ICE is disappearing people.
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People were jumping into action here in Minneapolis — droves of people, comfortable people, white people — not in mid-January, but in •early December•. (And the groundwork started much earlier!)
Community meetings overflowing. Signal groups exploding. Observer trainings filling day after day after day. Mutual aid networks popping up like mushrooms. On and on.
Why? Because we saw brown and Black neighbors being dragged from their cars, dragged from their homes, stalked, terrorized, •kidnapped• with barely the slimmest shadow of due process or legal oversight.
5/
Increased deportations would be bad enough. An increase in the kind of immigration nightmares you see in, say, “Mo” on Netflix would be awful already. But that’s not what we were seeing.
We were seeing anonymous masked thugs abducting people and disappearing them. We were seeing a secret police with blanket immunity. We were seeing a complete breakdown of the rule of law. We were seeing an authoritarian police state forming.
And we were expected not to care, because it was targeting dark-skinned people.
6/
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Increased deportations would be bad enough. An increase in the kind of immigration nightmares you see in, say, “Mo” on Netflix would be awful already. But that’s not what we were seeing.
We were seeing anonymous masked thugs abducting people and disappearing them. We were seeing a secret police with blanket immunity. We were seeing a complete breakdown of the rule of law. We were seeing an authoritarian police state forming.
And we were expected not to care, because it was targeting dark-skinned people.
6/
That is the horror that spurred Minneapolis-St. Paul into action. That is the horror we’ve been fighting. That is the horror that Renee Good and Alex Pretti died fighting.
And it is the horror that is destroying countless lives of people whose names you do not know.
7/
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That is the horror that spurred Minneapolis-St. Paul into action. That is the horror we’ve been fighting. That is the horror that Renee Good and Alex Pretti died fighting.
And it is the horror that is destroying countless lives of people whose names you do not know.
7/
I see that misguided narrative in the gutless business leaders who talk about “de-escalation” and “finding real solutions” — as if the problem is just that a few ICE murdered two people, not that all the ICE agents are an authoritarian secret police in the making.
I see that misguided narrative in the elected officials who decry ICE, but then talk about “better training” and “more oversight” — as if the secret police will become humane if they just get a few new rules to ignore and have to sit through a Powerpoint about them.
8/
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I see that misguided narrative in the gutless business leaders who talk about “de-escalation” and “finding real solutions” — as if the problem is just that a few ICE murdered two people, not that all the ICE agents are an authoritarian secret police in the making.
I see that misguided narrative in the elected officials who decry ICE, but then talk about “better training” and “more oversight” — as if the secret police will become humane if they just get a few new rules to ignore and have to sit through a Powerpoint about them.
8/
I also see that misguided narrative in the people who still (but increasingly rarely) dredge up stats about how many Obama- and Biden-era deportations there were, thinking it’s some kind of mic drop, thinking that deportations are the whole of the evil here, an evil we can just tally up with a bean counter.
And to be clear: those deportations •were• inhumane and evil. US treatment of immigrants has been morally intolerable since long before I was born. I need you to know that I know that when I tell you that this is a whole other level.
9/
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I see that misguided narrative in the gutless business leaders who talk about “de-escalation” and “finding real solutions” — as if the problem is just that a few ICE murdered two people, not that all the ICE agents are an authoritarian secret police in the making.
I see that misguided narrative in the elected officials who decry ICE, but then talk about “better training” and “more oversight” — as if the secret police will become humane if they just get a few new rules to ignore and have to sit through a Powerpoint about them.
8/
@inthehands the guy that murdered Good, wasn't a new hire, and Good wasn't the first time that he had fired into a car. He has at least 10 years in "immigration enforcement".
So no, better training wasn't the issue here, the issue is that when you hire thugs and pedophiles, and give them guns, you just create well armed criminals. -
I also see that misguided narrative in the people who still (but increasingly rarely) dredge up stats about how many Obama- and Biden-era deportations there were, thinking it’s some kind of mic drop, thinking that deportations are the whole of the evil here, an evil we can just tally up with a bean counter.
And to be clear: those deportations •were• inhumane and evil. US treatment of immigrants has been morally intolerable since long before I was born. I need you to know that I know that when I tell you that this is a whole other level.
9/
I see some posts arguing that everything in Minneapolis is just more of the same that people of color have been living with forever, and white people are just waking up to it. I have never once heard that sentiment, however, from a BIPOC person who’s been living •in Minneapolis• for the last two months.
There is a crucial point there: this •is• precedented. It’s all precedented. But it’s not just more of the same.
10/
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I see some posts arguing that everything in Minneapolis is just more of the same that people of color have been living with forever, and white people are just waking up to it. I have never once heard that sentiment, however, from a BIPOC person who’s been living •in Minneapolis• for the last two months.
