NYT Discovers Federal Agents Are Still Detaining People, Shocking
The NYT's video piece, “Federal Agents Detain Man During New York City Raid,” showcases agents in masks handcuffing a man against a wall. A compelling visual, certainly. What the piece conveniently sidesteps is the institutionalized, bipartisan nature of these operations. This isn't a new phenomenon, but rather a consistent policy choice across administrations. The Biden administration, for
instance, in 2023 alone deported over 142,000 individuals, a figure that rivals, and in some cases surpasses, Trump-era numbers. (Source: Washington Post, Nov. 2, 2023, 'Deportations during Biden administration have now surpassed four years of Trump's presidency'). One might wonder why such commonplace, decades-long federal activity, particularly by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
becomes 'news' only when it fits a certain narrative or simply when they happen to catch it on camera. The real scandal isn't merely the detention, but the systemic, largely unquestioned expansion of domestic surveillance and enforcement powers, which has been accelerated under both Democratic and Republican presidents. It’s almost as if some stories are only newsworthy when they confirm a
pre-existing bias, leaving the more profound, inconvenient truths untouched.