Given the tense political climate in the United States, many people feel uneasy seeing ICE agents in public. For many Hispanic individuals, that fear is even greater because of the harsh tactics often associated with immigration arrests. Instead of distancing themselves from that kind of intimidation, two Ohio teens took it to a disturbing level by dressing up as ICE agents for Halloween. Their choice wasn’t harmless. A man at a McDonald’s with his sister noticed the boys and began recording them. He said his sister was scared, believing they were real agents, and mentioned that several Hispanic employees were visibly shaken by the situation.
The Ohio teens showed no sign of shame. They smirked, giggled, and even waved at the man as he recorded them. When he approached their table, it was clear they were dressed exactly like ICE agents, complete with masks. They were joined by two friends who weren’t part of the impersonation. One of those friends admitted the teens had been chasing people earlier, pretending to be real agents. The boys confirmed it themselves, saying, “We are on break right now,” implying they planned to continue later. They even had handcuffs with them and offered to put them on one of the girls with the cameraman.
One of the girls then asked them if it was illegal to impersonate an agent. They responded that it was probably illegal if they made an arrest. This disturbing behavior upset a lot of people, but it was celebrated by some. Two officers from the Hebron Police Department took a picture with the teens while they were wearing their ICE agent costumes. The department posted the picture to their Facebook account, later deleted it, and posted a statement. Unfortunately, the comments under that post saw nothing wrong with what the boys did or with the fact that the officers encouraged that behavior by taking a picture with them.
People Reacting to the Deranged Ohio Teens
On a positive note, there were a lot of people who were against what the Ohio teens did. Chasing innocent people to scare them while pretending to be ICE agents is just heartless. This is why one woman wrote, “the lack of empathy people have.” Another woman said, “This is so weird.” Someone else pointed out that the boys confessed to basically committing a crime. “So they admitted on camera to harassing people in costume, impersonating ice,” they stated. The video reached Ohio residents, so the entire group of boys was identified and their names were shared in the comments. It’s not clear what people plan to do with this information or if the boys will face any consequences.
More people were disturbed by what happened as one person expressed their feelings and said, “This is beyond disgusting. Thanks for standing to them.” Reddit users were also annoyed by the video. “Isn’t impersonating a federal agent a felony?” one Redditor questioned. “Well these same [expletive] we’re posing with smiling officers whilst dressed like this so apparently the pigs don’t care if it’s legal or not,” was someone’s reply. Some people were more violent in their reactions, as one person said, “Last I checked, it is a felony to impersonate officers of the law and if those little [expletive] wanna chase after me, they can meet my gun.” What they did should be considered wrong. It’s not a joke to purposely scare people.
