The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is meant to be a federal agency whose mission is, “to protect America from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety.” However, instead of fulfilling its mission, ICE has become a violent militia group. For the past nine months that the Trump Administration has taken office, ICE has become the largest enforcement agency in the country.
Being the largest enforcement agency has granted them low checks on abuse of power and dismissal in many court cases filed against the agency. ICE has exploited its power through racial profiling, detaining U.S. citizens, and abusing their power when detaining immigrants. No longer is ICE a federal agency; it has strayed away from its main focus, now becoming a militia perpetrating violence, injustice, and dehumanization in racial bias towards immigrants and even born citizens. Consequently, the democratic values America has deemed to protect have misguidedly led into a state of fascist principles.
The authority of ICE has paralleled the early foundations of fascist ideology. Originating from Benito Mussolini in 1932, who wrote The Doctrine of Fascism, stating, “Fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only insofar as his interests coincide with those of the State…” The philosophy of fascism places the State above individual rights as it uses individuals as instruments for national power.
ICE has reiterated the value of state control over the preservation of the individual’s constitutional protections—from humiliating immigrants to deportation of U.S. citizens as an “accident” due to racial profiling, all under the justification of “securing our borders” and “national security.” The authoritarian President has taken a representation of Mussolini’s fascist ideology, where humanity of an individual is second to the boundaries and will of the State, his loyalty to the state replaces compassion for the individual.
The 14th Amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” When Trump entered office, he created an argument to uphold restrictions on the 14th Amendment and change it. The argument declared that children born to parents in the United States who are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily illegal would not be American citizens. The Supreme Court has not allowed this restriction to take effect anywhere. Nonetheless, the executive order is illegal and should not be allowed to take effect considering that the White House has had this understanding for more than 125 years. The actions Trump wishes to take show how far the government prioritizes immigration over upholding constitutional citizenship rights.
In addition, ICE is supposedly focusing on illegal immigrants, but there have been unconstitutional holdings of detainees that are well-determined citizens. In particular, Jason Brian Gavidia, a 29-year-old man raised in California from Salvadoran and Columbian immigrants, was held at gunpoint by immigration officials who entered his auto business masked and with guns drawn. The video circulated online as they pushed Gavidia against a fence, where he repeatedly said he was American.
In response, immigration officials asked what hospital he was born in—a radical question, as many of us don’t even remember what hospital we were born in. Similarly, a U.S. Army veteran, George Retes Jr., only 25 years old, was misconfused with people protesting an immigration sweep and was targeted. The officers deployed tear gas, broke his windshield, and cast pepper spray in his face as he shouted, “I’m a U.S. Citizen, I’m American. I’m a veteran.” The injustice led even longer as he was held for three days without so much as a phone call.
Moreover, ICE spread anti-immigrant propaganda that stemmed from the millions it spends on ads to recruit police officers and in social media campaigns targeting immigrants. Homeland Security recently created a video alongside Pokémon’s slogan, “Gotta catch ‘em all,” with images on fake trading cards featuring mugshots of men and women arrested by ICE. In response, the Pokémon Company International stated, “Our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content,” condemning the campaign. ICE and the administration are making what they’re doing seem foolish and fun to those who are illegal immigrants, normalizing their cruelty. The campaigns reveal their culture of hate and promoting xenophobia, ignoring the human dignity of those targeted.
Despite ICE and the Trump administration’s actions, this does not mean the United States is fully fascist. However, the system of unchecked authority and disregard for oversight feeds into authoritarian rule. Democracy in America has weakened every time a citizen obeys the government without question to their cruelty covered as “security.” The checks and balances system was designed for situations such as this—to prevent the concentration of power—yet Trump’s administration’s loyalists have undermined the system’s checks.
Ultimately, the United States government has drifted into a government that runs on fascist principles and an authoritarian rule, with the president being Donald J. Trump. The balance of power has been corrupted as the Trump administration has placed those with the same political loyalty in power to avoid accountability, and agencies like ICE functioning as militias have fed into their abuse of power. Nevertheless, the fight for democracy must persist. Citizens, united against the fascist and authoritarian demand our government has undertaken, must fight towards justice, compassion, and accountability. Only by defending the Constitution’s core values can the United States reclaim our purpose as “Home of the Free and Land of the Brave.”