The Coming Storm: Secret Police and Concentration Camps are Here
The Big Horrible Bill was passed by both the House and Senate, and Trump signed it into law on July 4, an ironic date considering the devastation this bill will wreak on our democracy.
Much of the conversation around the bill has been about the horrific cuts to Medicaid and SNAP that will go into effect after the midterms, resulting in millions losing healthcare and far too many children facing food insecurity. Additionally, hospitals, especially those in rural areas, will be forced to close, requiring residents in those areas to travel great distances for care, including any emergent needs. At least one hospital has already been forced to close due to the financial hardships starting to face many states.
Of more immediate concern, however, is the alarming amount of funding this bill allocates to ICE: a stunning $170 billion is dedicated to immigration enforcement over the next four years, of which $45 billion is earmarked for ICE detention space. These vast sums will enable a rapid escalation of the horrific scenes we have witnessed playing out in a number of cities across the country, in which masked, armed goons without badges or judicial warrants are grabbing innocent immigrants off the streets, often with undue force. We need to call them what they are: Secret Police. ICE is preying upon those who show up to their court appointments in addition to trolling immigrant neighborhoods and raiding businesses where immigrants are employed. Families are being pried apart, and upstanding members of our community are being illegally targeted. Many immigrants are afraid to be out in public, go to the grocery store, or visit their place of worship.
ICE agents, whose ranks will swell to an alarming number with this new infusion of funding, are shockingly brazen in their quest to detain as many immigrants as possible in response to quotas issued by Trump. Since the Inauguration in January, more than 39,000 people have been arrested, and, according to federal data, over 80% of these detainees have no criminal record. Many of the immigrants who have been arrested are in the U.S. legally, and once they are captured, their future is uncertain, as they are removed to detention centers out of the area and likely out of the country. They are not being deported – that word does not do justice to reality. They are being disappeared. Often, their families do not know their whereabouts and are unable to be in contact with them.
The detention centers being utilized by ICE are nothing more than concentration camps, and Alligator Auschwitz in Florida, where squalid conditions are reported, is a perfect example of the inhumane conditions in which harmless immigrants will find themselves. Trump’s flippant remarks about detainees who try to escape being eaten by alligators underscore the cruelty being dealt to immigrants who have committed no crime and who have been illegally seized from their families and their communities.
Anti-ICE protests are growing as communities are increasingly shocked by the cruel disappearance of non-violent immigrants. At the same time, the tactics ICE agents are employing are growing more vicious and occasionally ensnare members of Congress and even a judge seeking to defend the innocent targets. The scenes playing out daily in citizen-captured videos of these ICE arrests are shocking, difficult to watch, and in complete violation of the Constitution.
Make no mistake, the cruel tactics and disappearances that we have seen at the hands of ICE will grow exponentially in the coming months. Communities have been organizing to inform immigrants of their rights, to witness the disappearances, and to prevent ICE agents from making arrests on private property. While these actions have been bold and courageous, they alone will not be enough to stop the newly emboldened ICE or to prevent the continued dismantling of our vibrant immigrant communities.
It is up to us to respond to this dangerous escalation of ICE. We must protect the immigrants in our communities who bring such vitality and economic support to our nation. The time is now, and the need is real.
