> You can't take one tragic mistake or bad-apple cop and draw conclusions about the fate of the country from it.

As per a sibling comment:

> The bad apples metaphor originated as a warning of the corrupting influence of one corrupt or sinful person on a group: that "one bad apple can spoil the barrel". Over time the concept has been used to describe the opposite situation, where "a few bad apples" should not be seen as representative of the rest of their group. This latter version is often used in the context of police misconduct.

> The bad apples metaphor originates from the proverb "A rotten apple quickly infects its neighbor", first recorded as used in English in 1340.[1]

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_apples

* https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/one-bad-apple-spoil...

And the real problem is that the highest levels of government is defending the actions of the bad-apple cop.

It is the fact that these crazy high quotas that ICE agents must meet are a high-level government policy that are 'forcing' the agents to do these crazy things (if they want to keep their jobs); of course some ICE thugs enjoy doing this and like the power trip(s).