Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/28/the-dea-seized-a-retired-railr.html
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Civil forfeiture shouldn’t be a political/partisan thing. It should outrage everyone. It’s a total effing abuse.
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And as we’re hearing about this one circumstance, exactly the same forfeiture laws are being used to wipe out countless others’ life work. Homes, retirement, inheritance. This isn’t nearly the most egregious version of civil asset forfeiture.
Oh, and they’re used for this:
Because once you’ve forfeited all of your material assets, there is still one more they can take.
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Maybe they’ll win the case and the police will go “we already spent your money on this sweet ass tactical military vehicle. So I guess you won’t need to repair your pickup now, just drive to Wal*Mart in your new tank.”
Also, as horrible as this practice is, it is being outlawed in many states.
Hopefully we won’t have any more stories like this in the semi-near future.
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Shockingly, it’s largely illegal here in NC. I just learned that a few weeks ago. But because this particular instance involves the TSA and DEA, I think state laws might not apply?
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While this case is laudable, the Institute for Justice also supports school choice and the “right to rent”. They seem to be staunchly libertarian and not particularly heroic.
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Seems to be two dysfuntional systems here. Not just the DEA, but also the banks. There is no way it should be necessary to move that much money as cash nowadays. Deposit it in a local bank and transfer it electronically would be the reasonable way.
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It probably isn’t necessary. Seems like the subjects of the story aren’t exactly conversant with banking services.
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Nor should they have to be.
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A $82,000 wire transfer could just as easily trigger the same laws that were used to confiscate the cash.
The whole DEA system here is looking for “poor” people who suddenly have a lot of money under the assumption that it must be drug money. And then of course the system is set up to prevent people from being able to defend themselves because otherwise the prosecution’s job would be basically impossible. Even the worst defense attorney could shoot down these cases pretty much every time. It’s a shockingly corrupt system that everybody should be ashamed of.
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Here’s a demonstration of civil asset forfeiture…
Legalized theft by crooks with badges, plain and simple.
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Unfortunately the majority of white Americans blindly trust cops until they become their victims.
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Didn’t we cover this a few months ago?
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Staunchly Koch libertarian. They’re a member of the State Policy Network.
https://umbraxenu.no-ip.biz/mediawiki/index.php/Category:Institute_for_Justice
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$10,000 or more in a cash deposit automatically generates a report to the IRS. And of course you are assumed guilty unless you are a large retail business that generates large amounts of cash.
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Yep. It’s a structural economic class barrier designed to make it guilty for poor people to stop being poor.
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I wonder if that would trigger an investigation on its own, though. For the same reasons large sums of cash in transit are considered suspect, I imagine dumping large sums into a bank is as well
Ach! @jandrese beat me to it!
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And if those cats can prove their food wasn’t purchased with the proceeds of their illegal catnip operation, then they should get it back. /s
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Well, if their food can prove it wasn’t purchased with the proceeds of an illegal catnip operation. The racoon filed the suit against the food, not the cats, so the presumption of guilt is on the food irrespective of the guilt of the cats who may never see their food again.
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From legalised highway robbery to legalised high-way robbery.
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