The Trump administration continues to unleash federal agents on the population, terrorizing immigrant communities across the country. ICE has arrested over 200,000 people since January, and despite the administration’s claims, these raids are not aimed at criminals. The vast majority of people detained by ICE are low-income workers with no criminal records whatsoever. These raids serve one purpose: to terrorize immigrant workers and intimidate those who resist.
We have seen horrific videos of masked ICE agents invading apartment buildings in the middle of the night, violently arresting people in their driveways, and ripping them from their cars. They are snatching people at hospitals, courthouses, schools, and grocery stores. And in some cases, agents have rammed into immigrants’ cars or fired their weapons at people in vehicles. Many families have no idea where their loved ones are after being taken by ICE. Over 20 people have died in ICE custody so far this year, as people are held in cages with little access to food, water, and medicine.
Recently, Trump threatened to send ICE and other federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area to terrorize immigrants, and target anyone who stands in their way. At the last minute, Trump called off this deployment, as thousands of people across the Bay Area were getting ready to resist this blatant use of state violence. Trump claimed some of his billionaire friends told him his operation would cause too much disruption to their businesses. So for now, he’s decided to wait.
And as the U.S. government shutdown enters its fourth week, and tens of thousands of federal workers have lost their jobs and their income, funding for Trump’s agencies of terror — including ICE and Customs and Border Protection — continue at record levels. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as food stamps, is expected to run out of funding as soon as next week for about 42 million people across the country. FEMA has also cut over $11 billion in funding for disaster relief to states. But meanwhile, these agencies of terror and intimidation are able to operate without restrictions across the country, with practically unlimited budgets.
The ICE budget alone has been increased to $150 billion between now and 2029 — which is $37.5 billion per year. This is bigger than the military budgets of all but 15 countries in the whole world. About $45 billion has been allocated just to build more detention centers. They are trying to double the number of detention centers to be able to detain over 100,000 people nationwide.
The priorities of this government couldn’t be any clearer. When it comes to the needs of ordinary working people, they have nothing to offer. They are cutting funding for everything we rely on, making all of our lives worse. And at the same time, they are cutting taxes for billionaires by trillions of dollars, while they amass a militarized police force to brutalize and terrorize the population.
Their detention centers are not only aimed at immigrant workers, but anyone who opposes their agenda. The Trump administration anticipates opposition from the population to their horrific policies. This is why they are working tirelessly to expand ICE and its role around the country, targeting immigrants and anyone who opposes the administration. They use immigrants as a scapegoat to blame for the problems of this system of exploitation. They unleash terror on the population, and criminalize all forms of resistance to their attacks. They are trying to construct a brutal, federal police force that can operate everywhere without any legal restrictions. Already, the vast majority of ICE arrests and kidnappings have happened without any warrants, and without any opportunity for legal challenges. There have already been over 170 instances of ICE detaining U.S. citizens. These are violent tactics clearly aimed at intimidation.
The U.S. government is trying to build up a paramilitary force to be used against the population. For now, it is primarily targeting low-income, immigrant workers. But as resistance to their policies grow, they are increasingly unleashing these shock troops on the whole population, regardless of immigration status. We can’t allow their tactics to intimidate us into silence as they make our lives worse. An attack on immigrant workers is an attack on all workers. And we must continue to build up our forces to resist these attacks.
