What Is ICE Really Up To?
How do you feel about the nearly 400,000 immigrants who've been detained by ICE during Trump's first year back in office?
According to an official DHS document, less than 14% of those captured and held had charges or convictions of violent criminal offenses. This reality finally contradicts the repeated falsity by administration officials that only dangerous, violent criminals, the “worst of the worst” are being deported.
Despite the promise to track down rapists, murderers, and gangsters, less than 2% of those detained by ICE over the last year had any sexual or homicide charges or convictions. And if you're wondering about all those purported gang members who are here "poisoning the blood of our country," only 2% of people detained had any gang affiliations or convictions.
Nearly 40% of all ICE arrests fell on the shoulders of immigrants who were living and working here without any criminal record whatsoever, other than the misdemeanor offense of having overstayed their welcome.
Dangerous criminals of any nationality belong in jail. Traditionally, our local police departments have been tasked with making those arrests, and our courts have held trials to determine guilt and jail time. ICE got involved only if the offender was a non-citizen.
Now, ICE agents patrol our city streets while expensive private jets fly immigrants to secret, unknown places. But, not the most dangerous ones. Why?
Would it make more sense to keep them here, recruit and outfit them as much-needed ICE agents due to their Spanish-speaking skills and cruel nature? Everything outlandish is now possible in America—including snapping mugshots of peaceful protesters for a government database.
Far more than a reasonable force engaged in the practical business of deporting violent criminals, it's time to see ICE agents for who they are: paramilitary commandos hired to disrupt democratic norms and foment widespread fear, antagonism, and public outrage in American cities.
As the mask is lifted, the ugly face of dictatorship is revealed. Unrest is always the justification for clamping down on citizens' rights. It's how democracies are destabilized and begin to fall around the globe.
Sadly, the joke's on us. As the rug's pulled out from under us, Putin's 10-year-long regime change in America has succeeded, putting a big smile on this administration's face.