The Machinery of Authoritarianism Is Already Here
How ICE violence, criminalized dissent, and emergency powers are hollowing out American democracy in real time
Long before an ICE agent fired into Renee Nicole Good’s car in Minneapolis, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three who was shot and killed during a federal immigration enforcement operation in early January, long before emergency responders found her unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds and life-saving measures failed at a downtown hospital, the federal government had already decided what kind of force it would deploy and how little accountability it would tolerate. Long before a detainee in Texas gasped, “I can’t breathe,” as guards struggled with him in a segregated detention unit later described by the medical examiner’s office as a likely homicide, and long before an off-duty federal agent shot Keith Porter Jr. outside his Los Angeles apartment on New Year’s Eve, the architecture of enforcement, from recruitment and training to public messaging and legal authority, had been reshaped in ways that made these outcomes not only possible but predictable.
That moment in Minneapolis did not occur in a vacuum. It unfolded against the backdrop of an aggressive federal immigration enforcement surge, touted as Operation Metro Surge, billed as the largest of its kind, that flooded Minneapolis with thousands of Border Patrol and ICE agents. Local officials described the operation as chaotic and unsafe, sparking protests and clashes, and even prompting a federal judge to issue an injunction barring federal agents from using nonlethal force, arbitrary detention, and retaliation against peaceful demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights.
In 2025, ICE embarked on one of the most aggressive expansion campaigns in its history. Career expos promised instant job offers, signing bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars, and a fast track into federal law enforcement. A journalist attending one of these events documented how cursory the vetting process had become: a six-minute interview, no meaningful background review, and no apparent concern for public statements openly hostile to ICE itself. Despite failing to complete required paperwork and consenting to no real screening, the journalist later discovered she had been formally hired anyway. The system did not merely miss red flags. It did not appear to be looking for them.
