Page B1From§Eachthe matinee edition — 6 October 2026
As it ran on the front
A complaint has changed hands this week, and nothing about where it landed required anybody to plan it.
The document comes from a former FBI analyst who, according to Tuesday's reporting, says the White House ordered the Bureau to investigate protesters outside federal buildings in Los Angeles. Senator Alex Padilla, who now holds a copy, called the allegations "deeply alarming." All together now — that is the whole file in one sentence: a government directing its own intelligence service against people exercising rights the Constitution protects.…
…(cont) The complaint did not land in a quiet stretch. On September 24, ABC News counted at least 21 people shot by federal immigration agents since the second Trump administration began. One week later, on October 1, the family of Renee Good — a Minneapolis woman killed by immigration agents in January — filed two federal lawsuits naming the agent who shot her and several top Trump officials by name. Four days after that, on Monday, a Chicago woman, Marimar Martinez, filed her own suit, alleging a Customs and Border Protection agent shot her seven times from behind and then lied about how it happened; federal prosecutors had accused her of ramming the agent's vehicle, a claim the lawsuit disputes directly.
The same Monday, a federal judge in Boston blocked the administration's attempt to fine migrants up to $1.8 million for failing to leave the country after a final deportation order, ruling the fines unlawful and citing the "economically precarious position" of the people targeted. A second judge halted construction of the border wall through Big Bend.
Five separate judges, officials and lawyers, none of them coordinating with the others. All together now — read the paragraph the complaint is building toward: a White House that asked its own Bureau to treat the Constitution as optional, in the same stretch that courts, a lawsuit, and a conservative's resignation letter all said, independently, that it already had.
“They tell you there's no money for your kid's school, but there's money enough to point the FBI at people holding signs outside a federal building. Five separate judges and a lifelong conservative attorney didn't need a meeting to notice the same thing — it just kept happening, all in one week, on its own. When a government turns its own Bureau on the people protesting it, that's not law enforcement anymore, that's the government protecting itself from being watched.”
“Look, investigating people near federal buildings is just basic security protocol, that's not — okay, fine, it's not every week five different courts and a Department attorney all call the same thing an assault on the rule of law, that's — did I say assault? I meant abundance. An abundance of independent caution, from five totally separate, totally uncoordinated places. Coincidence. A big one.”
Earlier in this story
The receipts
Republicans' reconciliation package puts $70 billion into ICE's department NBC News, May 2026
US citizen alleges immigration agent in Chicago shot her from behindCBP says in response to lawsuit use-of-force cases are ‘thoroughly investigated, reviewed, and presented’ A US citizen who was shot one year ago by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent during a sweeping immigration crackdown in Chicago filed a lawsuit against the federal government on Monday, alleging the agent lied about the…
Republicans' reconciliation package puts $70 billion into ICE's department NBC News, May 2026
Judge blocks Trump administration move to fine migrantsA federal judge in Boston on Monday blocked the Trump administration's effort to fine migrants up to $1.8 million for failing to leave the U.S. after receiving their final order to deport. U.S.
John Murdock had been working for the agency for 18 years and his resignation comes during an exodus of longtime federal workers and scientists An 18-year veteran of the US Department of the Interior has resigned in protest from the sprawling federal agency, denouncing “a deeply troubling assault on the rule of the law” that took place…
‘These allegations are deeply alarming,’ said Senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who received a copy of the complaint Can the Iran war cost Trump in the US midterm elections? Your questions answered Sign up for Breaking News US email Two media giants, Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery, have completed their $110bn merger …
· Family of Renee Good sues ICE agent who shot her and top Trump officials from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026
· Federal immigration agents have shot at least 21 people during Trump's 2nd term from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.