WASHINGTON—Shofars sounded, signaling distress. Whistles blew, signaling danger. Prayers were pronounced, denoting hope. And Biblical verses were read, and signs were carried, reminding everyone of moral values—and of the grossest violators of those values, the Nazis.
All occurred at a February 11 protest, organized by Jews United for Justice and Washington D.C. progressive rabbis, outside the headquarters of ICE.
Their demand was short and blunt: Defund ICE. NOW. And with Congress facing a February 14 deadline for a decision, at least some congressional Democrats appear to be listening.
ICE is the army of vicious and violent militarists whom GOP President Donald Trump has turned loose on the nation’s streets to wreak havoc on immigrants and native-born people alike. They have killed native-born citizen supporters of immigrants in Minneapolis and have attacked, shot, and injured others elsewhere on the nation’s streets.
The 500-plus protesters here were just one group in a rising tide of nationwide demands on lawmakers. Their three-word message in front of ICE’s headquarters: Defund ICE, NOW.
Other protests in the prior weeks included a youth march here in sub-zero temperatures and a group of monks praying for peace and making their way to D.C. from out of town, walking all the way.
The AFL-CIO weighed in by backing an outdoor demonstration of activists today today of activists today near the U.S. Senate. People from Minnesota were there to denounce ICE’s ongoing attacks in their state. People are waiting to see whether the Trump administration is serious about its once-again announcement today that it is pulling back on its attacks against immigrants and communities in that state.
In any case, lawmakers in Minnesota say that any pullback will be the result of concerted action by the people to support one another in their communities.
“The Trump administration wants you to believe they’re drawing down” the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) troops from the Twin Cities, the AFL-CIO said in a statement on January 11. “The reality is that children, teachers, parents, and working people across the state are still being horribly and violently targeted.
“An injury to one is an injury to all. We won’t stand by while our fellow workers remain in danger at the hands of ICE agents, and their constitutional rights are trampled.
“Minnesotans–including community, faith and labor leaders–are coming to the U.S. Capitol to make sure members of Congress hear the truth about what’s happening in their hometown.”
Some lawmakers appear to be listening, at least among Democrats, as Congress approaches a midnight February 14 deadline for deciding what to do about the controversial agency.
The most progressive among them, such as Reps. Ilhan Omar, DFL-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and Summer Lee, D-Pa., want to not just defund ICE, but abolish it. Omar represents Minneapolis.
New York City Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., as well as Illinois U.S. Senate Democratic hopeful Juliana Stratton, the state’s lieutenant governor also all favor abolishing ICE.
Influential Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, which is supposed to help allot federal funds, introduced a money bill for the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of this fiscal year—but with no new money for ICE or the Border Patrol, both part of DHS.
The rest of the department, including its Secretary Kristi Noem, who has disparaged ICE victims and blamed them for their own deaths, would be funded. That includes the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, and the nation’s Transportation Security Officers—the airport screeners.
Two Border Patrol agents, called from a deep-red state to serve in Minneapolis, shot Veterans Administration nurse Alex Pretti, 37, a member of the Government Employees (AFGE), in the back after they had tackled him and taken away his pistol, which he had a permit to carry.
He had been aiding a woman overcome by chemicals the agents had sprayed at her.
And it was an ICE trooper who, days before, shot to death, in her car, the poet, mother, and local activist observing anti-ICE demonstrations in Minneapolis.
The murder and mayhem Trump’s ICE troops have inflicted on Democratic-run cities such as D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, the Twin Cities, and New Orleans got lawmakers’ attention.
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot be abolished, but I will not provide a single dime of funding until we see radical changes in how it operates,” DeLauro wrote before introducing her bill.
“If Republican leadership blocks this legislation from moving forward, they are responsible for any shuttered agencies, furloughed workers, missed paychecks, or reduced services,” DeLauro added.
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both D-N.Y., don’t even go as far as DeLauro proposed—and nowhere near abolishing ICE, which demonstrators in front of ICE headquarters have demanded.
The two leaders want to attach reins and safeguards on ICE agents, such as banning them from wearing masks, forcing them to identify themselves, restricting their use of deadly force, eliminating mass sweeps and ordering them to get real search warrants–not pieces of paper they fill out on the spot–before invading homes, schools and stores, arresting, detaining and deporting people, or shooting them.
The GOP, genuflecting to Trump, doesn’t want any restrictions at all. It’s willing to let ICE agents violate people’s constitutional and civil rights. Or, in the cases of Pretti and Good, kill them.
The measures the two leaders propose were not enough for the demonstrators here in D.C. on August 11. Many blew shofars—rams’ horns—as a signal or distress, or whistles, such as those people in Chicago and the Twin Cities use to warn neighbors of the presence of what they consider dangerous occupying ICE agents.
Demonstrators also spoke through signs, statements, and prayers. Some were quite blunt. “If you’re not irritated, you’re not paying attention,” one read. “May their memories be a blessing,” one speaker said of Pretti and Good, invoking a traditional Jewish memorial prayer for deceased loved ones.
The sharpest sign brought home the ultimate horror of the 20th century, the six million Jews whom the Nazis mass murdered before and during World War II, strictly because of their religion.
“ICE = Brownshirts,” it read, referring to Nazi storm troopers. The sign was particularly appropriate. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is just three blocks away from ICE headquarters.
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