Immigration agents last week entered a house in Oregon that was undergoing renovation and arrested one of the workers inside, taking him away in handcuffs because they thought he was in the country illegally. The man was later released, but his immigration status is the least interesting aspect of the story. Federal agents, without either an arrest or search warrant, entered a private home and hauled off someone in handcuffs.
That followed by a couple of weeks another Oregon encounter in which immigration agents approached a U.S. citizen outside of a courthouse and demanded identification papers because they thought he resembled another man – with whom he apparently bore little resemblance beyond skin color – suspected of being in the county illegally.
Oregon’s two senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, were right to demand officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement explain these blatant abuses of power and, in the case of the home invasion, unconstitutional actions. ICE agents sought to explain away the illegal home entry with the laughable excuse that because the owners were living in the basement while workers renovated the main floors, the private home was a place of business, so agents had a right to enter. The federal government now feels it can redefine basic concepts such as what constitutes a home, and decide unilaterally when it needs a warrant.
There have been other highly questionable moves by ICE agents since President Trump took office. Showing up at courthouses in plainclothes and without visible badges to arrest people there for hearings or other court business. Taking a woman awaiting emergency brain surgery from a Texas hospital and into detention. Stopping an ambulance (also in Texas), then following the 10-year-old patient it carried to a hospital and, after she received emergency gall bladder surgery, spiriting her away to a juvenile detention facility.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-trump-immigration-texas-20171027-story.html

Illinois State Troopers said they found $48,460 in cash inside a Louis Vuitton bag inside a car they stopped in Kane County.
The Indiana man driving the car initially told police the money was from a show he did in Minneapolis, more than a month before they pulled him over near milepost 52 on an Illinois Tollway stretch of Interstate 90.
Authorities think it is drug money, which the state is seeking to keep through a forfeiture case filed last week, according to a docuмent signed by Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Donald O'Brien.
No criminal charges appear to have been publicly filed in Kane County in connection with the cash, and the man, of the 8800 block of Schafer Drive in St. John, Ind., could not be reached for comment Monday.
On or about Aug. 25, a state trooper stopped the man's car while it was in a Kane County section of the tollway, according to court filings, which don't specify the reason for the stop.
Approaching the car, the trooper noticed two cellphones in the cup holder, though court filings indicate no passengers were in the car. Knowing drug dealers use multiple phones "in furtherance of their business," the trooper started to question the driver, according to the filing.
The man "became increasingly nervous when asked about the purpose of his travels," and tried to make a phone call, the trooper noted. The driver said he didn't have narcotics or bulk currency in the car and denied the trooper's request to search it, the filing states.
At some point, a police drug-detection dog sniffed the car, and another trooper arrived for backup. Court filings do not make clear which happened first or how long the driver was detained before the dog became involved. A state police spokesman could not be reached Monday.
The dog alerted police it had detected the odor of narcotics on the driver's side of the car, which told the trooper narcotics probably had been inside, according to court filings. But after the trooper asked him again, the driver continued to deny having narcotics or money in the car, filings state.
Both of the troopers conducted a probable cause search of the car, finding the designer bag full of cash and four cellphones, according to the complaint for forfeiture.
The driver then said he'd left Minnesota earlier that day, knowing he had the money in the car, and that it came from "a show he did" July 8 in Minneapolis.
He showed police a contract stating an artist would be paid $10,000 to perform. Nothing mentioned the larger amount of $48,460, police noted.
Police took the driver to State Police headquarters to wait for agents from the North Central Narcotics task force.
Citing the money laundering article of the controlled substances act and drug asset forfeiture procedure, court filings through the office of Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon argue the money seized should be forfeited. The cash was furnished or intended to be furnished in exchange for an illegal substance, according to the complaint. Further, the state argues, the driver knew it represented "proceeds of unlawful activity," and transported it intending to promote the carrying on of illegal activity "from which the criminally derived money was obtained."
O'Brien, the assistant county prosecutor, signed the forfeiture complaint, which was notarized Oct. 24.
The driver is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 19 before Judge Christine Downs at the Kane County Judicial Center in St. Charles for a status-of-forfeiture hearing in the case.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-drug-money-st-1030-20171030-story.html