This guy's estranged wife was in default on her student loans. So the US Department of Education sends a SWAT team to get her. They break into the guy's house, cuff him, put him and his three kids in the back of a cop car for hours while they toss the house.
The questions raised by this include:
So what do we hear from the ACLU on this incident? ((crickets))
So.... on the bright side, they didn’t shoot him 60 times...
When do we start shooting back? Where do we FINALLY draw the line on these bastards?
since when is a civil default on a loan a criminal matter?
there needs to be some more investigative reporting of this story
Mike
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Sick! Tyranny and police state fascism: “The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife’s defaulted student loans.”
The article is 5 hours old at this point, hopefully there will be other reports.
I’m curious what a search warrant in a collections case would specify as “the persons or things to be seized.”
Per the 4th Amendment.
We don’t have debtor’s prison anymore, except possibly for the infamous “deadbeat dads.” And, AFAIK, they don’t seize property in student loan cases.
bump for later
Pretty sweet deal. Force students who aren't Eric Holder's people to take out loans by overcharging them to fund "scholarships" for students who are Eric Holder's people, then send the non-Eric Holder people to the Gulags when they don't pay up.
This was a well thought-out plan.
WTF?
I'd want much more than that. I'd want justice!
The average debt burden taken on by students and parents to get a collage education in 2010 is $34,400.
A lot of recent graduates simply can not find decent jobs and are earning under $30K a year. Starting salaries for college graduates dropped 5% between 2002 and 2007 (inflation adjusted), and are likely to have fallen MUCH further since the economic distress of the last three years.
Today about 70% of college graduates graduate in debt. One in seven student loan holders have defaulted and are in collections. Many are in garnishment, and up to 25% of disposable income may be garnished — although anecdotal reports are heard that claim higher garnishments. The law limits it to 25% but some collectors are aggressive, and the persons in default are shy and beaten.
There are nearly two million young folks who have borrowed for college. One in four is delinquent, but not yet in default.
An graduate in default, is in default because they have a poor paying job. Say $12 an hour — that’s typical. Take home is $10, take away 25% garnishment, and those debt trapped youths are taking home $300 a week.
See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2731549/posts?page=21#21 for sources.
Sending a SWAT team for a defaulted student loan??? WTF???
I guess they were hoping to employ the death penalty on the scofflaw.
I am sitting here trying to figure out exactly what merited this Show-Of-Lethal-Force. Did they expect to get in a prolonged gun battle over a school loan? That the victim was going to flush the loan payment stubs down the commode? Did some CI inform the Department of Education that he saw armed men coming in and out at all hours of the night as this was the head quarters for a nation-wide gang of school loan deadbeats?
Or was it much more likely that these goons saw a photo of the woman and hoped that by breaking in at that hour they would find her naked in the bed or shower?
Six hours to ransack the home over a school loan? What on earth were they looking for? Was this a daylight robbery and they were seizing jewelry, cash and electronics to pawn or did they discover a stash of porn and decided to inventory all of it, over and over again?
The Dept. of Education can now issue a search warrant? Get thee to the gun store now.
If true...
It was the US DoE. We should all write our representatives and demand an investigation and monitor that process until a satisfactory result occurs.
Also, anyone in the victim’s district should physically attend a very angry protest demonstration at the local PD, the local representative’s office, and anywhere else that the relevant authorities maintain a presence.
Grumbling in cyberspace does not have a marked effect on them. They need to see and hear angry citizens. Lots of them.
On a personal note, I see I’ve written about 13,000 posts. I’m ashamed to realize I have NOT written or phoned or gotten in the faces of that many legislators in the same time period.
The internet is still no substitute for showing up somewhere.
The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife’s defaulted student loans.
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The congress is looking for things to cut. If they don’t have the balls to totally eliminate this useless department they should at least eliminate their police force especially the SWAT team.
YGTBSM
More SWAT Insanity, this time ordered by the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Another reason to Eliminate the Entire U.S. Department of Education. It is TIME to DownSize DC!
Speechless.
“Our” Federal Agencies WILL not be yielding any power to We the People..other than at the point of a gun. That’s the message they’re broadcasting here. And one We need to take very seriously.