An ex-MSNBC anchor despaired Saturday as he recounted the story of an American-born teenager tasered and assaulted by ICE agents as he rode in a car with his mother.
David Shuster, who hosted primetime shows on the network, wrote about the story on the Substack Blue Amp on Saturday.
“What have we become?” he asked.
Shuster was describing the experience of 18-year-old Kenny Laynez, a citizen and high school senior who was riding in a car with his mom and two undocumented men when federal agents pulled them over.
His only crime was sitting in the front seat of a car while appearing Hispanic, Shuster wrote.
Video recorded by Laynez captured the agents yanking him from the vehicle, tasering him, and placing him in handcuffs. One officer can be heard telling the American citizen, "You got no rights here. You're an amigo, brother."
The audio reveals even more chilling commentary from the federal agents. "They're starting to resist more," one officer says, while another ominously predicts, "We're gonna end up shooting some of them," Shuster recalled.
“By the time historians complete their autopsy of America under Trump, I am certain the Department of Homeland Security—particularly its tyrannical subdivision, Immigration and Customs Enforcement —will be named among the most bloated and repulsive of the nation’s malignant tumors,” Shuster wrote.
The furious writer went on, “These government agents are self-anointed crusaders patrolling our streets with Tasers, masks, and an itchy trigger finger.”
Shuster added that Laynez’s story is far from unique.
“This is the grotesque and debilitating face of U.S. immigration enforcement under this madman and his horrific henchmen,” he wrote. “The question is no longer “who are we keeping out?” The question is, what have we become? Or what must we do to turn this around?
“And relatedly, will America survive?”