Jon Hochschartner
I don’t think there’s a day that goes by when I don’t see amateur video of some terrible abuse perpetrated by masked men, suspected of being agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I say ‘suspected’ because frequently these men don’t identify themselves at all, as they shove people into unmarked cars. For all their victims know, these kidnappers are white-supremacist vigilantes.
It would be unfortunate, but completely understandable, in my view, if such masked men were shot in self defense by those they terrorize. Contrary to what officials in President Donald Trump’s fascist administration might say, it’s absolutely legitimate to ‘dox’ ICE agents, by which I mean, reveal the identity of these thugs hiding behind masks. They’re nominally public servants, after all.
So many things are wrong with our country now, but one thing that should be very clear to everyone, especially Democratic lawmakers, is ICE is a rogue, out-of-control agency. This isn’t a matter of a few bad apples. The agency itself releases sadistic propaganda videos, gleefully documenting its agents’ work to ship people to domestic and foreign concentration camps, without due process.
Members of the public might assume ICE is an integral, long-standing part of law enforcement, but that’s not true. The agency was established in the last 25 years. We don’t need it, especially after ICE has been revealed as the tip of the spear of American fascism. When Democrats regain power at the national level, they must abolish the agency and investigate all of its agents for wrongdoing.
In the meantime, Democratic governors could be doing a lot more to protect their residents from ICE. For instance, instead of just trolling Trump on social media, California’s Gavin Newsom should arrest ICE agents when they flagrantly violate basic civil liberties, as I’ve seen in the aforementioned videos countless times. Democrats have power now at the state level. They need to exercise it.
Patriotic citizens should continue to do their best to record crimes committed by ICE and expose the identities of these masked thugs. Frankly, this is the least of what such agents should expect, given their actions. They are behaving like members of an occupying army in Democratic-controlled cities. It’s high time we started treating them as such. They’re anathema to a free society.
The anti-fascist coalition has a wide variety of policy goals. For instance, as an animal activist, I want to see a massive infusion of public funding into cultivated-meat research. For those who don’t know, the new protein is grown from livestock cells, without slaughter. I view development of this technology as the most promising means of reducing nonhuman suffering and premature death.
However, none of our goals can be accomplished under a right-wing dictatorship. When Trump is inevitably removed from power, Democrats must make sure the fascist takeover he’s made such terrifying progress on is never possible again. The changes necessary will amount to a new American founding. One element of this will be excising ICE from our government like the cancer it is.
Jon Hochschartner lives in Connecticut. He is the author of a number of books, including The Animals’ Freedom Fighter: A Biography of Ronnie Lee, Founder of the Animal Liberation Front.
