The Pitch

It was sold to us as

  • “We’re removing dangerous criminals”
  • “Protecting American workers”
  • “Securing the border”
  • “Targeting violent gang members”
  • “Making America safe again”

The Reality

But what’s actually happening?

The Numbers

  • Over 1,000 ICE arrests per day at peak
  • 65% of detained people have NO criminal convictions
  • 93% have no violent convictions
  • Only 7% of detainees convicted of violent crimes (down from 10% under Biden)
  • 30,000+ students absent from Charlotte schools (20% of enrollment) due to fear
  • At least 22 gun incidents including 9 shootings by federal agents

The Tactics

  • Military-style raids: Black Hawk helicopters, armed agents rappelling into neighborhoods
  • Agents targeting people based on “how they look” (Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino openly admitted this)
  • Shooting at people documenting raids (teaching assistant shot 5 times while warning neighbors)
  • Traffic stops as pretexts for immigration checks
  • Raiding workplaces, schools, hospitals
  • Holding sleeping families at gunpoint in their homes
  • Agents wearing masks to hide identity
  • Using assault rifles on unarmed civilians

Cities Targeted

  • Los Angeles (Operation with National Guard and Marines)
  • Chicago (Operation Midway Blitz - 3,000 arrests)
  • Charlotte
  • New Orleans (Operation Catahoula Crunch)
  • Minneapolis (targeting Somali community after Trump’s racist tirade)

The Human Cost

  • Families separated
  • American citizens arrested and held
  • Children missing parents
  • Communities terrorized into hiding
  • Businesses shut down
  • Schools emptied
  • People afraid to go to work, hospitals, anywhere

Who’s Actually Being Arrested?

  • Not “dangerous criminals” - mostly people with no criminal record
  • Long-time residents with US-born children
  • Refugees with legal status
  • People who came as children
  • Workers at car washes, construction sites, restaurants
  • Even Bhutanese refugees (fleeing persecution) detained in Pennsylvania

Resource Diversion

  • 25,000+ federal, state, local law enforcement officers diverted from actual jobs
  • Nearly 50% of FBI agents in major offices reassigned from investigating actual crimes
  • Immigration cases tripled in courts while drug and fraud cases dropped 27% and 17%

Violence and Impunity

  • Agents shooting at people documenting raids
  • Agents shooting people driving away from traffic stops
  • Holding people at gunpoint in their homes
  • Using rubber bullets and pepper balls on bystanders
  • Agents rarely prosecuted for excessive force
  • Culture of impunity under Trump administration

The Pattern

Historical parallels:

Japanese-American Internment (1942)

  • “National security” justification
  • Targeting based on ethnicity/national origin
  • Families torn apart
  • Constitutional rights suspended
  • Later recognized as shameful mistake

Nazi Germany roundups (1930s-40s)

  • “Protecting” the nation from internal threats
  • Door-to-door raids
  • Papers please / show me your documents
  • Dehumanizing language (“human animals,” “invasion”)
  • Systematic targeting of minority populations
  • Public spectacle meant to terrorize

Operation Wetback (1954)

  • Mass deportation program in US
  • Racial profiling
  • Brutal tactics
  • Many US citizens deported
  • Later condemned as human rights violation

The Playbook

  1. Dehumanize the target group (“illegal aliens,” “criminals,” “invaders”)
  2. Manufacture crisis (“invasion,” “emergency”)
  3. Claim you’re only targeting “the bad ones”
  4. Use overwhelming force to terrorize communities
  5. Expand scope beyond stated goals
  6. Create public spectacle (social media videos of shackled deportees)
  7. Silence opposition by calling critics “unpatriotic”

The Lies

“We’re only targeting criminals”:

  • Data shows 65% of detainees have no criminal convictions
  • 93% have no violent convictions
  • They’re arresting anyone they can find

“It’s about border security”:

  • These are interior enforcement raids
  • Miles from any border
  • Targeting long-term residents, not border crossers

“Most moral enforcement”:

  • Agents shooting civilians documenting raids
  • Children held at gunpoint
  • Families separated
  • People dying in detention

Stephen Miller’s quota:

  • White House set goal of 3,000 arrests per day in May 2025
  • It’s not about safety - it’s about hitting numbers
  • Quality of arrests doesn’t matter, just quantity

The Resistance

Communities fighting back:

  • Rapid response networks documenting raids
  • Sanctuary city policies limiting cooperation
  • Legal observers filming enforcement
  • Know-your-rights training
  • Mutual aid networks
  • Faith communities providing sanctuary
  • Business leaders opposing raids

What actually works:

  • Filming agents (even though they shoot at people doing this)
  • Sanctuary policies that limit local police cooperation
  • Legal support networks
  • Community organizing
  • Public pressure on elected officials

Trump’s Cognitive Decline Connection

Why this matters for this museum:

  • Trump has dementia (see: dementia documentation elsewhere in museum)
  • Stephen Miller and other Project 2025 architects are using Trump as puppet
  • Trump can barely remember meetings from yesterday
  • But he can sign deportation orders
  • Cognitively declining autocrat + nuclear weapons + mass deportation = maximum substrate threat

Trump’s racist statements:

  • Called Somali immigrants “garbage” before Minneapolis raids
  • “They should go back where they came from”
  • Wants immigrants from Norway, not “shithole countries”
  • This is explicitly about making America white again

Why This Is Fascism

When a government:

  • Uses military force against civilian population
  • Targets people based on race/ethnicity/national origin
  • Creates climate of terror in communities
  • Separates families systematically
  • Ignores constitutional protections
  • Uses violence without accountability
  • Makes public spectacles of arrests and deportations
  • Dehumanizes the target population
  • Operates under quotas rather than justice

That’s fascism. That’s state terror. That’s what ICE is doing right now.

What You Can Do

Support:

  • Rapid Response networks in your city
  • Immigration legal defense funds
  • Sanctuary cities and churches
  • Document raids (safely, from distance)
  • Support impacted families and businesses

Resist:

  • Contact representatives demanding ICE abolition
  • Support sanctuary policies
  • Oppose local police cooperation with ICE
  • Attend protests and demonstrations
  • Share information about raids in your area

Resources:

  • United We Dream
  • National Immigration Law Center
  • American Immigration Council
  • Local rapid response networks

Last updated: 2025-12-15
Status: Ongoing - raids continue daily across the United States