ICE Must Revise Its Policies and Tactics to Prevent Further Violence

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Katy Tur Reports,” MSNBC Security and Intelligence Analyst Christopher O’Leary discussed the shooting at an ICE facility in Texas and said that while people should tone down their rhetoric, “you also have to start looking at what policies you’ve implemented and what tactics you’re using, because, if you tone down the rhetoric, but you leave those other pieces in place, nothing’s going to change.”

O’Leary stated, “So, terrorism is theater. It’s intended to influence an audience beyond its immediate victims. It’s putting a message out. And terrorism falls into really three categories: It’s either religiously motivated, ideologically motivated, or, in this case, politically motivated. And the politically motivated ones, it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens because conditions have been set that people start acting out against.”

He added that the conditions are “distrust in institutions — that’s been building for quite some time — attacks on institutions, the wealth gap, oppressive policies — at least this is what people perceive — and then the militarization of ICE and other federal law enforcement, the wearing of the masks, the aggressive tactics. So, the people who are starting to act out against this feel it’s their only recourse. Again, this is predictable. We see this happening throughout our history and in other places as well. So, we can tone down the rhetoric, and that’s the right message. But you also have to start looking at what policies you’ve implemented and what tactics you’re using, because, if you tone down the rhetoric, but you leave those other pieces in place, nothing’s going to change.”