Listen up ICE employees. Lawyer here:

You can and will be charged for murder, kidnapping and child endangerment.

The question is not if, but when. Prosecution can occur years later, under an entirely different political climate. Murder has no statute of limitations (see 18 U.S.C. § 3281).

You may have a defense (i.e. imminent threat of death) but it will be up to a jury to believe you. A jury of the public you've been brutalizing. Good luck with that.

Here are some more laws you should know:

State homicide, kidnapping and child endangerment statutes remain operative even for federal agents. The federal supremacy clause may delay immediate arrest, but does not erase state jurisdiction or remove prosecutorial discretion. And if you're in a state like Minnesota? You're cooked. Federal pardons do not apply to state charges.

You should know the law protects those who have moral integrity. Federal civilian employees are protected from retaliation when they refuse illegal orders.

That's Whistleblower Protection Act, 5 USC 2302(b)(8).

Translation: the law gives you an exit ramp. If you choose not to take it, that's on you.

Obedience is not a defense when the order was unlawful.

The "I was just following orders" defense died at Nuremberg. The US helped bury it, and domestic law reflects it.

There's US v. Calley (1976) re the My Lai massacre: obedience to unlawful orders does not absolve criminal liability.

Murdering civilians, abusing detainees, and kidnapping children isillegal under both federal and state law. You don't need a JD to know that.

There are also standards under your own field manuals and policies. The ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Policy Manual, Use-of-Force Continuum, and Rules for the Use of Force (SRUF) all establish limits. You have signed that you reviewed them.

“I didn’t know” is not a defense when your policies spelled it out for you.

"Everyone was doing it, we didn't have a choice."

Well let me introduce you to some more recent history:

During the 2018 family separation directives, some federal employees refused to participate and were protected from retaliation.

Those who complied are now on the wrong side of history, and some of them will likely end up on the wrong side of future investigations.

You can also be sued in civil court for a whole bunch of torts: wrongful death, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, the list goes on.

Payouts on these claims run in the millions of dollars. The lawyers are already strategizing.

Pausing in the face of legal ambiguity is not insubordination. It's prudent self-preservation and self-protection.

This administration will one day collapse. They all do.

Your bosses will resign or retire. DOJ priorities change constantly.

Indictments outlive presidencies.

The law will outlast your recklessness.

The people will remember the terror you inflicted on them.

They will be sitting in the jury box. Act accordingly.