WNBA Star Brittney Griner’s Dangerous ICE Vs. Russia Claim Doesn’t Hold Up

Brittney Griner is promoting a new ESPN documentary at Sundance, and she is trying to use her personal story to make political statements on the United States (shocking coming from a WNBA player, we know). Specifically, Griner is comparing her time in Russian custody to ICE enforcement actions in Minnesota and across the country. 

"I hope this film can shed some light into what it could be like if we keep letting this happen," Griner told The Hollywood Reporter. "Right now, we’re in a very bad place, especially with everything that’s going on in Minnesota and just across our country … I definitely think people will understand a little bit more now and be able to see some comparisons."

Those "comparisons" are foolish and, quite frankly, dangerous. 

Griner’s Russia ordeal started with her breaking another country’s drug laws. Was the punishment excessive due to extenuating circumstances related to geopolitics? Yes, but the entry point was her own mistake. 

Brittney Griner is using her new documentary to draw parallels between ICE enforcement in Minnesota and her Russian detention.

(Evgenia Novozhenina/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

ICE, meanwhile, is enforcing immigration laws inside the United States. People can argue about U.S. immigration policy and enforcement measures, but it is not the same thing as getting arrested abroad on a drug charge and then becoming a political prisoner due to celebrity status. 

Most importantly, the point Griner is glossing over when she tries to blur everything into "detention" is that in the United States, people can criticize ICE, protest it, sue the government, run for office, and write whatever they want about it. Why? Because the U.S. has something called "freedom of speech."

In Russia, public criticism of the state, especially around security forces and the war, can get people prosecuted under broad "discrediting" and "false information" laws that human rights groups and UN experts have repeatedly warned are used to stifle dissent.

Griner Doesn't Like Dissent, Either

Griner gave thoughts on people criticizing her and her framing of the current political climate vs. her own experience.

"I am human, and sometimes it gets me worked up, it makes me want to say something," she said. "But at the same time, a lot of these people are just looking to get noticed in their mediocre lives, and they need a response from me or whoever they’re attacking to feel important, because they want to get their two seconds of fame. I try to do a good job ignoring it."

It's always funny when someone talks about how good they are at "ignoring" the "haters" and then launches into full-blown insult mode. Doesn't sound like she's very good at ignoring the noise if she feels the need to call her critics "mediocre," does it? 

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"I hope people get the sense of, ‘when we come together we can stop what’s going on,’" Griner said in the closing quote of the Hollywood Reporter article. "We can change what’s going on right now in our country."

People can debate ICE, immigration laws and enforcement procedures. They should because this is the United States and that's how we handle disagreements. Spirited debate is a foundation of our republic. 

But if the selling point of a documentary is that ICE in Minnesota is the same thing as a Russian prison camp, then Griner is not engaging in spirited debate or offering a counterpoint. 

She's laundering a political message through a personal trauma story, and asking viewers to pretend the differences don't matter.