First of all, let’s get the proper definition for stooge. According to the Cambridge University Press:

A stooge is a person who is forced or paid by someone in authority to do an unpleasant or secret job for them. It can also refer to a partner in a comedy team who feeds lines to the other comedian, or a puppet. The term is often used disapprovingly to describe a weak or unimportant person who is controlled by a powerful person or organization.

Disregard the part about comedy. These are agencies that have agreed to help ICE track down immigrants, regardless of their status, to harass at the least and kidnap at the most.

The CJ says:

The … program allows state and local agencies to perform limited immigration enforcement functions under the oversight of ICE, including making arrests, serving warrants and identifying people without legal documentation who are housed within detention centers.

The program includes three different models that law enforcement agencies can opt to participate in:

• Jail enforcement officer — identifying and processing people without legal status who have been arrested by local or state law enforcement and have criminal charges or have pending criminal charges.
• Warrant service officer — allows ICE to train and certify officers to serve administrative warrants within the jail.
• Task force model — allows law enforcement officers to enforce limited immigration authority during routine police duties while under oversight from ICE.

Kentucky has 11 agencies partnering under some form of the … program. They are:

• Bracken County Sheriff’s Office — jail enforcement model
• Bullitt County Detention Center — task force model
• Daviess County Sheriff’s Office — task force model, warrant service officer
• Grayson County Detention Center — warrant service officer, jail enforcement model
• Grayson County Sheriff’s Office — task force model
• Heritage Creek Police Department — task force model
• Kenton County Sheriff’s Office — warrant service officer, jail enforcement model
• Lyon County Sheriff’s Office — task force model
• Marshall County Sheriff’s Office — task force model
• Oldham County Detention Center — warrant service officer, jail enforcement model
• Union County Sheriff’s Office — task force model

These aren’t the only stooges. The Laurel County Correctional Center, an ICE puppet, helped Homeland Security jail 25 women on Sunday.

Don’t think this is just happening in big cities. While you watch what’s happening in Los Angeles, be aware that police are using the same tactics here.

And when it’s time to hold people accountable for undermining the Constitution and destroying democracy, they will not get away with “We were just following orders” as a defense.