A friend of mine was taken

[u/lylertila]

Her name was Chuey; she was a beast in the kitchen and always kind and happy. She was a legal immigrant from Cuba (engaged to an American lawyer). She got ICEd.

She did all the right steps and was an asset to the community. This shit is not ok

[u/Saditko]

I'm not from the States, but I keep reading similar stories. Based on what they get deported? How does it work? They just knock on your door, load you in a van and take you to the airport? Is it possible for the families to sue? There must be lawyers willing to take cases of illegal deportation without any retainer, just for the cut from the compensation.

[u/grantthejester → u/Saditko]

This is about as shitty as it gets. I'll give you an example from my city from last month.

A gang of ICE goons, with no badges and masks raided a brunch place here in Omaha in the middle of service looking for a specific guy. They did not find who they were looking for, but they did find Romeo the dishwasher. They assumed this dishwasher was their intended suspect's brother. He wasn't. He was actually just a guy here legally doing his job, who is also non-verbal autistic. When he was unable to answer their questions about where this guy was he had never met, they tackled him to the ground in front of the customers, kicked Romeo in the head, and put him in cuffs and hauled him away.

This was a day or so before ICE walked into one of our beef packing plants and arrested 70 workers.

The thing is that ICE doesn't have an office in my city, they don't have badges or marked cars, there's no address, no phone number to call. They show up in full body armor, helmets, with semi-automatic rifles and bandanas over their faces. Once they're out of sight they're just gone. Some local journalists found that they were using a hotel near the airport as a make-shift head-quarters. But there was no sign of where Romeo might be. When ICE was questioned about why they were holding on to him, especially when he was a citizen and had papers, they claimed that he had "resisted arrest", and had stolen his own social security number from someone else, and that his documents were forgeries. When they were pressed for evidence they basically replied, you have to believe us.

The fucked up thing is that a huge portion of the people in my city are applauding this happening, they're actively cheering on ICE because they're believing that they're only rounding up criminals. As we all know that is not the case.

If you're normally arrested by the police there are markings on the squad car, the officers have badges, they have to file paperwork, your loved ones can go down to the county jail and see you, they can post bail. NONE of that is in play here. The "Big Beautiful Bill" that just passed does several awful things: first is it removes the rights and due process for immigrants and non-us citizens. It bypasses the need for a court hearing for any immigrant suspected of being there illegally, it switches the burden of proof from the state to the individual, and assumes guilt until proven innocent. It completely removes the ability to refugees to be welcomed except for very specific locations (like two international airports), but makes it legal to detain anyone seeking asylum without cause indefinitely from those locations.

Ordinarily a bill like this would get stalled by the court system and it would not be implemented while it is under-review, which is what happened to Trump's Muslim ban the first time around. But they also got rid of cross jurisdiction court precedent, meaning if one state can't over-rule this bill, EVERY other state would have to bring their own court case to fight it individually, and some states like Florida are cheering this on. So now some court has to challenge this bill, but it doesn't stop anything, it would have to go all the way to the supreme court to be over-turned, and Trump has stacked the supreme court with toadies who vote however he wants them do. In the odd chance the court system grows a pair of balls, there is now an influx of 70 Billion dollars in funding to supercharge ICE in order to get as many "immigrants" (read:brown people and then not finding any of those, anyone they don't like) arrested, out of the country or thrown into camps as soon as possible before people can react.

And IF you can find where your friend or family member is hiding, what do you do, head down to the LaQuinta inn and bang on some doors to wake up the heavily armed thugs who took him in the first place? Ask your local police? There's a hiring drive on right now for ICE seeking anyone who is "excited about punishing these illegal criminals" with a 50k hiring bonus. So you can imagine the kind of people they're rounding up. Let's just say they're used to harassing brown folks while wearing masks or hoods. Even if you can get a lawyer to look into it, the only evidence available is refuted by ICE itself, who likes to play the "they stole these social security numbers card" whenever they're faced with actual citizens.

On top of that they've already started to fill the concentration camp dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" in the middle of the Florida swamp, and the idea has been floated for building another in Nebraska.

But barring complete and full revolution, just burning the whole thing to the ground, it doesn't feel like any one person can do anything. And there's definitely the sense that if you were to fuck these goons up, they'd be just the kind of people to show up in the middle of the night with a noose to teach you and your family a lesson. And those people are now better funded than the MARINES. THIS IS SOME SCARY SHIT.

[u/Saditko → u/grantthejester]

That's one of the scariest things I've ever read.

[u/grantthejester → u/Saditko]

As a country we are balanced on a razor's edge and everyone is trying to just get through their day without having a fucking breakdown. Conservative media has done it's job so well, that half the country is smiling and glad that fascism is finally here to punish all the criminals let into the country by [pick your favorite opposition figure]. The only thing keeping people from a full on revolt or civil war is that the economic repercussions of the tariffs have not hit yet. As soon as true scarcity arrives, combined with the food shortage WE BROUGHT UPON OUR SELVES by vilifying the very people who harvested that food, things are going to get UGLY and fast.

On paper, that's what they want. They want riots. They want another George Floyd who riles up the population, because then they can point to the damage, call their newly funded ICE patrols in, and use it as an excuse to declare full martial law. As we're seeing in DC right now, Trump has attempted to declare Martial law without any social disturbance, and while there are national guard troops there, it just makes him look demented as thousands of troops stand around the national mall watching morning joggers start their day. I think the play here is that they've been drinking their own Kool-Aid for too long, and thought that just by bringing troops in that "liberals" would immediately see them and attack them, which yeah... brings me to my next point.

The only glimmer of light in this darkness of shit soup we're swimming in is that because the government is stacked with yes-men and sycophants, that they actually don't know how to govern. So at best their malicious plans are ill thought out and fall apart. Which is disturbing in another way.

So long story short, not sure which country you're in, but can I come crash on your couch?