Trace William Cowen for Complex:

When Houston resident Paul Aker answered the door to find seven armed U.S. marshals waiting to arrest him earlier this month, he was understandably shocked. “I was wondering, why are you here?” Aker told FOX 26 on Tuesday. “I am home, I haven’t done anything. Why are the marshals knocking on my door?” Aker, who was arrested and presented before a federal court, had been targeted by the U.S. Marshals over a (gather yourself before reading this) 29-year-old student loan in the amount of (gather yourself again before reading this next part) $1,500.

Whaaaaattttttt?

Student loan debt continues to be a huge problem, at least in the U.S. I’m still many thousands of dollars out on my (and my wife’s) education, and there’s no near-term end in sight.

And you can’t declare bankruptcy to get out from underneath them, because of course you can’t.

There has to be a better way. My own student loan debt means that I’m never going to be able to afford for paying even part of my kids’ tuition, which means they will be in debt, which means…

According to Green, private debt collection agencies are getting judgments against the owners of these debts (even, apparently, 29-year-old debts) secured in federal court with ease. After a judgment is secured, the agencies are apparently asking for (and being granted preposterous access to) the usage of armed U.S. marshals.

Your police state tax dollars at work.

And he wasn’t notified that this was going to court at all?