"Stand Back, And Stand By": The Case for Congressional Oversight of America’s Shadow Policing
By Ryan Weyandt
In May 2020, the world watched as George Floyd was murdered by a uniformed officer on the streets of Minneapolis. What followed was not just outrage—it was a global reckoning. Our state became the epicenter of a national confrontation with the very institutions we were raised to trust. But five years later, a quieter, more insidious threat has emerged—one even harder to detect and much harder to confront: unaccountable federal violence hidden behind masks, camouflage, and legal immunity.
1. From Portland to Present: America’s Paramilitary Turn
In 2020, under the Trump administration, federal officers were deployed in cities like Portland and Minneapolis under Operation Diligent Valor. These agents—many from BORTAC, ICE, and DHS—often wore no name tags, drove unmarked vans, and refused to identify themselves. What was labeled crowd control often looked like military occupation.
Minnesota knows the price of unchecked power. The militarized response to George Floyd’s murder—coupled with the long history of racialized policing—sparked not just protests, but fires. And yet, instead of rethinking tactics, we escalated them.
Since then, we’ve seen a surge in police impersonation and extremist infiltration:
In Edina (2021), a man was arrested for impersonating a federal agent while wearing tactical gear.
State Fusion Centers (2022–2023) reported that "sovereign citizens" and militia actors were attempting to pass as law enforcement.
In 2023, Minneapolis PD issued warnings after multiple reports of unidentified individuals detaining civilians in mock police attire.
These are warning flares. And they’re getting brighter.
2. The Supreme Court Just Legalized This
In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents are immune from prosecution for any official act they commit while in office.
This means:
If a president deputizes Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, or other ideologically aligned actors under the banner of federal enforcement—even in secret—that act is immune to prosecution.
I am deeply concerned that Donald Trump has already granted local and federal actors quiet permission—or direct instruction—to deputize Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other known domestic terrorist and white supremacist organizations. These are not shadowy hypotheticals anymore. These are the masked, tactical men we are seeing on the streets of America right now. They are seizing citizens, refusing to identify themselves, and disappearing people into a legal abyss. And under the current interpretation of presidential immunity, we may never be able to prove or prosecute it.
Combine that with:
A long-documented overlap between extremist groups and law enforcement/military ranks;
No mandatory vetting or disclosure for temporary federal deputization;
No legal mechanism to investigate such deployments retroactively;
A national atmosphere where dissent is increasingly criminalized.
The result? A roadmap for legalized paramilitary enforcement.
3. The Mass Disappearances of 2025
We are no longer theorizing. We are documenting.
In Los Angeles, social media has exploded with footage of masked, unidentified officers pulling civilians into unmarked SUVs. More than 500 people have reportedly been detained in the last month alone—with no legal counsel, no records, and no disclosure of charges.
Source: The New Yorker, June 2025
Videos circulating on Threads, Facebook, and local news stations show:
Armed agents boarding buses in Boyle Heights
Black SUVs sweeping up bystanders outside corner stores
Masked men storming homes during supposed “immigration enforcement” operations—all while refusing to answer the basic question: Who are you?
Similar reports have emerged in Chicago, Phoenix, New Jersey, Dallas, and now, Minnesota. The fear is spreading. So is the silence.
4. If It Looks Like Authoritarianism...
Authoritarian regimes don’t announce themselves. They deputize the loyal. They erase the uniforms. They disband transparency in the name of order.
History teaches us this:
Mussolini’s Blackshirts began as unofficial enforcers
Hitler’s SA operated in the streets long before the SS wore formal uniforms
Putin’s Wagner Group is both unofficial and state-funded
America now has the same infrastructure:
Plausible deniability through joint task forces
Legal insulation via SCOTUS immunity
Ideological alignment through infiltration and unchecked deputization
This isn’t fearmongering. It’s precedent.
5. The Minnesota Imperative
We in Minnesota cannot claim ignorance. We were where the world turned in 2020. We should know the signs. We should recognize the playbook. And we should demand more.
We’ve seen the damage done when we wait too long to ask questions. We’ve buried the victims of that silence. We owe them action.
6. The Congressional Mandate
This letter and editorial are being sent, in identical form, to every member of Minnesota’s congressional delegation—from Rep. Ilhan Omar to Rep. Tom Emmer—because this is not partisan. It’s foundational.
Congress must:
Launch an immediate inquiry into all unidentified federal detentions and deployments since 2016
Require a federal identification standard for any personnel engaged in domestic enforcement
Hold hearings on the implications of presidential immunity, particularly in the use of federal force
Investigate the 2025 disappearances and issue subpoenas for federal records related to these raids
7. Final Truths
If we cannot identify who has the power to detain us—we have no democracy.
If we cannot question those with guns and badges—we have no freedom.
If we cannot hold those in power accountable—we have no republic.
We are standing at the edge of the rabbit hole. We don’t need to fall in to know it’s deep. We just have to look at the people already disappearing into it.
If it’s happening in Los Angeles, it can happen in Saint Paul.
If it’s happening in America, it’s already happening to us.
Ryan Weyandt
Founder & Executive Consultant, RAW Insight, LLC
Former Founding CEO, LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance
Constituent, Minnesota
ryan@raw-insight.com