The frequent, random, Migra raids have gotten so bad lately that even the cops are complaining —and they’re the kings of questionable practices:

LONG ISLAND officials protested when federal agents searching for immigrant gang members raided local homes two weeks ago. The agents had rousted American citizens and legal immigrants from their beds in the night, complained Lawrence W. Mulvey, the Nassau County police commissioner, and arrested suspected illegal immigrants without so much as a warrant.

“We don’t need warrants to make the arrests,” responded Peter J. Smith, the special agent in charge in New York for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, the agency that conducted the raids.

Drunk with power much? Must be hard to resist when hunting for immigrants is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Apparently immigration cops don’t have to play by any of the same rules as regular cops. They can make arrests without warrants and detain suspects for as long as they like and at whatever location they deem fit. Which means they often escort detainees away from family and legal help as soon as possible. No wonder people all over the U.S. are beginning to question their practices:

A lawsuit in Tennessee challenges raids where agents teamed up with a county sheriff to search trailer parks, forcing their way without warrants into Hispanic immigrants’ homes. In a suit against ICE in Texas, seven citizens and legal immigrants contend their rights were violated in raids last year at Swift & Company meatpacking plants.

Hey anybody have a countdown on when Bush leaves the gestapo office?

No Need for a Warrant, You’re an Immigrant [NYT]