It Is Happening Here

A few months back, I had a conversation with someone who rolled her eyes at the notion that Donald Trump is acting like Hitler. Even as he was trying to stifle the press, control the justice system, and concentrate more authority over the military, she refused to see it. “Oh, come on – that can’t happen here,” she said.

Well now, people are being disappeared, randomly grabbed up and shipped to remote prisons (aka, “camps”).

Trump’s plan for mass deportations was a key tenet of his campaign. But it’s become anything but what was supposed to be an orderly process that would be removing criminals and gang members. There are alarming videos of people being chased and snatched from construction sites, at car washes, restaurant kitchens, and on farms. A gentleman who pushed a small ice cream cart through the streets of Santa Monica, CA was abducted, leaving his lonely cart behind. Agents are even grabbing people out of courthouse parking lots as they attend their immigration hearings.

What’s even more disturbing is that no one seems to know who the kidnappers (and that’s exactly the right term) are. They refuse to show ID or reveal their names. They’re masked, sporting “official” tactical gear that can be ordered off Amazon – which, frankly, looks ridiculous paired with their skinny jeans and beer gut.

These cosplaying ICE agents have been videotaped breaking a truck window to drag the driver out. A beloved gardener (with three sons who are U.S. Marines) was beaten on the street by four of these individuals.

They shove their victims into unmarked cars or SUVs that don’t resemble any kind of official vehicle. What’s even more disturbing are the shouts of “We got one!” like they’re playing a sick game. It’s becoming ever-more apparent that many of these “agents” are just dudes with nothing better to do, and who are likely being paid as bounty hunters. There are no records of where their victims are being sent (with no due process); many are not being returned back to their home countries, but rather, unrelated destinations like the Sudan.

Stephen Miller, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, is the driving force behind these vicious actions. He’s got a long history of rabid hatred for immigrants – legal or not – and has made it clear that daily “quotas” of arrests must be made. That dark thirst aligns with men whose hatred is far greater than their IQ.

At this writing, an army of lawyers are working their way through many of these unjustified abductions, but it’s moving at a glacial pace. In the meantime, local communities have been stepping up, putting their bodies between ICE (or the Temu knockoffs). They’re filming attempted abductions and standing between the agents and the targeted person(s). They’re surrounding ICE vehicles so that they can’t move. Organizations like the Los Angeles Dodgers even pushed ICE out of their parking lot, where agents were hoping to snatch up immigrant fans before a game.

Communities are forming “rapid response teams” to provide legal knowledge and assistance to migrants, as well as effective strategies for combatting these masked men.

Hitler and his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, counted on small paramilitary groups like the Hitler Youth to carry out terror events like Kristallnacht (“The Night of Broken Glass”) against Jews. It seems that Miller (who has an eerie resemblance to Goebbels) is employing the same tactics against migrants.

So, for those, like the woman who rolled her eyes at the notion that Trump is like Hitler, and who don’t think it can happen here, newsflash: it IS happening here.

Cindy Grogan is a writer, lover of history and "Star Trek" (TOS), and hardcore politics junkie. There was that one time she campaigned for Gerald Ford (yikes), but ever since, she's been devoted to Democratic and progressive policies.