White House border czar Tom Homan is promising to “flood” cities run by Democrats with immigration agents, as the Trump administration ramps up border enforcement.
Congress earlier this month gave the Trump administration more than $170 billion over the next four years to dramatically scale up enforcement, detention and deportation, and Homan said Americans living in so-called “sanctuary cities” can expect to see far more agents on the street soon.
The White House has repeatedly singled out cities from Los Angeles to Denver to Boston for their refusal to assist ICE agents making detentions, and Homan has threatened to arrest elected officials who stymie the president.
Migrant-rights groups warn increased enforcement raises the risk of more civil rights violations and violent confrontations, like the chaotic protests that broke out in Los Angeles last month following Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at a Home Depot, among other locations.
Trump officials have long complained that many cities run by Democrats refuse to honor requests to detain people on behalf of ICE in local jails, and Homan said doing so makes it harder for ICE to arrest “bad guys” in the safety of a detention center. He said making street arrests is more dangerous for everyone, requiring more personnel to operate safely.
The increased funding for one of Trump’s signature policies comes as the American public appears to be growing increasingly concerned about the tactics being deployed. A July 20 poll by CBS/YouGov found that 56% of Americans disapproved of the president’s immigration measures, while 44% approved, a 10-point drop from February.
Sure would be a good time for the *checks notes* . . . Democrats to make as loud a fuss as humanly possible, wouldn’t it.
Based on past performance, I think we can all reasonably expect they will step up to the plate with a meekly worded statement expressing “concern”.
Also - vote your people in. Work to change this by doing something/anything. That is the real revolution.
I do have to give some credit to the dem governors and mayors of the sanctuary jurisdictions that are being targeted, but have formed a coalition and are actively suing Trump in federal court to block him from doing things like cutting their funding. I really think if the U.S. is actually going to make it without dissolving into sperate state countries, we’re going to have ban together in a similar coalition and unite to go against Trump and those that would prefer to live in a monarchy controlled authoritarian nightmare.
Meanwhile my blue city in a red state with a federal consent decree preventing police from dealing with immigration, is being used like a guinea pig to test out different strategies for Republicans before they get used on a bigger scale.
Our mayor is in the last few months of her final term, and I’m pretty convinced she sold out our city in a deal to save herself from federal charges around 2022. She put up no resistance despite the concerns of civil rights advocates when our insane governor establish a permanent police force in the city last year (which can’t be regulated by any city ordinance bc they’re under state jurisdiction and now they’re officially partnered with ICE, so yeah that’s great), and filed a motion to speed up the removal of the consent decree, which is the only thing standing between the governor forcing all city police and law enforcement agents to work with ICE instead of as he and Trump put it, “refusing to take off the federal handcuffs” that prevent them from carrying out federal immigration orders.
As of August 1st a new state law goes into effect which makes it a felony punishable with up to 10 years in jail for any law enforcement (city police and sheriff) or any state official to hinder, delay, or interfere with federal immigration orders.
Our “progressive sheriff,” who the governor believes was installed by George Soros, has said she plans to stick by the ruling of the consent decree, and a criminal court judge has now found an excuse to hold her in contempt of court on a completely unrelated bullshit matter, with a trial date of August 4th, 3 days after it becomes possible to throw her in prison for 10 years for not blindly following orders.
So, while I’m fine with shitting on Democrats like Chuck Schumer for doing nothing or refusing to support Mamdani, I do feel like it’s important to acknowledge the Dems who are at least trying to fight back or at least stand their ground. Some of them have formed coalitions, and some seem to be left to fend for themselves while Dems like my mayor not only refuse to join in something like protective a coalition, but appear to be are actively helping the administration destroy any shields we have left protecting democracy in the United States
I think they need to start thinking in terms of power politics rather than lawsuits. The Supreme Court isn’t going to save them. Start instituting local laws and regulations that make the ICE bullshit difficult. Install allies in the local and state police forces so you can believe your laws will be followed by them.
Someone with power is going to have to say ‘no’ and back it up, not call a point of order and ask the court to scold them officially.
Even this isn’t enough. I live in a solid blue town if a deep blue state. My elected officials have been great at speaking up and do what they can.
But what can they do.? It’s not nothing, but …
Where was I going? Oh yeah, my elected city councillor was roughed up and threatened with jail time for videoing a kidnapping. What do you do? We’re far beyond the need for just electing good people
Those good people theoretically have control of their own local security forces and support from their local community. They need to be willing to start using them to contain unlawful actions by the feds. Require license plates on all vehicles, ban masks during arrests, create local regulations about inspections of all buildings housing detainees. Federal agents can be arrested, and even if they’re released later, that’s still disrupting the free for all they have now.
And even a little support from local authorities can multiply the abilities of individual citizens to resist. If police will protect protesters rather than run crowd control against them, or the city drops some concrete road barriers at a detention facility out of code, then the feds don’t have the equipment and manpower to deal with a crowd.
They’re all stuck playing by the old systems while the administration doesn’t give a fuck.