ICE violence, Iran war show just how little Trump cares about human lives 

Of all the malodorous developments emerging from the Trump administration — and there are many — none is more objectionable than its contempt for life, and for those it forces to make life-and-death decisions.   

Consider the team of 20- and 30-year-olds in the White House charged with turning Donald Trump’s wars into TikTok content. Last year, the bros created a classy deepfake video of the president piloting a military jet and dumping excrement on protesters. Now, the Meme Team is using footage from video games, war movies, sports and actual military strikes to turn Trump’s Iran strategy (“I’m going to bomb the s–t out of them”) into entertainment. The videos are getting millions of views. 

However, in addition to making Trump look like the warrior he never was, the videos distract us from the fact that America’s missiles and bombs are turning real people into red mist and dismembered bodies on the ground, including 1,464 civilians and at least 200 children. 

Trump, who recently wore one of his baseball caps to a “dignified arrival” ceremony, cannot imagine what the parents of slain soldiers feel, let alone the parents whose sons and daughters are at risk every day of coming home in flag-draped caskets. Rather than another weekend at Mar-a-Lago, he could acquire some empathy by volunteering for a stint at a hospital ward treating the soldiers wounded in Iran so far. The Red Cross welcomes volunteers. 

A president’s respect for life is also reflected in their respect for human rights and dignity. Yet this administration tells federal immigration agents that they are immune from prosecution for violating constitutional rights and even laws against murder. It refuses to investigate whether lethal force is justified when agents kill peaceful, unarmed, law-abiding citizens. 

Today, more than 70,000 people are languishing in immigration detention facilities. Americans support the arrest and deportation of the “worst of the worst” immigrants, but that’s not what’s happening. Instead, ICE’s orders are to meet Stephen Miller’s made-up quota for detaining, imprisoning and disappearing immigrants, apparently without regard for their status. The number of people arrested despite having no criminal records has increased by 2,450 percent, according to the American Immigration Council. Most are not allowed to post bond. 

Last year, ICE arrested at least 3,800 children under age 18, including 20 infants. About 1,300 children were held beyond a 20-day limit established by law. On an average day, the detainees include 170 children. A Supreme Court case produced a legal agreement in 1997 that set standards of care for immigrant children in detention. The Trump administration has gone to court to terminate the agreement. 

In its annual report on human rights around the world, Human Rights Watch concluded last month that Trump’s second term has been marked by “widespread human rights violations and substantial attacks on core pillars of accountable, democratic governance” in America as well as abroad. 

Just as Miller is the face of inhumanity in the White House, Pete Hegseth is the face of war. With theatrical bravado, he spouts cold-blooded rhetoric about using the world’s most powerful military. Hegseth hosts monthly Christian worship for Pentagon employees. Defense Department promotional videos show Bible verses alongside military scenes. He uses quotes from the Old Testament to urge “maximum lethality, not tepid legality” and “violent effect, not politically correct” action.  

Hegseth declared that the artificial intelligence company Anthropic is a security risk because it opposes using AI to trigger lethal force without humans in the decision chain. The dispute involves a $200 million Pentagon contract for the use of AI in warfare. The “security risk” designation blacklists the company from doing business with the U.S. government. 

It seems that life is cheap and killing is good politics in the Trump administration. New and emerging military technology aims to remove soldiers as far as possible from the ground-level consequences of their actions. Immorality is easier at a distance, and easier still when life and death decisions are outsourced to robots, algorithms and artificial intelligence. It’s a good strategy for despots, but for a society that values life and conscience, it is the kiss of death. 

William S. Becker, 79, is co-editor of and a contributor to “Democracy Unchained: How to Rebuild Government for the People,” and a contributor to Democracy in a Hotter Time, named by the journal Nature as one of 2023’s five best science books. He previously served as a senior official in the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Energy. He is currently executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP), a nonpartisan climate policy think tank unaffiliated with the White House. 

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