And he was arrested in his own home

So here's the new hot topic in Boston. A prominent Harvard professor arrested for disorderly conduct. His crime: mouthing off to a police officer. He was having a bad day and he took umbrage at the police officer's line of questioning. He claims that the whole affair was one of racial profiling. The charges were dropped.

Since the story originally broke, but unfortunately before the positions hardened, the story of what happened at 17 Ware Street in Cambridge got a lot more complicated. It is increasingly looks like the entire brouhaha isn't entirely about race, except insofar as Professor Gates' own racial narrative informed his reaction. Indeed, it appears that this is mainly an issue of class, privilege, and who should have shown deference to whom first. It is also likely an issue of a lack of understanding of what police officers do.

With that said, much of the earlier (and some of the continuing) outcry against the Cambridge Police is that he was arrested "in his own home." Go ahead and do a Google search. Tens of thousands of articles, blog postings, and commentary (informed and otherwise) are upset that this man was arrested in his own home. The violation of the sanctity of property is enough to cause the vapors, make one have to find a seat, put the back of one's hand to the head, and swoon.

Let us put aside that this is an inaccurate portrayal of what happened (he was arrested when he continued to berate the police on the porch for all of the world - or at least several other police officers and allegedly 7 witnesses to see). Let us put aside the obvious implication that certain people (famous academic entrepreneur intellectuals, for example) should not be held to the same standards of conduct or common sense as the rest of us.

What strikes me is that the outrage over Gates' arrest "in his own home" is that there is no similar outrage over recent report by the Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic, over the exact same thing occurring routinely in the immigrant community. This is Day 7 of the Gates tempest. Lexis Nexis reported 372 stories about it and Google News came up with 10,436. Do a Google News search of the Constitution on Ice report and you'll get exactly 17 unduplicated stories. Lexis Nexis returns a grand total of 11 stories.

This study analyzed several hundred records of arrests that occurred in the course of home raids conducted by ICE. These raids are supposed to have targeted criminals but instead, an earlier study by the Migration Policy Institute found that 73% of the people arrested in these raids have no criminal history.

The Constitution on Ice study reports that ICE officers regularly enter homes without obtaining consent, as they are required to do under our Constitution. The analysis shows that in only 14% of Long Island and 24% of New Jersey arrests was consent to enter given. In addition, the authors claim that some of the consents that the officers claim they were given in the arrest records in the New Jersey sample appear to be fabricated. The report provides over 2 dozen accounts of law enforcement misconduct, including illegally seizing non-targeted individuals, breaking down locked doors, entering through closed windows, or otherwise illegally entering and searching homes, and targeting individuals on the basis of their racial or ethnic appearance or lack of English proficiency.

The report also describes a pervasive cowboy mentality among many ICE agents. As reported in the NYT, ICE agents have conducted home raids in Nassau County "wearing cowboy hats and brandishing shotguns and automatic weapons," endangering the lives of the families subjected to this harrasment, and the larger community.

So, I expect that those who are upset about Gates "unreasonable" arrest "in his own home" will be writing to Janet Napolitano to demand that the home raids conducted by ICE cease until the agency adopts the recommendations in the Constitution on Ice report. Here's the address in case you are interested:

Director Janet Napolitano
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528