Eight US military veterans have come forward with firsthand accounts of their arrests and injuries. They stood to oppose the immigration enforcement policies that were associated with the Trump administration. Sean Charles Dunn and Dana Briggs are worth mentioning in this regard. Both are currently considering civil lawsuits in the wake of their arrests by federal agents.
Sean Charles Dunn, a decorated, service-connected veteran of the Afghanistan combat theater. He tossed a breakfast sandwich at the head of Customs and Border Protection. He was ultimately acquitted by a jury in Washington, D.C., which found that his actions did not amount to an assault. Dunn, using strong language, expressed his frustration over the cops on brutalizing on the cops August 10 protest. He yelled, “What are you doing here? I don’t want you in my city!
In a unrelated case, felony assault charges were dropped against Dana Briggs. The 70 year old Air Force veteran had been charged with assault on a federal officer after defending a community from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid. After his case was thrown out, Briggs is currently considering a civil suit about law enforcement’s treatment of him.
Yet another veteran, Daryn Herzberg, similarly an Afghanistan war veteran, lived through a traumatizing experience at the hands of federal agents in Portland. He was violently pulled by the hair and slammed repeatedly face-down into the pavement. In the midst of the pushback and tussle, an unidentified Department of Homeland Security officer mocked him. “You ain’t running your mouth no more, are you?” he spat.
The events surrounding these veterans has caused a tidal wave of firestorm and condemnation from all sides, especially from veterans’ advocacy groups. Jose Vasquez, executive director of Common Defense said the dismissals of charges against both Briggs and Dunn should signal that the movement is changing the landscape. As to these results, he said, “These outcomes … should serve to remind prosecutors and the public alike that dissent is not a crime.”
More skepticism emerged about the Department’s treatment of Briggs’s case. U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel A. Fuentes dropped the charges after watching the federal agents’ body-worn camera video of the incident. The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Andrew Boutros, has offered no justification for this dismissal.
Joseph Fitzpatrick, also of the U.S. Attorney’s office, discussed the ongoing assessments that have taken place. These assessments are directly tied to the more than 100 cases resulting from Operation Midway Blitz. Notably, he promised, as the office’s public defender, to continuously review new facts and information. This would help make sure that justice gets served in every open case they are investigating.
As Briggs would later reflect on his experience, agents needed to be able to justify the violence with the community values back home. He prompted, “How do you sleep at night? How do you go home and explain to your community and your family what you’re doing for people that look like you.”
All of these claims regarding law enforcement practices during the protests have gained national attention. Most dramatically, decorated military veterans in Congress are taking their fellow lawmakers to task for the way they’re treating their fellow servicemen and women.