Chop was a Rottweiler. He lived with his family in a quiet neighborhood in El Paso, Texas.
On September 9, Border Patrol agents showed up at their home to see if migrants were there. When the family’s son answered the door, he permitted the agents to search his home, saying he had nothing to hide.
But he asked if they could wait first while he put the family dog, Chop, a Rottweiler, away in the bathroom before they walked in, as the dog could be aggressive. He did so. But when he went out to his pickup to retrieve the ID agents had requested, the same agents opened the bathroom door and shot Chop.
What’s more, none of the Border Patrol agents helped the family, who desperately tried to render aid to Chop as he bled to death on the kitchen floor. And never mind the detail that, it turns out, Border Patrol terrorized legal citizens and murdered a family member while following a false lead.
Border patrol issued the following statement:
“On Sept. 9 at 7:15 a.m., a U.S. Border Patrol agent was involved in a use of force incident in El Paso, Texas during an investigation into alien smuggling at a residence. The incident involved a canine. The use of force is currently under review by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility in accordance with CBP policies. CBP takes such incidents seriously.”
Well, of course, they take it seriously. When you work for a soulless dog murderer like Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, killing a canine is a badge of honor — and likely grounds for a juicy promotion.
It is a sign of our times that this particular murder didn’t become widely known until this week, when it went viral thanks to the account “We Rate Dogs” — and then others — posting it on Instagram. The initial news story reported by KFOX14 in El Paso had gone unnoticed in the media until then.
I learned about this at the Drudge Report under the blaring headline “ICE SLAUGHTERS FAMILY DOG.” Technically, that’s not precise — ICE and the Border Patrol are separate agencies working under Homeland Security for the same purpose under Donald Trump, which is to terrorize Brown people for sport and political gain.
So I offer no apology for using the headline shorthand of “ICE” — they’re all the same to me. If America can survive the Trump presidency, ICE in its current form should be dismantled and its legitimate functions restructured. After some of its perpetrators face justice.
We are living, in real time, through one of the darkest periods in the nation’s history. Look at what has happened this week alone:
- In Everett, Massachusetts, ICE took a 13-year-old from police custody after a school arrest, moved him to Virginia, and never told his waiting mother. A “disappearance” — proudly modeled in the image of President Vladimir Putin.
- In Washington, D.C., where the National Guard already patrols under Trump’s “crime emergency” declaration, ICE sweeps have forced businesses to close. City officials say they got no warning.
- In Chicago, a community-run Facebook page used to track ICE activity was taken down by Meta at the request of the Justice Department. Nothing says North Korea better than a little state censorship of people trying to avoid being swept up by government forces.
- In Los Angeles, ICE raids became so chaotic that the county declared an emergency. Shelters were overrun. Families vanished. And no one in the federal government gave a damn.
ICE and Border Patrol are no longer legitimate law enforcement agencies. They represent a paramilitary force with zero transparency and all the swagger of a dictatorship’s interior ministry.
And the moral fiber of Kristi Noem.
As for Chop? He wasn’t even an undocumented dog.
- Ray Hartmann writes on Substack at Ray Hartmann's Soapbox.