There is a crucial point there: this •is• precedented. It’s all precedented. But it’s not just more of the same.
10/
This •is• precedented:
DHS murdered Pretti and Good the exact same way police have been murdering Black people for generations. The ICE+CBP abduction patrols sure look a heck of a lot like the bounty hunters who operated in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The terror tactics of CBP and ICE bear an uncanny resemblance to the tactics of the KKK.
None of that is a coincidence. It’s the same historical thread. It’s basically the same people.
Precedented.
11/
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This •is• precedented:
DHS murdered Pretti and Good the exact same way police have been murdering Black people for generations. The ICE+CBP abduction patrols sure look a heck of a lot like the bounty hunters who operated in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The terror tactics of CBP and ICE bear an uncanny resemblance to the tactics of the KKK.
None of that is a coincidence. It’s the same historical thread. It’s basically the same people.
Precedented.
11/
Precedented, but not the same:
If ICE and CBP are basically the reincarnation of the KKK, it’s the KKK with a budget the size of Russia’s entire military.
Literally. In the literal sense of “literally.” The incoming ICE + CBP budget is ~$140 billion.[1] Russia’s military budget is ~$145 billion.[2]
(If I’m misreading these numbers, please correct me.)
[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-hikes-national-defence-spending-by-23-2025-2024-09-30/
12/
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Precedented, but not the same:
If ICE and CBP are basically the reincarnation of the KKK, it’s the KKK with a budget the size of Russia’s entire military.
Literally. In the literal sense of “literally.” The incoming ICE + CBP budget is ~$140 billion.[1] Russia’s military budget is ~$145 billion.[2]
(If I’m misreading these numbers, please correct me.)
[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-hikes-national-defence-spending-by-23-2025-2024-09-30/
12/
Not just more of the same.
Note that this eye-popping graph only includes ICE, and not CBP, which saw a similar explosion.
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/21/nx-s1-5674887/ice-budget-funding-congress-trump
13/
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Precedented, but not the same:
If ICE and CBP are basically the reincarnation of the KKK, it’s the KKK with a budget the size of Russia’s entire military.
Literally. In the literal sense of “literally.” The incoming ICE + CBP budget is ~$140 billion.[1] Russia’s military budget is ~$145 billion.[2]
(If I’m misreading these numbers, please correct me.)
[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-hikes-national-defence-spending-by-23-2025-2024-09-30/
12/
@inthehands It can also mean that felon trump was kept in a bubble.
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ICE is disappearing people.
This is a grim and difficult piece, but it is heartening to read it one particular way: the broader national and global conversation is finally, finally starting to pick up on what so many of us have been yelling for weeks and months: the Department of Homeland Security is acting as Trump’s secret police, a group of Brownshirts with a military-sized budget whose horrors extend far beyond two murders.
https://emptywheel.net/2026/01/29/the-disappearances-in-minnesota/
1/
Re: disappearances
I guess a lot of us here are old enough to remember the 1980s, when US backed militias in Central America disappeared huge numbers of people
Which led to huge numbers of Central American refugees coming to the US
Which contributed to the development of a US economy that depends on these refugees
And a political party that gets elected by saying that the refugees are bad people and they will get rid of them, but is careful never to actually do that, because they are needed workers
And I don't know if it's happening yet, but people keep talking about how the so-called deportation camps are going to turn into work camps
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Not just more of the same.
Note that this eye-popping graph only includes ICE, and not CBP, which saw a similar explosion.
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/21/nx-s1-5674887/ice-budget-funding-congress-trump
13/
My neighbors definitely do not think this is more of the same. You don’t have to take my word for it. Look at how many Somali and Latin-American restaurants were thriving in November and now are closed, or getting almost no business if they are taking the risk of staying open. Look at how many kids are staying home from school — regardless of legal status, just because of the color of their family’s skin. Look at how many families are living in houses filled with dirty laundry because they won’t even take the risk of leaving the house to go to the laundromat.
My neighbors are living in •terror•.
If it’s more of the same, why did all of this suddenly change in the last two months?
14/
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My neighbors definitely do not think this is more of the same. You don’t have to take my word for it. Look at how many Somali and Latin-American restaurants were thriving in November and now are closed, or getting almost no business if they are taking the risk of staying open. Look at how many kids are staying home from school — regardless of legal status, just because of the color of their family’s skin. Look at how many families are living in houses filled with dirty laundry because they won’t even take the risk of leaving the house to go to the laundromat.
My neighbors are living in •terror•.
If it’s more of the same, why did all of this suddenly change in the last two months?
