CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Don’t Let the Democrats Co-opt the Movement Against ICE Again

Image by Colin Lloyd.

The movement for immigrant rights is at a crossroads. At its epicenter in Minneapolis, the Trump administration claims that Operation Metro Surge is ending, albeit with caveats that suggest otherwise. Nationally, however, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is expanding its operations. And in Washington, DC, the two major parties are supposedly battling over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In response to the growing outrage against Trump’s war on immigrants, which the events in Minneapolis have turned into a national scandal, the Democrats are demanding reforms to ICE as a condition for their votes to fund DHS. As a result, DHS has gone unfunded for several days, resulting in a shutdown of the agency. Various news outlets report that a resolution isn’t expected anytime soon. The reforms the Democrats are demanding include a requirement that federal officials obtain a warrant before entering private property, a prohibition on federal agents wearing masks to hide their identities, a requirement for body cameras on agents, and limits on where agents can operate.

Let’s be very clear: in Minneapolis and in countless other communities where people are fighting to protect their immigrant neighbors, the movement is not merely demanding reforms. The call is for a total end to ICE’s reign of terror in our communities. A significant sector of the movement and the wider population even champions the demand to “ABOLISH ICE!”

Most importantly, however, the people of Minneapolis aren’t simply making demands for elected officials to take up. Thousands have organized themselves, putting forward creative initiatives from their neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces to protect their communities instead of waiting for elected politicians to act.

In response to the radicalization of the movement against ICE in Minneapolis, the Trump administration and local Democrats, particularly Minnesota governor........

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