The story was a sensation on Wednesday morning. A Department of Education SWAT team broke down the door to a house owned by a man whose wife was delinquent on her student loans, according to original reports. The man was handcuffed and, along with his children, put in a cop car for 6 hours.

It turns out that some of this story was misreported. It wasn't a SWAT team but a special branch of the DOE who executes search warrants. And it wasn't for a student loan, but the warrant was in connection with a criminal investigation.

But before you breathe a sigh of relief, it should be rightly asked: What in God's name is DOE doing with a paramilitary unit to serve warrants?

Matt Welch of Hit and Run:

This will certainly come as a relief to Millenial deadbeats, but the notion that "bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds" is all it takes to get a paramilitary squad to bang down your door at 6 a.m, handcuff you in your boxers, and throw your three pre-teen children into the back seat of a squad car, all in the service of a warrant aimed at someone who no longer lives in your home, is frankly every bit as terrifying.

Unless and until we hear that this "criminal investigation" involves some kind of imminent threat of violence, there will be no margin of excuse for it, only new opportunities for bureaucrats and commentators to demonstrate that they are perfectly content living in and even contributing to a police state.

Here's some more information on the special DOE unit:

A U.S. government official confirmed for News10 Wednesday morning federal agents with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), not local S.W.A.T., served the search warrant. [...]

He went on to say OIG is a semi-independent branch of the U.S. Department of Education that executes warrants for criminal offenses such as student aid fraud and embezzlement of federal aid. [...]

The Stockton Police Department said it was asked by federal agents to provide one officer and one patrol car just for a police presence when carrying out the search warrant.

Police officers did not participate in breaking Wright's door, handcuffing him, or searching his home.

Feel better now?