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Anyone with any sense of decency should be outraged that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent murdered Renee Nicole Good a week ago today. This administration’s stated immigration policy was to arrest and deport criminal aliens living illegally in our country. That this is not actually occurring should not come as a surprise, given the continuous lies we are being told.
ICE is evolving into a secret police agency and has become our modern-day Gestapo. Even Joe Rogan, who endorsed Donald Trump in 2024, thinks so.
A New York Times analysis from December found that most immigrants arrested so far have no criminal record. We should be highly alarmed because what is happening is a harbinger of what is to come. We have seen this before.
As an American and especially as a Latino, I have never been more afraid of our government. The targeting of our community has a long history and precedent. Operation Wetback led to millions of Mexicans being deported. California’s Prop 187 demonized and targeted Latinos.
American power wants us to disappear for no reason other than fear over our population growth, success, language, and culture.
My father was a veteran. In his generation, defeating the Nazis and fascism was something to be celebrated, recognized, and venerated. At that time, America’s political ideologies of individual freedom, liberty, and sovereignty were in stark contrast to the evils of Nazi Germany. My father and other veterans would be appalled at what Trump, who evaded the draft, is doing to undermine the very democracy they fought to protect.
Their values and ideologies were passed on to me and to my generation. I believe in “good government” and in holding it accountable to its citizens. In fact, I worked in government for most of my legal career out of a sense of duty. On several occasions, I swore an oath to the Constitution. I am proud of my 25 years of service to the United States, with my last 10 years serving as the head of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
The Unthinkable
For somebody like me, the images of masked ICE agents kidnapping U.S. citizens off the streets of major metropolitan areas is unthinkable — but here we are, witnessing a secret police organization create widespread atrocities in the name of the leader or state.
When authoritarian regimes take over, the first order of business is to breakdown democratic institutions and dismantle people’s civil rights and legal protections.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has created a secret police force accountable to no one. Last year was ICE’s deadliest year in two decades, with at least 32 people dying while in ICE custody.
We should also not be surprised that this administration’s policy is anti-Latino and anti-American. Trump’s plans were pretty clear ever since his 2015 remarks about Mexicans and rapists. He has never understood or appreciated the contributions Latinos have made to our nation’s history.
Sixty-four million Latinos live and work in the United States, contributing $4.1 trillion to the economy. Eight out of 10 Latinos are United States citizens. We have 61 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, and we have served in every American war. My own relatives have served in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars.
To Trump and his American Gestapo, those facts don’t matter. His 2024 campaign speeches appealed to a white Christian base, and he made sure that they were filled with xenophobic and racist rhetoric. He promised to save us all from the very worst people. Many Latinos were issuing stark warnings. Not many — including Latinos in our own communities — wanted to listen. They were wrong to ignore it.
Organized Trauma
As soon as he was sworn in last January, Trump’s first steps were to unleash Stephen Miller and militarize ICE. They have traumatized families, violated due process, and unlawfully detained U.S. citizens and other residents.
Agents now stop and arrest you because of the color of your skin or because you spoke Spanish in public. Probable cause has vanished. Peaceful protesters have been beaten, gassed, and shot with live and rubber bullets.
All the while, ICE agents have refused to identify themselves. They hide their faces so they cannot be held accountable for violating a citizen’s rights. Many are former Proud Boys or members of paramilitary groups. Others are so unqualified that regular law enforcement agencies wouldn’t hire them. The oath to defend the Constitution is now an oath to defend Trump. They are his secret police force, willing to do his bidding, whether it is beating and detaining a U.S. Senator, members of Congress, priests, women, and children.
Or whether it is killing Renee Nicole Good at point-blank range.
Primo Levi once said that “Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common man, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
That is what the American Gestapo is doing now.
And we should all be on notice before it is too late.
Mauro Morales is a retired attorney and civil rights leader who spent 25 years in federal service, most recently as Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He also served in the Obama Administration, including senior roles at the Office of Personnel Management, and previously worked in private practice and on Capitol Hill.
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What We’re Reading (and Watching)
War Powers Resolution Blocked: From the Associated Press, “Senate Republicans voted to dismiss a war powers resolution Wednesday that would have limited President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks on Venezuela after two GOP senators reversed course on supporting the legislation.”
Venezuela’s Path: If you follow our podcast via audio, we also publish it on our YouTube channel. Here’s the latest episode with guest Juan Escalante, an immigrant rights advocate, digital strategist, and storyteller who was born in Venezuela and is now a U.S. citizen.
Julio Ricardo Varela edited and published this edition of The Latino Newsletter.
The Latino Newsletter welcomes opinion pieces in English and/or Spanish from community voices. Submission guidelines are here. The views expressed by outside opinion contributors do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of this outlet or its employees.