14/
All of what’s happening in Minneapolis is deeply rooted in US history. And in Minneapolis and St. Paul history specifically: Read about the Rondo neighborhood, for example. It’s no accident the the flagship lake in the City of Lakes was named after the vice president of the Confederacy until just a few years ago. Don’t get too excited about making saints of us all here.
It’s crucial for us to recognize that historical precedent. It’s also crucial for us to recognize the extreme new danger of the present moment.
15/
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Precedented, but not the same:
If ICE and CBP are basically the reincarnation of the KKK, it’s the KKK with a budget the size of Russia’s entire military.
Literally. In the literal sense of “literally.” The incoming ICE + CBP budget is ~$140 billion.[1] Russia’s military budget is ~$145 billion.[2]
(If I’m misreading these numbers, please correct me.)
[2] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-hikes-national-defence-spending-by-23-2025-2024-09-30/
12/
@inthehands n.b. the size of the military of a great power *that's shifted to a war economy as it fights the largest land war on the continent for 80 years*
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All of what’s happening in Minneapolis is deeply rooted in US history. And in Minneapolis and St. Paul history specifically: Read about the Rondo neighborhood, for example. It’s no accident the the flagship lake in the City of Lakes was named after the vice president of the Confederacy until just a few years ago. Don’t get too excited about making saints of us all here.
It’s crucial for us to recognize that historical precedent. It’s also crucial for us to recognize the extreme new danger of the present moment.
15/
The KKK but with a budget the size of Russia’s military. Running mass detention camps.
Think about that for a minute.
Think about what it could mean, what it •already is•:
https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/into-the-abyss
16/
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My neighbors definitely do not think this is more of the same. You don’t have to take my word for it. Look at how many Somali and Latin-American restaurants were thriving in November and now are closed, or getting almost no business if they are taking the risk of staying open. Look at how many kids are staying home from school — regardless of legal status, just because of the color of their family’s skin. Look at how many families are living in houses filled with dirty laundry because they won’t even take the risk of leaving the house to go to the laundromat.
My neighbors are living in •terror•.
If it’s more of the same, why did all of this suddenly change in the last two months?
14/
@inthehands for me, it's kind of... The Republicans & authoritarian leaning people in US govt have been preparing for this, laying the tracks etc, since W at least. And now they're running the trains. And so many people want to act like Trump is just the sole mover & actor doing this rather than admitting the complicity of those that laid the tracks (multiple decades of federal governments) and are running the train (current congress).
It's not that it's the same, it's just the expected extension of existing policy. Like first they pass the Patriot Act and it takes a while to normalize, but for the last decade you can expect your communications to be read by the government, and now the devices inspected during govt interactions and not long after you can be arrested for just trying to have secrets on your phone. -
The KKK but with a budget the size of Russia’s military. Running mass detention camps.
Think about that for a minute.
Think about what it could mean, what it •already is•:
https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/into-the-abyss
16/
All of this is why I get uncomfortable with a certain kind of focus on the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and the mistaken narrative that focus can create.
Don’t get me wrong: we •should• focus on those murders. We should mourn them. Alex was one of the nurses who cared for my father-in-law when he was in intensive care at the VA. My wife remembers how gentle he was, what a good listener. They were my neighbors. Please remember them both.
17/
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All of this is why I get uncomfortable with a certain kind of focus on the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and the mistaken narrative that focus can create.
Don’t get me wrong: we •should• focus on those murders. We should mourn them. Alex was one of the nurses who cared for my father-in-law when he was in intensive care at the VA. My wife remembers how gentle he was, what a good listener. They were my neighbors. Please remember them both.
17/
Please remember them. Remember them, and then remember what they died for: fighting a much larger danger. Remember what they were fighting, •see• it, and •act•.
Do not let their deaths be in vain by making their deaths the only thing you see.
/end
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The KKK but with a budget the size of Russia’s military. Running mass detention camps.
Think about that for a minute.
Think about what it could mean, what it •already is•:
https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/into-the-abyss
16/
@inthehands
From the wonderful post https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/into-the-abyss you cited:
"…nobody sane now thinks the answer to abuses at Dachau was to give the guards more training.""…the U.S. is currently holding three times as many people in immigrant detention as were detained in the Nazi concentration camp system in spring 1939—six years into the Third Reich and just before the start of World War II."
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@inthehands
From the wonderful post https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/into-the-abyss you cited:
"…nobody sane now thinks the answer to abuses at Dachau was to give the guards more training.""…the U.S. is currently holding three times as many people in immigrant detention as were detained in the Nazi concentration camp system in spring 1939—six years into the Third Reich and just before the start of World War II."
@inthehands
"…we need to do more than stop the construction of additional facilities, more than just get ICE agents to behave more politely. We need to dismantle the current system and remove the possibility for it to exist again. In my opinion, that is what “Abolish ICE” should mean."
