ICE is slippery

Too many mornings with my first cup of coffee the news reports another outrageous incident on America’s city streets instigated by ICE, justified by lies: a 5-year-old is taken from his home; migrants are slammed to the ground and trussed up like calves – as if immigration enforcement is a rodeo; protestors are blinded by tear gas or senselessly shot and killed. My head throbs. It disrupts my sleep. I clench my teeth all night only to wake up with a sore jaw. 

Medically speaking, nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas – is a safe and effective sedative, allowing patients with dental problems to remain conscious and relaxed while the dentist drills and fills, but for me, oblivion is no solution, and there’s nothing funny about what’s happening. As a nation, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.

Maybe you understand what I’m saying. Accepting this version of our government rationalizing its armed occupation of American cities will not make the pain go away. It’s a truth-ache that starts with the head of state and, like an infection, contaminates the body politic. 

ICE’s deployment by executive order under the guise of border control was initiated with campaign rhetoric, describing immigrants as “criminals,” “rapists,” “gang members” and “animals.” More lies, designed to mislead and manipulate the public. Trump’s troops have sworn to serve a racist and self-serving political narrative. Their perfunctory oath to the Constitution illuminates the lie. Their actions demonstrate their insurgent intent: raiding homes by battering down doors, seeking no warrants issued by judges, detaining and deporting people previously granted asylum, seizing immigrants at courthouses, denying detainees’ access to legal counsel and arresting U.S. citizen protestors as they gather to voice their objection to this takeover of their streets. 

Let us be clear: ICE is the instigator – not the immigrants – of this radical unrest. They are lawlessly, violently and anonymously snatching people off the street, shattering car windows, inciting a state of terror reminiscent of Germany’s Kristallnacht, or the “Night of Broken Glass,” which marked an escalation in the Nazis’ campaign of persecution.  

Of the 10 targeted American cities, eight – led by elected Democratic governors and mayors – openly rejected the federally imposed deployment of troops. Two southern cities with large Black populations, Memphis and New Orleans – led by Republicans – actually requested deployments in their cities – a black and white lie, which no one needs to see written in blood.

Online newspaper The American Prospect (prospect.org) keeps tabs on victims ICE killed during its White House-sponsored occupation of American cities. These storm troopers are responsible for at least eight documented deaths between July 2025 - January 2026. Another nine people who survived were injured by ICE-initiated gunplay. No agent has faced accountability. 

The agreed-upon default response from federal agents, Homeland Security, the DOJ and the White House for deaths at the hands of ICE agents has been “self-defense.” It brings to mind that infamous photo of China’s Tiananmen Square with a lone man blocking the path of a military tank during pro-democracy protests. Yanked from the scene by two men in 1989, his whereabouts will forever be unknown. 

During 2025, an additional 35 detained people died while in ICE custody, or as The Prospect put it, “in Trump concentration camps.” Since ICE doesn’t share information about its operations, the detainees will likely be blamed for their own deaths. Federal immigration agents are given carte blanche for their lawless actions. The Prospect concludes, “There is no doubt that the regime is working overtime to hide the full scope of the terror campaign spreading across our country.” 

Established practice when investigating shootings is for federal officers to “assist” – not block – local authorities from the shooting scene as evidence is gathered and assessed. The Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012 (IAVCA) is just one more legal safeguard that Homeland Security and the DOJ flagrantly ignores. Minneapolis officials describe the Feds’ original “self-defense” claim for the officers who fired the shots as “bullshit.” After their indifferent “investigation,” the FBI still refuses to release its results. 

Why is it that a fantasy novel can describe our struggle with the truth better than our own government? A young girl named Lyra in Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series remembers how deceit works: “Mr. Scoresby taught me. He told me there were truth tellers, and they needed to know what the truth was, so as to tell it. And there were liars, and they needed to know what the truth was, so they could change it or avoid it. And there were bullshitters, who didn’t care about the truth at all. They weren’t interested. What they spoke wasn’t the truth and it wasn’t lies; it was bullshit. All they were interested in was their own performance.”

I know it’s not just me; America isn’t sleeping soundly either. Truth tellers are frustrated, because so many people won’t pay attention; liars are nervous and desperate not to be caught in their own fictions. Is it right that the bullshitters are sleeping just fine?