Video: Libertarians Take on Federal Asset Forfeiture in Outrageous Case

(From the Intellectual Ammunition section in Volume 18, No. 19 of the Liberator Online. Subscribe here!)

Warning: If you have high blood pressure, maybe you shouldn’t watch this short (1:45) video about the latest case of the libertarian Institute for Justice.For more than 30 years, Terry Dehko has successfully run a grocery store in the Detroit suburb of Fraser, Michigan, with his daughter Sandy.

But in January 2013, without warning, the federal government used civil forfeiture to seize all of the money from the Dehkos’ store bank account — more than $35,000 — even though they’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.

Welcome to the kafkaesque world of civil forfeiture law — aka “robbery with a badge” — where the government can seize private property from Americans without ever charging, let alone convicting, them of a crime. Americans are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but civil forfeiture turns that principle on its head.The government is able to pocket the money and property it grabs without charges, evidence or due process — and leaving the owners no prompt and reasonable way to get a court to review the seizure.

But… libertarians to the rescue! Terry and Sandy have teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to fight back in federal court. We hope a victory will help restore the right of every American to be free from these abusive police-state forfeiture laws.

IJ has videos about other civil forfeiture outrages they are litigating here.

To learn more about the civil forfeiture law outrage, read IJ’s acclaimed report “Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture.”