Trump has given ICE a license to kill. Here's how we respond.
The White House stands by ICE's apparent execution of an unarmed U.S. citizen. This moment changes everything.
The Trump administration’s first response to the fatal ICE shooting in Minnesota yesterday was not sorrow, caution, or even uncertainty. It was another lie.
Before the facts were known — before first-person footage emerged — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled the incident a “domestic terrorist attack.” That claim raced through right-wing media, instantly justifying lethal force and smearing the victim.
Then the video came out. And the lie collapsed.
I’ve seen terrorist attacks. Hell, I’ve responded to dozens of them. The footage doesn’t show anything remotely close to a “terrorist attack” or even an imminent threat, nor does it show an officer clearly acting in self-defense. What it shows is something far more disturbing: armed federal officers escalating a routine encounter into a fatal shooting. Then within hours, they hid behind an obvious lie.
This wasn’t a “one-off” or fog-of-war accident. Under Donald Trump, federal law enforcement — particularly ICE, an agency I used to help him oversee — has been conditioned to shoot first and explain later. The message from the top has been unmistakable. Agents know they will be protected, no matter what they do.
In July, for instance, Trump melted down after protesters vandalized “brand new vehicles” that he said his administration had given ICE, showing “total disrespect for LAW AND ORDER.” In response, he directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to give “Total Authorization” to use “whatever means necessary” against such protester “THUGS.”
This is what a license to kill looks like. And it’s why the responsibility for yesterday’s murder in Minneapolis ultimately rests at the president’s feet.
This was the inevitable result of all the lies.
The Minnesota murder is not an isolated incident. It’s the logical outcome of a campaign built on systematic deception. Before he was re-elected, Trump was already lying about what he’d do on immigration. Now those lies have become policy. Yesterday’s tragedy is the clearest, tragic example of what’s really been happening.
“ICE is going after dangerous criminal aliens,” the administration says.
This was the mantra in Trump’s first term, and it’s been the mantra since. Here’s the catch: it’s a blatant falsehood. The data tells the real truth. Fewer than ten percent of recent immigrants arrested by ICE had criminal convictions. In other words, ninety percent of the people they are picking up off the streets, throwing into cars, and locking in concrete bunkers aren’t violent offenders. They’re workers, parents, and students. They’re people whose only “crime” is existing without the right paperwork; for some of them, that was decades ago.
“ICE isn’t harassing U.S. citizens,” the administration says.
Also false. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem continues to assert that U.S. citizens aren’t being targeted, but data shows ICE has detained and arrested hundreds of Americans. What’s more, these unofficial estimates likely understate the full scope of the unconstitutional actions. But data isn’t really needed. Ordinary Americans are seeing proof pop up in their social media feeds every week, as U.S. citizens are violently detained or murdered at the hands of ICE officers.
We have become a “show your papers” country. Citizenship is now something you must prove on demand, or else.
“ICE is following the law,” the administration says.
My former colleague Tom Homan, the White House border czar, told a reporter this week: “I have not seen ICE act outside of policy.” Well, Tom, you are either lying through your teeth, or y’all have secretly authorized ICE to break the law. Nothing else can be true. Because every single day brings fresh reports of warrantless arrests, breaking and entering, illegal vehicle stops, and intimidation tactics that would get ordinary police officers fired (or prosecuted) if anyone held them accountable.
And what does it tell ICE officers?
It tells them that they can act with impunity. The White House has been lying — and will continue lying — on their behalf, portraying them as carrying out lawful operations to round up criminals, when in reality, ICE is carrying out a sweeping nationwide campaign to harass immigrants, intimidate the political opposition, and exert power according to Donald Trump’s whims.
I don’t say any of that lightly.
I still know a lot of folks at ICE. The agency is filled with law-abiding Americans who do more than just immigration work and who want to help protect the nation against foreign spies, cyber attacks, terrorists, drug cartels, and more. But their agency has been co-opted and manipulated to become the president’s de facto personal police force. Yesterday, we saw the consequences.
We’re all in greater danger now.
One consequence of the lies is that Americans’ trust in government and federal law enforcement — which was already in decline — is now plummeting. Take a look at the trend lines in recent years. Below, from Gallup. It’s bad.
But this is particularly worrisome when it comes to police. Even when we don’t trust the person in the White House, we still count on emergency services and badge-wearing officers to protect us. Not anymore. Americans no longer believe the statements coming out of my former agency, the Department of Homeland Security, that was built to protect them after 9/11.
