60 Days or Six Feet Under; ICE Protestors Face a Stark Choice

In May of 1964 the United States was engaged in a very unpopular war in Southeast Asia. Thousands of young men were sent to the humid jungles of far-away Vietnam and Laos to defend that little corner of the world from the scourge of falling communist dominoes. On the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, there was a different kind of collapse. The lifeless bodies of four university students dropped to ground under a fusillade of 67 bullets from National Guard troops who had been given the green light to fire - and that permission ended in the death of those young Vietnam anti-war protesters and the wounding of nine others.

 All on the campus of a leafy college in Middle America.

The death of four innocent white college students on May 4^th, 1970, was a momentous day in US history. The Vietnam conflict was never perceived the same way from that afternoon forward.

A national lesson, it seems, was administered by fate itself, as to how difficult it is for a country to engage in an unpopular, if not hated war, despite the justifications of politicians – old men mostly – who are eager to send fuzzy-cheeked boys off to a rugged, dangerous battlefield in a foreign land, to fight in a great noble cause that is just and honorable.

That was then. Now there is a different kind of hated conflict going on right on the streets of America. The armed officers are not the National Guard. They are members of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, commonly known as ICE. The victims being targeted by bullets are not young college students but ordinary citizens such as Renee Good, a wife and a mother, and Alexander Pretti, an ICU nurse. Both individuals ended up DEAD in on-street confrontations with armed ICE officers in uniform.

Their crimes? Protesting in the streets of American cities the actions of ICE personnel who are on a mission to contact and detain undocumented individuals who do not have a right to be walking free in this country, because they are not citizens or lack so-called, legal status.

The exact circumstances of the killings of both Good and Pretti are murky, at best, even with the videos that were released to the public in the days after the deaths. The determination of misconduct or criminal behavior by the officers involved in the incidents are best left to a court of law for judgement. But the actions of the officers are contrary to the character of a country that supposedly prides itself on law and order, and the right of people – citizens or not – to peacefully protest the actions of the state.

All of that changed with the election of MAGA-fisted Donald J. Trump, and now ICE is widely regarded in some sectors of American society, as no more than modern day Gestapo units that are completely out-of-control and are more of a threat to the safety and well-being of a person walking down a city street, than the illegals/undocumented they are authorized by legal code, to detain.

Only this very week, during the height of the FIFA World Cup, two more individuals have died in on-street confrontations with officers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Typically, there is an automobile involved, and poorly trained ICE agents find reasons to discharge their guns leading to the death of a person, who has been convicted of no crime, and was guilty of only being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

These violent actions of ICE officers would have been inconceivable under previous administrations.

No such shootings would ever have become commonplace under the administrations of Biden, Obama, or even George W. Bush. But there is a now sheriff in town, and the leadership in Washington DC has set a confrontational and malignant tone that has placed the lives of ordinary Americans at risk.

It is in the DNA of the American people to protest a perceived injustice. The detention of people by ICE agents without warrants, the vehicle stops performed on city streets because the occupants look like they might be in the country illegally, the storming of workplaces leading to mass arrests have all led to a situation where protesters see no other choice, but to “harass” and harangue ICE agents who are performing their jobs. This means following ICE vehicles through neighborhoods, filming ICE agents who are having uncomfortable conversations with “detained” individuals on city streets, and verbally confronting ICE agents wherever they may be in public, whether on a coffee break on in a fast-food restaurant consuming cheap, unhealthy food.

This is not okay.

To this day, since Donald Trump was elected to his second term, not a single Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has died in the line of duty. That is how it should be. Nobody wants an individual in the employ of the federal government to lose their life while on the job. But in that same period, numerous individuals have been injured or killed, by ICE agents who are performing their official duties.

Confronting ICE agents on the street obviously entails some level of risk. Verbal harassment, especially when it is up close and personal, can easily become physical. Poorly trained or not, law enforcement officers view moving vehicles as lethal weapons. Hands in the pockets or sudden movements by protesters whether when seated in a car, or when they are walking down the street, can also be mistaken as a distinct threat.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents simply do not have the expertise or the experience of local law enforcement agencies. The hastily hired new arrivals do not have the instincts and good judgement necessary to confidently deescalate tense situations, and obviously so given the behavior that has been seen on the street – in living color.

This puts everybody at risk. Unfortunately, the current situation with over-enthusiastic, incompetent ICE officers is not a situation that is likely to improve in the short term, given the ideology of the person in the White House.

Citizens and those who have an unsettled legal status situation in the US need to take an extra bit of caution and care to protect themselves from the inexperienced individuals on the street who are armed with guns.

Don’t do anything rash or stupid when around men who have weapons on their hips.

There is little an individual can do to control the behavior of an ICE officer, but they can control their own behavior. This is crucial and important.

A lightweight jacket, or a blouse isn’t going to stop a bullet. Neither is a car window. The law at that moment is not on the side of Joanne or John Q. Public, in the street.

The choice is remarkably clear. A potentially illegal detention by ICE officials that can be overturned in court later or a casket buried deep in the ground.

Think about it. But don’t take too long.

The Bicentennial was a joyous occasion in 1976, fifty years ago in America. The placid and inoffensive Gerald R. Ford was president, and he did a good job of staying out of the way while America celebrated. This time around, the 250th year of the nation’s birth, elicited none of that same of level of excitement. The joyless grinch in Washington, DC is the reason why. Everything that President Donald J. Trump touches turn to dust.

There’s another word that could be used, but we’ll stick to that one.

His events in the Nation’s Capital were disasters. Enthusiastic crowds don’t follow Trump around the way they used to and the only performers who want their names associated with his soiled name, are similar types, in manner of personality or reputation. That, or they are B-listers, C-listers or D-listers desperate for a bit of press of any kind.

Let us all hope that in 2076, a better quality of man or woman will be in the White House and that year’s celebration will far outpace the doldrums of the Semiquincentennial.

This is only a brief taste of what’s on the way from MADDOX NEWS in the weeks and months ahead. Be sure to spread the word. Your help in getting this publication to grow will be much appreciated.