Tens of thousands of people in Minneapolis and around the country have taken to the streets after ICE agents murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti for standing in the way of their neighbors’ kidnappings. Fearing this groundswell of popular resentment towards ICE could turn into widespread rebellion, prominent Democrats are now cohering around a program to give people the illusion that they actually oppose ICE’s depravity, and that they’re willing to do something about it. Two things are at the essence of this program: empty rhetoric and bold proposals that they’re not intending to follow through on.
One hollow threat is the Democrats’ call to cut funding to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Democrat-aligned nonprofits like 50501 and social media influencers have gone to bat for them, imploring their followers and email lists to call their representatives and demand that they “defund DHS.” Obviously DHS should have no money for terrorizing people. But this “defund” positioning is not about stopping deportations or freeing those caged in detention camps. Instead, it’s about radical-sounding demands to galvanize support for Democrats while funneling people away from taking bolder action in the streets.
For decades, Democrats have had no problem with mass deportations so long as there isn’t mass outrage about them. The spectacle of Trump’s deportation machine is a bridge too far for Democrats, who would prefer this all to play out less publicly, making sure their role in providing funding and bureaucratic backing to terrorizing immigrants isn’t scrutinized. They also aren’t fans of Trump and his Gestapo thugs chastening them in their own backyards, putting their ineptitude on blast for all to see.
The Democrats want to return to a pre-Trump deportation machine, refined under Obama and continued with Biden, that led to millions of immigrants deported during their administrations. The strategy is to carry out deportations relatively out of public eye, helping Democrats maintain a humanitarian public image while enforcing white supremacist attacks on immigrants and sharing offices and lunch dates with their supposed sworn enemies in the Republican Party. To the frustration of Democrats, Trump has initiated dramatic kidnappings in Democrat-run cities that expose their utter impotence to stand up to their political foes. The Democrats’ preferred methods of mass deportations are best exemplified by #resister Senator Chris Murphy, who recently said, “We’re having conversations about how we can pass a bill—but a bill that makes sure that ICE is operating legally.”
The same way the government didn’t “defund the police” in 2020 (they did the opposite), the government is not going to “defund ICE.” Even if politicians were to shift a couple budget line items around, they will not stop the kidnapping, detention, and deportation of immigrants, just as “defunding the police” never stopped local police from murdering thousands more people after 2020. Police and la Migra are both essential arms of the American state that work to keep oppressed people beaten down, scared, and disorganized. The influencers, nonprofits, and politicians who are saying we can end this centuries-long reign of terror through legislative means are lying to you and diverting energy away from the only genuine way to way to stop the deportations: organizing the masses in audacious and sustained resistance.
Reforms to what end?
Leticia James, the Attorney General of New York and faithful servant of killer cops, announced she will be sending legal observers in purple vests to document ICE activity that will allegedly be used in future prosecutions. This should be humbling for the Leftists that organize “ICE watch” to record and observe ICE kidnappings—the New York government is about to be beating you at your own game. ICE agents in New York City have been flagrantly breaking the law for nearly a year, most notably by ambushing immigrants and anyone who dares step foot in Federal Plaza Immigration Court. Leticia James could be using this copious video evidence of assaults by ICE to bring charges against these officers. Given her long track record running cover for NYPD and correctional officers who commit murder, we won’t hold our breath.
Arizona’s Attorney General Kris Mayes invited a right-wing backlash when she suggested protesters could be protected from state prosecution for using deadly force against unidentified ICE agents who attack them. While millions share the sentiment right now that any protesters doing this would be justified, AG Mayes suggesting this would not protect this hypothetical person from federal incitement.
Other attorneys general have gestured towards bringing criminal charges against ICE agents. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who is now part of a coalition of district attorneys taking harder public stances against ICE, made news for warning ICE “we will arrest you” if they break the law. Doing his best Liam Neeson, Krasner later said, “If we have to hunt you down the way they hunted down Nazis for decades, we will find your identities. We will find you. We will achieve justice.” Cook County prosecutor Eileen O’Neill Burke, taking a step further than her colleagues, filed misdemeanor charges against ICE agent Adam Saracco who, while off duty, assaulted a protester. It’s laughable that the first prosecution of an ICE officer in Illinois is for misdemeanor battery, considering they shot Marimar Martinez and murdered Silverio Villegas-González in Chicago last year. Other attorneys generals may bring similar prosecutions. We’re not condemning these—we want to see ICE agents rotting in prison. But it would be delusional to think these moves can serve as the bedrock of a strategy to stop ICE.
The most significant move against the deportation machine came this week when New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law a bill that prohibits immigration detention centers from operating in the state. Throughout Grisham’s seven years as governor, the horrid conditions immigrants face in New Mexican detention centers have been well-documented. In 2022, DHS’s own reports from New Mexico indicated there was human feces flooding detainees’ cells, and detainees had no access to basic medical care. It was reported in 2019 that more than 100 immigrants in Otero County Processing Center were crammed in cells meant to hold 44 people. These inmates had to take shifts sleeping directly on the floor because everyone was unable to lay down simultaneously. Why didn’t Grisham push for this bill years ago as these wretched conditions became more public? Why now?
It’s important to understand why reforms like these come about, and what purpose they ultimately serve. Previously untenable, these reforms crop up when masses of people are in the street, many taking confrontational stands against ICE. Students across the country are walking out of class in the thousands. These actions are supported by tens of millions across the country. These forces, if they grow and cohere around a shared strategy of fighting to stop ICE, no matter what it takes, have the potential to push the situation in a direction that’s even more threatening to the federal government. Any reforms that come through legislation are an attempt to quell this potential rebellion, restore faith in the US government, and to stabilize their power over the people of this country. Democrats and Republicans alike operate in fear of a deepening political crisis, and the ruling class they serve won’t allow one to take hold without severe countermeasures. Even the specter of rebellion can frighten the ruling class into coughing up some reforms.
The Democrats, through a lot of empty rhetoric and some marginally meaningful reforms, are hoping to convince the thousands of people in the streets that everything will be fine and that we can “go back to normal” once they manage to restore ICE enforcement to its former state. To them, “back to normal” means that those without papers are still barred from public life. They still face the threat of being kidnapped from their families, shipped to black sites across the country, and deported. The only reasons Republicans are considering comprising with the Democrats, and the Democrats are fighting in the first place, is to demobilize protesters and stave off the threat of it turning into a rebellion that challenges their ability to govern this society.
It’s hard to tell Trump’s next move, but whether or not he compromises and starts to back down, we cannot allow protests to end. To do so would betray the millions of people who will still face the looming threat of detention and deportation. Instead, we must unite all the people who want to stop deportations for good—many of whom have rebelled against ICE in LA over the summer and more recently in detention camps and schools in Texas—and build sustained mass resistance to the deportation machine. Mass resistance consists not of aimlessly marching around city downtowns, but mobilizing around the infrastructure ICE relies on to detain and deport immigrants until those in detention are freed, and the kidnapping ends. This is exactly what the Spring Surge to Melt ICE, launched by Dare to Struggle, is laying the groundwork for. Join the Spring Surge in your town or hit up Dare to Struggle for help making it happen if you are somewhere we aren’t. Learn from 2020: we can’t let any Democrats run any righteous rebellion against the system into the gutter.
Dare to Struggle 