What It's Like Living in Fear of ICE

I have a story to tell. It is not mine — but in today’s America, the protagonist cannot speak her own story. The risks are too great.

The story belongs to a young American woman, a college graduate who dreams of becoming an attorney. She is smart, hardworking, determined, compassionate. Yet she has shelved her dreams — for now.

She lives with her parents and younger siblings in Chicago. Her mother no longer leaves the house because of fears of deportation. Her father leaves each day for a twelve-hour shift as a driver, a job he has had for years. Every day, the family worries he will not come back.

Her parents are immigrants from — let’s say from Pakistan, although it might be Venezuela or Ethiopia, or anywhere where people who are not white love their children enough to make great sacrifices so those children can have better lives.

It does not matter that her parents came to America legally and have, for years, sought permanent status. What matters now is the “not white” part, because the U.S. Supreme Court said that looking “foreign” was sufficient cause to be stopped by ICE. This family came her legally, they played by the rules, and now we’ve changed the rules. Until now, they’ve been told to be hopeful about their pending case for more permanent status. But now, this woman wonders, what will happen if they show up in court?

She tells me how much the images of ICE cruelty motivate her to act. She says videos of armed men showing up and taking away hard-working people, people who have raised families here and who pay taxes here, inspire in her a passionate sense of injustice. Recently, she witnessed ICE take people from a grocery store while she was in the parking lot. She captured the whole thing on video.

She posts warnings about ICE and about the erosion of democratic institutions online. But the angry response worries her. She wonders how anyone can justify cruelty. She worries about her dad. She suspects much of the anger directed her way is from bots and trolls, but still, she worries.

She struggles to support her brothers and sisters now that her mother can no longer contribute to the family’s income. In addition to extra shifts at work, she now does the grocery shopping, takes her siblings to doctors’ appointments, and to school. The hours are brutal. Still, even if she must put off any thoughts of law school for herself, she finds time to post about the erosion of American rights. She planned to attend a No Kings Day Rally.

Her mother remains upbeat because she has faith in God. Her father continues to believe in America. Every day, he goes to work and assures the family that all will be well. Another driver sent her father a video of ICE taking a man from the parking lot where he sometimes waits. She wonders if that was a friendly warning on an ominous one.

Her family worries that her activism will make her a target. She says she cannot walk away from the fight. They raised her to believe in fairness and in justice, and she cannot pretend not to see what is in front of her.

This strong, smart, young woman cannot, however, tell her story. She cannot look into a camera and explain how much she loves this country, how much she believes in its promise, because right now, in this moment, doing so risks putting her parents in danger.

With her permission, I am telling her story.

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The President promised to go after dangerous criminals and violent gang members. He lied. Instead of targeting people I would be afraid to meet, he now targets people I would be honored to meet — people who work hard, contribute to this country, love their families, pay taxes, and teach their children well.

This story belongs to one remarkable American. It is her story. And yet … it is also ours, a story of our resilience and how much we have left to do.

Edwin Eisendrath hosts “It’s the Democracy, Stupid” on Lincoln Square and “The Big Picture” on WCPT820 AM/ Heartland Signal. You can follow him on BlueSky at eisendrath.net and Substack at “It’s the Democracy, Stupid.” Read the original column here.

It's the democracy, stupid A view from a Midwestern get-things-done kind of Democrat on politics, policies, organizing & saving democracy. By Edwin Eisendrath

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