I am a member of the Freedom of the Press Association, and in the emails they send me, they include how many days it’s been since Rumeysa Öztürk was snatched off the streets by masked thugs. As of this writing, it has been 93 days, and things are only getting worse. I had some hope that with the courts siding with Rumeysa, Mahmoud Khalil, and others in declaring their abductions illegal and ordering their release, things might normalize, but they have done the opposite. More and more stories of people snatched off the streets without ever knowing who their abductors are or being given evidence of the authority to do so are coming to light. Even with all the ‘Madness of King Trump‘ going on, I believe these abductions and other abuses of power by the ICE storm troopers are the most urgent to address because not only do they have immediate and catastrophic consequences to the victims, they are destroying the social contract between the citizens and the government putting us at real risk of widespread violence. 

Social Contract

Policing works because there is a level of understanding between the majority of the population and the police, and by extension, the governmental authority they represent, where certain liberties are given up in exchange for a safer community. In general, this understanding enables the police to operate within the broader community and garner the support of the majority when arresting individuals accused of committing crimes. As part of this social contract, specific rules must be followed, including the requirement for police to be identifiable and adhere to established procedures regarding probable cause, warrants, and other relevant guidelines. Conversely, the public also needs to follow the rules by not interfering with police activity and assisting the police when necessary. And ultimately, there must be a reasonable expectation of fair treatment under the law for those detained. When one side or the other consistently violates the rules, the social contract breaks down.

I believe we are either at or beyond that point now because the Trump administration and its agents in ICE have taken this contract, shredded it, and lit it on fire. When someone can get snatched by a random group of people in camouflage with no IDs and their faces covered, there is zero assurance that the snatchers are government agents; they might be members of radical groups in disguise.  In these circumstances, a reasonable person might fight back, and others might come to their aid. Similarly, even if the agents are appropriately identified and unmasked, if the target fears being sent to a third-world concentration camp in South Sudan or El Salvador, they might decide to take their chances at fighting back, and someone might get hurt or killed.

Now I am fairly cynical, but even though it seems pretty obvious where this is headed, I can’t quite credit the administration with intentionally arranging things to make violence more likey so they can escalate the situation further, I can easily believe they would take a tragedy such as ICE agents being injured or killed in a raid and use it for political gain.  We are in the danger zone, people.

Local Impacts

As if all the above wasn’t bad enough, “But wait, there’s more!” When trust breaks down between society and one police agency, it inevitably affects the others as well. People under attack by someone with a (alleged) badge are going to start distrusting all others with badges, even if they aren’t necessarily involved in the bad behavior. This would be a true tragedy because there are good officers at multiple levels of government who are being needlessly put at risk by the reckless and lawless behavior of a few federal agencies. If we have a major breakdown across all levels of policing, how long do you think it will take Agent Orange to institute martial law? The LAPD had the demonstrations under control, but the National Guard and Marines were still deployed to Los Angeles.

What can we do?

We must take action now. Silence is NOT an option. We can start at the grassroots level by engaging with our city, county, and state leaders and informing them of our concerns about the safety of our local law enforcement, which stem from actions taken at the federal level. We need to call (and call, and call, and write, and email) our federal elected officials and let them know the same. And finally, we need to document the bad behavior and spread the word far and wide. Rumeysa’s abduction went viral because of the security camera footage that showed behavior that shocked the viewer, because it was so far removed from the accepted social contract. We need more camera footage of abuses by ICE to show that these aren’t isolated incidents and drive home the message that lives and the peace in our country are at stake. Consider contacting a local Rapid Response Team if you notice or hear about ICE activity in your neighborhood. They can help by responding, documenting the event, and spreading the word. Better yet, volunteer for your local RRT in a role that suits you. Taking positive, non-violent action to try to rein in ICE before things get seriously out of hand is the best first step to digging ourselves out of this mess. And dig ourselves out we must, because there aren’t enough police, federal agents, or soldiers to police 312,000,000 people if the social contract completely breaks down, and if that happens, a lot of people are going to get hurt.

EDITED TO ADD:

Additional articles regarding people impersonating ICE to commit crimes. How long until we get white supremacist gangs posing as ICE and snatching immigrants off the streets?