|
Wednesday’s cold-blooded murder by an ICE agent of a peaceful legal observer, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, brings America one step closer to a civil war between cities and states defending their citizens and a Trump administration using fascist-style tactics to have a secret police force provoke confrontations, arrests, and in this case, a killing.
There will now be massive resistance, in the form of mass demonstrations both in Minnesota and nationally, and by state and local leaders. There will be far more citizen groups armed only with whistles, cameras, and cellphones, warning their neighbors about ICE raids. Any semblance of normal relations between federal and state officials has evaporated.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz termed the deployment “a war that’s being waged against Minnesota.” He added, “Don’t believe this propaganda machine … What we’re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines, and conflict. It’s governing by reality TV, and today that recklessness cost someone their life … To Americans, I ask you this. Please stand with Minneapolis.”
The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, was more blunt. The DHS characterization of the killing as self-defense, he said, was “bullshit.” To ICE he said, “Get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.”
Walz, who has previously termed ICE “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo,” also said that he is preparing to call up the Minnesota National Guard. If the Guard were to direct ICE to back off, or interpose itself between ICE agents and demonstrators, this would be uncharted legal territory.
In September, the Supreme Court by a 6-3 vote in Perdomo v. Noem reversed a ruling from two lower courts that bars immigration agents from stopping people based on apparent race or ethnicity; speaking Spanish or English with an accent; presence in a particular location like a bus stop, car wash, or agricultural site; or type of work. It was the Roberts Court at its worst.
But when the facts change, so does the law, as interpreted even by this Court. ICE as a rogue secret police is entitled to far less deference. Last week, the same Court, by an opposite 6-3 vote, upheld lower-court rulings prohibiting Trump from using federalized National Guard troops in local police operations.
The two legal issues are not quite identical, but the vibe is. And don’t kid yourself, the Supremes may work in a temple of justice, but they don’t live on Mount Olympus. They read the same news and watch the same videos that we do.
It means one thing when immigration officials are looking for people in the country illegally, another when 2,000 marauding agents are rushed into a city in a staged-for-TV show of force to punish a state governed by the opposition party.
Meanwhile, the state of California has passed a new law prohibiting ICE officials and other federal agents from covering their faces with masks, and directing local sheriffs and police to enforce the requirement. This law, which took effect January 1, has not yet been tested, either in practice or in court.
Reviewing the video of the murder of Renee Nicole Good, in a two-hour interview with New York Times reporters, Trump slightly hedged his earlier claims that the killing was purely self-defense. Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told CBS News that he would not make a judgment based on the videos. “Let the investigation play out,” Homan said, “and hold people accountable based on the investigation.”
|
