The shocking way in which a woman in the USA was killed by an agent of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shows Americans how far Trump is willing to go to achieve his political goals.
Throughout Donald Trump’s second term, when he sent armed and masked ICE agents into cities, locals tried to resist by organizing neighborhood watches, both to warn people of the agents’ arrival and to document the arrests they made. Minneapolis, where ICE launched what its interim director called „the largest immigration operation in history” this week, was no exception.
Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota, told the New York Times that since ICE intensified its operations in Minneapolis, it feels "like we are inundated by a hostile paramilitary group that abuses, insults, and terrorizes our neighbors." And the residents of Minneapolis responded: "People have whistles and their own alert system to tell others that ICE is in the neighborhood. They protested. They were there trying to protect their neighbors."
What ICE tells people
Many of these people probably believed that, even in Trump's America, citizens still have inviolable freedoms that allow them to oppose illegal immigrants who have attacked their communities. The civil rights of immigrants have been severely restricted; even visa holders are warned that this government could detain and deport them just for protesting. But Americans - especially, let's be honest, white Americans - may have thought they were immune to ICE abuses.
The killing of Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three and a widow of a military veteran, challenges this assumption.
"ICE tells people: 'If you want to defend your neighbors, you will do so at the risk of your own life'," Elliot said.
"I think that's the unmistakable message. Looking at the recording, they could have said: 'Get out of here', right? And then she gets out of there. They didn't want her to leave. They either wanted to drag her out of the car or do what they did. And it all comes down to giving lessons," he added.
Armed guards kill, while media "shield-bearers" denigrate
The lesson didn't end with Good's killing - the administration also denigrated her.
According to the cited newspaper, footage filmed by witnesses from multiple angles shows that the agent who shot Good was not in the path of her car when he fired at her.
This did not stop Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from accusing Good of attempting to run over agents in an "act of domestic terrorism." Vice President JD Vance called her a "deranged leftist."
In the imagination of some on the right, Good quickly became the stand-in for all the angry Resistance moms they'd like to see crushed. Fox News mocked Good, saying she was a "self-proclaimed poet," when in fact she had won a prestigious poetry award.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson called Good "terrible" and "a rich white urban liberal."
If Good had lived, it is very possible that the Trump administration would have tried to prosecute her, the New York newspaper writes. This is what happened to Marimar Martinez, an American from Chicago, in October.
Martinez was in her car trying to warn people about ICE when she collided with a Border Patrol vehicle. Federal officials claimed she "rammed" a car driven by agent Charles Exum, while her lawyers say he hit her side. Exum then got out of the car and shot her five times.
Martinez survived, but the Department of Justice charged her with assaulting a federal officer. The woman's lawyers soon discovered that Exum had bragged about the shootings in text messages. In one, he wrote: "I fired 5 shots and she had 7 holes. Write that in your book, guys." In another, he said: "Great. My 15 minutes of fame."
The Department of Justice closed the case before more messages could be revealed.
When Power Demands Obedience in Exchange for Life
Exum's staggering sadism should not have been surprising; it reflects the culture encouraged by the administration among its immigration forces. In an ICE recruitment ad, an agent handles a weapon mounted on a kind of militarized vehicle with the message "Destroy the flood." This was a reference to the video game Halo, in which players must kill a flood of hostile aliens. Another one shows armed knights with swords, with the message "Enemies are at the gates."
The Department of Homeland Security's social media channel has become an endless stream of demented propaganda and bellicose Christian nationalism, the cited newspaper notes. An image posted on New Year's Eve shows a classic car on an idyllic beach with the slogan "America after 100 million deportations."
The Department of Homeland Security added the words "The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world." It is important to mention that 100 million is nearly double the entire immigrant population of America. They announce the creation of a massive police state.
In such a system, the relationship between every citizen and their government is transformed by the constant demand for obedience. Since Good's death, Republicans have lined up to threaten those who do not immediately comply with ICE orders. "The bottom line is this: When a federal officer gives you instructions, you follow them and keep your life," said Representative Wesley Hunt from Texas on Newsmax.
The conclusion? Everyone, citizens and immigrants alike, are led by people who believe that life is a privilege granted by authority, and death is a fair punishment for disobedience.
T.D.