ICE and the hate and fear it embraces

Photos of Charlottesville, VA, marchers yelling "Jews Will Not Replace Us" led to fellow citizens identifying them and posting who they were. Their neo Nazi, Klan, and Civil War flags, their anti Semitic and neo Nazis slurs resulted in many employers firing these people. After all, these are people whose ideas you do not want representing your company. This practice of doxing became a way to hold people accountable for their actions in a time when shame seems to have disappeared and groups of people have embraced divisive, hate filled politics. 

When my MIL became a US Postmaster, her name, new position and its location, and her salary were posted in the local newspaper. Public employees at the state and federal level (except those in security positions) traditionally have had their names and salaries listed. Today the salaries of public servants in each region can be found online. Connecting people's jobs has become easier and easier as people post more and more personal data online. Scraping data from public sources and personal pages has led to databanks of mass information available to employers and voyeurs for a nominal fee. Voter roles easily connect people with home addresses.

The actions of ICE have led to justified criticism as they violate Constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizens and utilize excessive force and militaristic tactics in wide spread raids and warrantless assaults. Most do this while wearing masks. Many wear no badges indicating name or agency. Many appear in plain clothes with no identifying marks as law enforcement officers. Earlier this week, Reagan Appointed Federal District Court Judge William G. Young wrote “ICE goes masked for a single reason—to terrorize Americans into quiescence.” 

I suggest the reason they go masked is based on more than just their supposed fear of being doxed. And it extends beyond the intent the judge specifies, to terrorize Americans, spread fear, and compel obeisance and reduce resistance. I think that if many of them are unmasked we will see not just our neighbors, church members, and former co-workers, I suspect many of them should not hold jobs in public service. Among the ICE employees may be:

Fellow Hispanics with extended family members who may be illegally here or have arrived in recent generations. 

Members of The Oath Keepers

Members of The Proud Boys

People Who Marched in Charlottesville, VA

J6 Insurrectionists

People whose social media profiles reveal their racism and political ideology

Pedophiles and other equally repugnant groups of society 

But it goes beyond naming and shaming these people and revealing the sorted underbelly of America that they glean their employees from. Their actions are in many cases illegal and would subject them and the agency to lawsuits and criminal charges. It is a level of accountability which ICE and this administration will not accept. They are led by a felon and many agencies are headed by unqualified toadies appointed solely for their loyalty to a morally bankrupt man.