Federal sweeps spur militarized crowd control

A ProPublica/FRONTLINE investigation shows federal immigration sweeps (ICE/CBP) using militarized crowd‑control — tear gas canisters, pepper balls and aggressive pepper‑spraying — against neighbors, protesters and journalists in residential neighborhoods. Incidents include an agent tossing a tear‑gas canister after a thrown snowball and pepper spray fired from a moving vehicle that struck a news crew. — If federal immigration enforcement routinely imports militarized crowd‑control into neighborhoods, it reshapes local policing norms, press safety, civil‑liberties oversight, and political accountability for federal deployments.