell of a lot more plausible than if he'd lost.

[–] DandomRude@lemmy.world 25 points 8 hours ago

Even apart from the terrible inhumanity and disregard for the law of these Gestapo people: They watched a business owner and taxpayer for two months and then put him in a high security prison? How incredibly expensive that is!

Human tragedies and absurd costs to US citizens just so MAGA crooks can profit through stakes in private prison companies and the like. It's really unbelievable how criminal the MAGA administration is.

[–] peregrin5@lemm.ee 21 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Fuck this is happening in WA? I legit will fight in a Civil War if it means Cascadia and California can secede.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 16 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I hate to break it to you, but there is nowhere this is not happening. Keep your eyes peeled and your guard up.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 9 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Yeah, we got hit in Boston too. We have a good track record of treating undocumented aliens like people, but ice came through and violated constitutional rights, due process, and interfered with local law enforcement

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 7 points 7 hours ago

my hometown had a bunch of Ukrainian students get deported and their cadet corps' morale insignia removed from the ROTC training grounds like they'd never even been there

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 9 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Progressives need to drop the whole anti gun thing. The social contract has been broken, the state will not protect us. The only people who have means to protect themselves nowadays are right wing chuds who don't have to obey the law and fascist law enforcement who are immune from it.

If one of these kidnapping teams rightfully gets a couple of their agents blown away because they aren't following the law and announcing themselves as law enforcement, maybe they'll think again before kidnapping families off the street.

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 6 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Sorry to be a bit pedantic, but: Leftists don’t have an “anti gun thing,” that’s actually a liberal virtue signal, and most of those people are far more conservative than “progressive.”

Many of us on the left are armed and well trained in the use of firearms, we just don’t make it our whole life’s identity.

A great leader in leftist ideology once said that the workers should never surrender their guns and ammo, and you know what? He was right.

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 2 points 4 hours ago

Armed minorities are harder to oppress.

organized armed minorities make politicians afraid.

Honestly the biggest problem with being left and armed, is finding other people with similar views to organize with. Specifically because we don't advertise and make it half of our entire personality (usually).

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Leftists don’t have an “anti gun thing,” that’s actually a liberal virtue signal,

Which is why I said progressives and not leftist. Imo conservatives want to conserve or revert to a previous status quo, while progressive want to progress or reform the status quo without changing the overruling system. I guess the real problem is there is no international standardized language for politics, mostly because America is so far right it's reshaped the Overton window.

[–] crusa187@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 hours ago

because America is so far right it's reshaped the Overton window

You’re definitely spot on about that! Overton window has been dragged completely off of the right side deep end in USA. Democrat politics are in fact considered conservative in most other parts of the world.

Conservatives in the US (eg, far right extremists) have tried to subvert the term “progressive,” similarly to what they did with “socialist,” and pin it on Dems as if it’s some kind of pejorative admonishment. I don’t think Dems are very progressive at all, they couldn’t even be bothered to do things like increase the minimum wage, pass paid family leave, or codify roe, during the times they had power to do so.

imho progressive = leftist, dem = center right, and repug = authoritarian fascist, to align more fully with global political spectra. However, many of my fellow Americans might disagree with that characterization.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 7 points 7 hours ago

It's morally correct to rune ICE over with your car