I Ride Around on My Scooter Documenting ICE’s Abuses

An ICE agent assaulted me, a disabled Navy veteran, for exercising my First Amendment rights.

By Buzz Grambo

When I finished my career as a Navy chief, I fully intended to actually be retired. I wanted to play video games, walk my dogs, watch baseball, whatever. But when the US government started to descend into blatant authoritarianism, I knew I had to do something. What I’m seeing on the streets today is unacceptable. It’s not what I served to defend, and I will not have it. I want to retire in a democracy.

That’s why I ride my scooter: to document what ICE is doing around my community in Baltimore, MD. What ICE is doing right now is downright illegal, and I am so offended by the actions our government is taking, that this feels like the very least I could do. This is not America—not the one I know, anyway—and it needs to stop. We deserve a government that does what it’s supposed to do: uphold laws, treat citizens with respect, follow due process. We’re asking for the Constitution. That shouldn’t be too much.

The ICE agents that I’ve seen around Baltimore have been extremely hostile. They don’t even pretend to act like they are there to protect and serve in any capacity. Instead, they run around like unrestrained vigilantes, scaring the community. But as I’ve seen firsthand, despite these strong-arm tactics, people are standing up.

We have a network of citizens throughout the city that we can notify whenever ICE comes into their neighborhood. We can mobilize neighbors to go out and document ICE’s actions. We want to let ICE know that we will not accept their hostile, illegal activities. We will not be intimidated. And we will not go away.

Recently, when I was out documenting, I got into a physical altercation with an ICE agent. Let me break down what happened: One officer told me to stop filming in the street. So, I moved over to the sidewalk. Then, while I was still filming, another agent came over and shoved me. Once I was standing on the sidewalk, he came up from behind and shoved me again. At this point, I had to say something:

“Hey, man, I’m a disabled Navy veteran. I have a right to be here and film this.” He kept coming, trying to shove me again, and then he started going toward my wife. That’s when his supervisor jumped in. He could tell that the situation was escalating quickly, and that his agent was the one escalating it. I told the supervisor that his agent had just assaulted me. ICE is documented, on video, assaulting a disabled veteran. At what point are we going to say enough is enough?

I know that my story is not the worst. In Minneapolis, federal agents have killed two Americans and assaulted countless others. We’re lucky that brave citizens are out there on the streets documenting what’s happening for the whole world to see. What happened to Renee Good and Alex Pretti could have happened to me, or anyone else that dares walk out their front door. It may be scary. But that’s exactly why we need to stand up, as one, and say: No more.

We all saw the administration’s bald-faced lies about what happened in Minnesota. It was despicable. But the videos that people took of those horrible tragedies have helped to set the record straight. That should give us reasons to hope.

So that’s why I ride around on my scooter, to show that we will not give up our First Amendment rights, and we will not be intimidated by federal agents in masks. We will preserve our Constitution.

Then maybe I can actually retire. I can play video games, walk my dogs, watch baseball, whatever—in a democracy.

Buzz Grambo is a retired Navy chief and a participant in Home of the Brave, an initiative dedicated to exposing this administration’s corruption, cruelty, and lawlessness.