And as a result, their faith in all frontline defenders is eroding.
When people believe a cop is more likely to shoot them in the face than arrest an actual criminal, they stop cooperating. Pure and simple. They stop reporting crimes. They stop answering questions. And they stop helping investigations. The obvious result is that everyone becomes less safe.
That’s what happens when a president turns cops into a political weapon. But what makes this moment even more dangerous is the scale.
ICE is now the largest federal law enforcement agency in the United States, larger than the armed forces of most nations, and it’s growing rapidly. To staff that expansion, the administration has lowered recruitment and qualification standards, while openly soliciting from MAGA fanbases with memes, shitposts, and propaganda about cleansing the homeland. The agency is fielding legions of under-trained, under-qualified, ideologically motivated federal officers to roam American cities, armed with extraordinary authority and shielded from consequences.
This is exactly what the Founders feared.
How we respond matters.
Congress can only pretend it’s powerless for so long. As their constituents get arrested, tormented, and murdered, they’re going to have to wake up.
I once worked as a staffer on the House Appropriations Committee, perhaps the most feared committee on Capitol Hill. I can tell you with certainty that the “power of the purse” is the most effective check Congress has. If ICE is acting as Donald Trump’s shadow police force, then Congress must withhold funding until the agency obeys the law, restores standards, and submits to real oversight.
We don’t need speeches and strongly worded letters about “grave concerns.” I say to my former colleagues on the Hill: cut the money.
In the meantime, the most effective thing we can do across the country is turn the volume up. Way up. Americans must stand loudly and peacefully against ICE’s abuses of power. Until now, protests against ICE have largely been localized. They need to be nationalized.
But that comes with a warning. There’s nothing — nothing — Trump’s most fervent henchmen want more than an excuse to launch a crackdown in the name of “domestic terrorism.” That’s why they rushed to accuse the victim in Minnesota of being a terrorist before anyone even knew her name. They’re waiting for an overreaction and hunting for any whiff of violence so they can persecute the political opposition. We cannot give them that gift.
We also cannot stand by. So I urge people to join peaceful nationwide protests, even if you’ve never protested before. Our elected leaders need to see that we are fed up and furious, particularly because it’s an election year. One day, I believe this will be seen as a turning point against Trump’s authoritarian drift.
There are smaller steps we can take, too. If you watched this video of yesterday’s shooting, you heard something at the beginning. Whistles. Residents were literally blowing the whistle on ICE to warn folks in the neighborhood to be on alert and be careful. This has made a difference in communities around the country, especially those actively targeted by raids. And it’s why DEFIANCE.org and our Members have now donated tens of thousands of whistles to affected areas.
You can do the same here, or by going to www.defiance.org/swag/p/ice-alarm-whistle.
ICE is no longer the agency it was when I served at DHS. It’s been hijacked to become Donald Trump’s personal police force. If anything good comes from yesterday’s tragedy, it’s the more Americans will realize that what I just wrote isn’t hyperbole or political venting. It’s reality.
If we don’t stand against it now, Trump will convince his agents they really do have a license to kill. And the next lie will become even more fatal than the last.
Your friend, in defiance,
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Miles, as I watched the video of a murder in broad daylight in a suburban neighborhood of a woman and subsequent escape of the murderer as he drove away, my first thought was ordinary citizens are going to start shooting back. As prevalent as guns are in this society, I’m holding my breath when there are out right gun battles in our streets. I know this is what the lawless administration wants but nothing is seemingly working to stem the tide, so to speak. If this dies evolve to that level, then we in a civil war, not with foreigners but with our own government. I’m envisioning small “wars” in pockets throughout the US, not the entire country embroiled in fighting. But even so, this a chilling scenario I pray will never happen. You are correct to call out the Congress to do something with the purse strings by defunding ICE. As Adam Kinzinger said yesterday on one of his posts, there is no military on earth that needs $1.5 trillion to operate (unless one is thinking world domination, fat orange turd). I’m 74, but I stand ready to take to the streets (again) to show this administration, elected officials on both sides of the aisle (who do absolutely NOTHING to collect their paychecks) and the corrupt Supreme Court, we, the people, are tired of paying them to NOT do their jobs.
I am a US citizen. I was detained by ICE, all armed officers. What did I do? I stood in the driveway to the facility. I was unarmed, quiet, just walked back and forth. Now I am grateful I wasn’t shot!