WATCH: Former police officer says federal immigration policy is not ‘democratically acceptable’

A former police officer who now teaches at the University of South Carolina School of Law said Tuesday that “this administration’s approach to immigration enforcement falls far short of professional norms.”

“This is not policing. This is not normal and this is neither professionally nor democratically acceptable,” said Seth Stoughton, a professor who also directs the school’s Excellence in Policing and Public Safety Program.

Stoughton spoke at a public forum held Tuesday by congressional Democrats to examine the Department of Homeland Security’s use of what they say is excessive force.

“Having deprived themselves of a scalpel, federal officials have fallen back on the hammer, using dragnet-style enforcement tactics that are demonstrably overbroad,” he said.

Federal immigration agents have been involved in more than a dozen shootings, some fatal, since President Donald Trump began his second term, sparking public outcry over use of force by officers deployed as part of his immigration crackdown.

Families of victims and residents of Minneapolis, where two fatal shootings occurred last month, have demanded more transparency and accountability from the government, which has tried to shut local and state law enforcement out of investigations into the deaths.

The issue became a driving factor behind the partial government shutdown this week. Democrats refused to agree to a government funding deal for a handful of agencies, including the DHS, without reforms to ICE and CBP, including requiring agents to wear body cameras, refrain from obscuring their faces and obtain judicial warrants for arrests. Lawmakers approved a short-term measure Tuesday that funds DHS only through Feb. 13, while debate continues over these proposals.

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