Hello subscribers, I’m writing to you from my first vacation in six years, since I started writing Crossing the Line in January 2020. As much as I’d like to remain unplugged, the news continues to move too fast. And in times like these, it’s impossible not speak out. I hope you learn something from this latest episode of From the Borderlands to fuel your efforts in support of the resistance. I’m wishing you strength. The only way through this is… Together. ✊🏼 Sarah
Like anyone who has studied the cruel practices of US immigration authorities, I’ve not been terribly surprised by the outrageous and arbitrary violence perpetrated by the goons patrolling the streets of Minneapolis — and other major US cities. Which is why I was puzzled by this recent the recent New York Times piece, written by some of the more trustworthy immigration reporters, too, that ICE and the Border Patrol suddenly, somehow, seem to have gone rogue; that before Noem, Homan, and Bovino (and of course Steven Miller), there were more law-enforcement heroes among the ranks who cherished the rule of law and were only interested in public safety.
What a load of hooey.
The Times account seems to request that we feel sympathy for the officers who look and act, and are armed just like a paramilitary army: Public disapproval and their mean bosses have hurt their morale. Boo hoo.
Democrats, who we should have been able to trust to stand in the way of bequeathing ICE and CBP a budget to rival the largest global militaries, are now apologizing for their latest vote, just last week, to give Trump’s Gestapo forces even MORE money. Republicans, who bent over one after another to cast a yea vote in support of Trump’s MAGA Murder Mandate (aka the Big Ugly Bill), have finally blinked, disturbed by the violence that has beset the streets of Minneapolis. But that evil genie will not soon be wrestled back into its bottle.
Here are the facts few elected officials seem willing to face or admit and have been unwilling to face or admit for several decades: The violence and the cruelty are baked into the DNA of the CBP’s Border Patrol and ICE. The roots of the Border Patrol can be traced all the way back to the slave patrols. They were the KKK and Texas Rangers, rebranded in 1924 as the Border Patrol. The Department of Homeland Security was built on those rotten foundations. ICE endorsed Trump for president all the way back in 2016, a historic first, proving they were infiltrated by white supremacists even then. And no amount of so-called “fair and balanced” reporting from any legacy media outlet is going to change that. Nor is grandstanding such as NY Representative Tom Suozzi’s, that “I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis.”
Suozzi should read my book, Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands. I sent him a copy. I sent a copy to many MOCs that continue to stand on the wrong side of history by funding it.
In Chapter 16, The Border Hardens, I shine a light on the 2010 murder of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas. Seventeen agents of ICE, CBP, and Border Patrol tortured him to death in broad daylight. The execution was captured on a passerby’s camera. All 17 agents were identified and named. None of the 17, nor their bosses, were ever held accountible.
Anastasio left a widow, five kids, a large extended and loving family, and a community that adored him. The only difference between Anastasio and Alex Pretti or Renee Good was that he was undocumented, which is why you may never heard of his death. But they were all murdered. They were all murdered by the same forces and the same hapless mentality that had blinded our leadership for too long.
ICE and the Border Patrol cannot be reformed. The rot is too great.
May Alex, Renee, and Anastasio not have died in vain. May this be the moment when we realize how much the post-9/11 security-first paradigm has compromised all our values and tear this horrorshow — the reason we have a fascist in the White House today — all the way down to its racist foundations.
Enough is enough! ¡Basta!
☝🏼 Scroll back up☝🏼 to the top of this post ☝🏼 to listen to the full podcast episode:
Slave, Border & ICE Patrols “Shoot First and Ask Questions Later”
Featuring Chapter 16 of Crossing the Line, The Border Hardens,
with shout outs to Todd Miller, Jenn Budd, Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now!, and The Border Chronicle.
Tales of Humanity is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
