Since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, clashed with protesters in Chicago, and especially after the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, the agency, which works under the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, has drawn harsh criticism and accusations of using Gestapo tactics. However, I believe the truth is much worse: The agency is intentionally seeking out and legitimizing white nationalists in order to create a force loyal to President Donald Trump, not the law.
The Gestapo, the Nazi secret police during World War II, was comprised of the top-ranking career policemen and emerged after years of structural reforms to German policing following the Reichstag fire. In the early stages of the Nazi government, the force was used to silence the political opponents of the regime through any means necessary. There is, however, a key operational difference: ICE is not targeting the specific political enemies of Trump.
Instead, it works in broad strokes to harass Democrat-led states and anyone who looks vaguely brown under the guise of immigration enforcement. While ICE certainly resembles the Gestapo in that it, too, is technically a lawful arm of the state committing unjustifiable offenses, it more closely resembles the Sturmabteilung, also known as the SA, Brown Shirts or Stormtroopers, in function.
The Sturmabteilung was a paramilitary group that was part of the Nazi Party during the Weimar Republic. It was purposefully not comprised of anyone with legitimate authority, nor were its members expertly trained in any measure besides what they came to the group with. They attended and guarded Nazi events, brawled with those who were Jewish or otherwise labeled undesirable, and functioned outside of the government as a group of malcontented World War I veterans loyal to the party and not the state.
Some members of the DHS come from paramilitary, and often white nationalist, groups, according to reports from the Project on Government Oversight and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. These groups may include those based on neo-Nazi forums, the Proud Boys, various citizen militias and members of the Oath Keepers. These organizations often operate outside of the law, and the fact that some of their members are in our government has been known for decades.
Historically, the number of white nationalists was structurally limited by the smaller size and scope of ICE. To put it simply, ICE’s agent roster was smaller, and there was less room for white nationalists. However, due to massive funding increases that saw the agency’s budget bloom larger than Germany’s entire annual military spending — the fourth largest in the world — and a resulting recruitment frenzy, many safeguards that should exist simply don’t.
The only age requirement is that you must be 18. The agency’s training program length was cut from 16 weeks to between six and eight. There are $50,000 sign-on bonuses and massive advertisement campaigns on social media that seek to reach as many individuals as possible rather than looking for specifically qualified individuals.
The lack of safeguards and internal accountability is not incidental — it’s intentional. On Feb. 11, The New York Times reported that the same social media manager, 21-year-old Peyton Rollins, responsible for the flagrantly white supremacist messaging and Nazi-sloganeering at the Department of Labor, or DOL, was moved to work at the DHS despite active protest from other members of the DOL, who raised concerns that the messaging engaged right-wing extremists. Rollins was likely hired because of this fact, not in spite of it.
A journalist from Slate, Laura Jedeed, who quite publicly condemned Trump’s “unconstitutional, authoritarian power grab,” received an offer to become an agent after applying with only a skills-based resume as part of a reporting project. She also claims her interview only took about six minutes and that she received an offer despite not filling out any of the required paperwork. That “required” paperwork included a background check, identification information, a drug test and a domestic violence affidavit.
ICE, despite claiming it “was able to exceed its hiring surge while maintaining rigorous standards for training and readiness,” simply is not doing so. The lack of attention to personal background is on purpose; ICE’s application process is a sham, allowing for the influx of traditionally illegitimate candidates like white nationalists. ICE even purposefully targets these white nationalists using much of the same imagery and language found in white nationalist recruitment campaigns, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
However, the institutionalization of white nationalist paramilitary groups and their members did not start with ICE. Many of these groups, like the Proud Boys, loudly participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol and were politically normalized by Trump when he issued blanket pardons to the rioters.
These white nationalists are targeted for one very specific purpose: They will follow any order given because they believe they can operate with impunity, regardless of how illegal the order may be. And white nationalists are happy to answer the call so they can act out their power fantasies over minorities. Trump has already pardoned members of these groups, and Vice President J.D. Vance claimed the officer who killed Good had “absolute immunity.” These actions tell ICE agents that their methods and beliefs are not just acceptable but will be protected by the state.
In an earlier op-ed, I claimed that the president wouldn’t use the National Guard in more blue states due to political constraints, lack of basis in law and the high possibility of catastrophe; my forecasting of events was wrong, but my predictions of the consequences were correct. ICE is one of the last tools the administration has to harass its political opponents, as the administration’s use of the National Guard was struck down in court in pretty much every single case.
ICE provides another opportunity for Trump to stoke fires in the states of his choosing, as well as satiate the hunger of many of his supporters, whom he encourages to view ICE as protectors of the “Homeland.” This is not too dissimilar from how members of the SA were viewed as guardians of the new state and citizens at the forefront of bettering society.
The similarities, however, do not stop there. The Brown Shirts were famous for setting up their own illegal prisons, where torture was carried out during the height of their terror. Brown shirts acted with impunity for years until much of the organizational structure was mangled during the Night of the Long Knives.
ICE and its political counterparts have also attempted to set up their own illegal camps, such as Alligator Alcatraz. These camps may have been created through legal means; however, the abuse happening in them is certainly illegal. Many horrific stories of mistreatment and abuse at detention facilities, even those suppressed by Trump sycophants, come out every day, whether at home or abroad. It is important to note that ICE agents truly attempt to act with impunity, as they physically bar members of Congress from entering detention facilities despite them needing to do so because of their oversight responsibilities.
ICE does not operate like a traditional police force. ICE does not believe in proportional response. The killing of Good and Pretti proves that for anyone to see. It is a paramilitary group of white nationalists legitimized by law and political allegiance, loyal to Trump.
If the power of ICE is not checked, its viciousness will be used to the express benefit of the Trump administration and the Republicans’ midterm election chances. Trump officials aren’t even hiding this. Attorney General Pam Bondi, immediately after Good was killed, sent Minnesota Governor Tim Walz a letter offering to pull some ICE agents out of the state in exchange for voter data.
However, there is one very key difference in the power of Brown Shirts and ICE. ICE was legitimized through law, while the Brown Shirts were legitimized through the popularity of their message and de facto legitimized due to weak Weimar Republic institutions. ICE is not popular.
For the first time ever, the number of those in support for abolishing ICE is higher than those who oppose it. ICE can be handled through democratic processes in a way that the Sturmabteilung never could. ICE can be abolished, funding can be denied procedurally and pressure on the administration works. There is no way for Trump officials to create imaginary distance between themselves and homicidal ICE agents they are responsible for. Trump officials are directly responsible for the actions of their agents.
Nazi politician Wilhelm Murr once said, “We do not say an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. No, he who knocks out one of our eyes will get his head chopped off, and he who knocks out one of our teeth will get his jaw bashed in.”
While ICE agents might follow this dogma, as they did in the cases of Good and Pretti, they are not invincible.
The United States has stronger institutions than Weimar Germany, and with midterms on the horizon, the Trump administration is more vulnerable than ever. Join local protests, film encounters with immigration agents, share stories online and show up for your community like the people of Minneapolis did following the murders of their neighbors. The United States is not an authoritarian state, and we have a responsibility to keep it that way.
Neil Olsson is a second-year international affairs and economics combined major. Neil Olsson can be reached at nolsson@northeastern.edu.
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