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By David Shuster
By the time historians complete their autopsy of America under Trump, I am certain the Department of Homeland Security—particularly its tyrannical subdivision, Immigration and Customs Enforcement —will be named among the most bloated and repulsive of the nation’s malignant tumors. One of the more significant reasons we are, in the words of former Vice President and presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, “broken.” [ [link removed] ]
We don’t have to look any further than the recent travesty in Florida, a state already overflowing with corrosive lunacy.
Federal agents, drunk on authority and high on xenophobia, apprehended and assaulted a teenage citizen of the United States for the capital crime of riding in a car while appearing Hispanic.
This is what’s being done every day on the streets of America in our name [ [link removed] ].
The unfortunate protagonist of this banana Republican drama is Kenny Laynez, age 18, a high school senior and landscaper. In other words, a young man who is more industrious and has greater moral hygiene than the ghouls who swooped down upon him could ever hope to be.
Laynez, born and raised on American soil, committed no felony, no misdemeanor, no impropriety, beyond sitting in the front seat of a car with two undocumented coworkers and his mother. For this heinous offense, he was treated to the hospitality of the modern American police state.
He was yanked from the car, tasered, cuffed, and informed by an officer, “You got no rights here. You’re an amigo, brother.”
In a video recorded by Laynez (bless him for capturing the spectacle and keeping the record button on) we hear the sickening symphony of jackboot justice. “They’re starting to resist more,” grunts one officer, as though announcing the arrival of fresh game for the hunt.
“We’re gonna end up shooting some of them,” he predicts, with the clinical indifference of a man discussing pest control. “Just remember, you can smell that too with a $30,000 bonus,” another replies—proving, in case there was any doubt, that the basest instincts of MAGA men [ [link removed] ]may be purchased on the cheap.
What we are witnessing is not law enforcement. These officers are not patriots defending our borders. These government agents are self-anointed crusaders patrolling our streets with Tasers, masks, and an itchy trigger finger.
Empowered by the Trumpian legacy of cruelty masquerading as policy. We wrote about another such incident [ [link removed] ] here at Blue Amp recently:
So there was Denis Guillen, a landscaper originally from Honduras, peacefully trimming grass outside this medical building. Guilty of nothing other than working hard and wielding a leaf blower without a U.S. passport. So the masked men with a penchant for unprovoked violence suddenly appeared.
They were unidentifiable and as it turns out, unaccountable [ [link removed] ]. The Trump agents proceeded to try and snatch up Guillen, who preferred not to be disappeared. So like any sane person would do when pursueed by masked men without a badge, he fled into the medical clinic.
Staff inside—nurses, doctors, the people who are trained to heal, and not destroy like members of ICE, were also never trained to host a hostage drama. They politely asked the I.C.E. "agents" (a word that now means anyone with a badge-shaped piece of plastic and an extra Y chromosome) for identification.
The reply to this simple request? Violence. A request for a warrant? Met immediately with a refusal, as if due process were optional.
The Trump Administration promulgated and multiplied this cancer -- not with subtlety or sophistication [ [link removed] ], but with barbaric pride. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, once a relatively obscure corner of the federal bureaucracy, became a public relations mascot for the strongman fantasy: round them up, shut the door, and let God sort them out.
What followed has been a regime of institutional paranoia, run by perhaps the most morally compromised man in America [ [link removed] ]. Skin color has become probable cause and due process is a luxury reserved only for those who resemble the Founding Fathers.
This legacy is a rancid stew. And all of us are being told to eat it and accept that a citizen, a teenager no less, can be thrown to the pavement by Trump’s own little militarized police force, with no recourse, no recognition, no due process.
In a nation founded by immigrants and defended, ironically, by teenagers like Kenny Laynez, this madness should be treated not as policy but as pathology [ [link removed] ]. Watch the video of the incident below, and try to hold down your lunch.
The creators and enablers of this horrific disease, whether they’re in Tallahassee, Washington, or any other locale throughout the Unite States, must be condemned, sued, and criminally charged. (Someday, there will be a truth and reconciliation commission.)
These tyrants, led by Trump, are going against everything our nation is supposed to stand for. Instead of law and order, we are witnessing a relentless and steady erosion of America’s soul [ [link removed] ].
This isn’t about border patrol. It is about who is permitted to walk (or, in many cases, ride in a car) freely about society, and who is presumed guilty because of their surname and skin.
This is about an ailing nation so entranced by Trump-inspired fear and resentment [ [link removed] ], that it would trade away its ideals for the illusion of strength.
This is the grotesque and debilitating face of U.S. immigration enforcement under this madman and his horrific henchmen. The question is no longer “who are we keeping out?” The question is, what have we become? Or what must we do to turn this around [ [link removed] ]?
And relatedly, will America survive?
David Shuster is an Emmy award winning broadcast journalist who is best known for his work at NBC News and as an anchor MSNBC. He is a contributor to Blue Amp Substack and co-host of our weekly show (Thursdays, 2pm et, on Substack), “Amped Up w/ Cliff Schecter.” [ [link removed] ]
Folks, The Number of New Paid Subscribers Dramatically Slowed Last Week. Without You, We Can’t Continue to Expand The Soundcheck Fund—Just as Trump Kills PBS & NPR. Please Consider a Paid Subscription to Support Independent Media
Thank you, again. And thank you for all you do for our democracy.

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