Wait. Who are the Bad Guys Again?
There’s a lot of talk about protests in legacy media, but not enough talk about the state violence that prompted them
A CNN headline reads, “Trump deploys National Guard to LA in response to immigration clashes.” A headline in the New York Times reads, “Tensions Flare Between Protesters and Law Enforcement in LA.” Another headline in the Associated Press reads, “Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops.” Each of these suggests that protesters are the aggressors and whitewashes the reason that brought them out in the streets.
It’s only been a weekend, and suddenly the news is about protesters and not so much about the inhumanity we’re all seeing as Trump’s racist agenda is live-streamed for the whole world to see. The news cycle shifted from finally covering Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the way legacy media should have been to talking about protesters and deportation numbers while saying, “To be fair, DHS is pointing us to a dozen people who were arrested in LA recently who do have serious crimes they have committed,” as NBC’s immigration reporter Julia Ainsley said on MSNBC on Monday.
On the first day of ICE raids in Los Angeles, they arrested 118 noncitizens, and only 5 were alleged gang members. The rest were not suspected of crimes. The next day, ICE issued a press release stating they had arrested 7 non-citizens with criminal records. The more than 100 others on the second day? You guessed it, also not suspected of crimes. Pointing to the ones who are suspected criminals and ignoring the innocents is intentional and serves as a racist dog whistle to demonize all Latinos.
The Department of Homeland Security under Trump is releasing the names and identifications of alleged criminal noncitizens to vilanize the hundreds they are also arresting each day who are not. It’s one of the oldest tactics in the racism handbook. It has been done to Indigenous people, Black people, Chinese people, and, of course, Latin American and Caribbean Islanders. This is what agents of white supremacy do to help keep themselves in power.
That could not be more evident with statements like this:
“These rioters in Los Angeles are fighting to keep rapists, murderers, and other violent criminals loose on Los Angeles streets. Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer,” said Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin on Sunday.
Why anyone would take anything ICE or DHS says seriously, at this point, is questionable, and if they’re not calling out the obvious, like the demonization of millions of people for the actions of a few, it seems their motivations aren’t as unbiased as one might think. For example, a quick read of the charges filed against Kilmar Abrego Garcia shows just how thin their accusations often are. Just knowing the simple facts surrounding his case shows how weak it is.
Even Ben Scrader, the head of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in Nashville, resigned after Abrego Garcia was indicted in Tennessee on seemingly trumped-up charges.
After a weekend of protests that McLaughlin referred to as “violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters,” and called them “despicable,” this is how the U.S. government refers to civilians defending innocent people. In many cases, U.S. citizens have been taken out of their homes, neighborhoods, and communities by a federal law enforcement operation that takes no one’s civil liberties into account, and thrown into detention centers.
It’s arrest them all, sort it out later, which is illegal. Because people are pushing back against not just the immigration raids, but the overreach created by blurring the line between the separation of federal and state law enforcement powers, the White House responded by unconstitutionally sending hundreds of National Guard soldiers into Los Angeles to assist in quelling civilians defending their communities from the government.
The legal basis for deploying California National Guard troops is flimsy, and despite journalists' requests for clarification, we’re not receiving it. The law cited in Trump’s order, like previous orders, doesn’t do what they think it does. In other words, it does not grant Trump the authority to federalize the state guard, as none of the conditions in the law have been met.
The law also clearly states, “Orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States,” which, as we all know, didn’t happen. Trump has also stated that he might invoke the Insurrection Act, another law with a flimsy legal basis. Throughout the Act, you see qualifiers such as, “upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened,” and if the situation in any state “make[s] it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States” or “hinders the execution of the laws,” none of which are ocurring.
In my view, and as I have previously stated, Trump wants to bring us as close to martial law as possible without officially declaring it. I publicly declared my suspicions after thorough analysis, but now, the White House’s actions continue to indicate that this is where Trump wants to take us in a much more open and public way.
“We’re gonna have troops everywhere,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden.”
Remind me again of who the bad guys are? It seems like it’s not who they want us to think it is, and it's instead the people who use “justice” as a weapon and incarceration to destroy our communities. It’s always them, and they often sit in high-ranking government offices. The people protecting their towns and cities from the federal government aren’t the enemy.
That would be the people occupying the White House who have made it very clear that they hate Black and brown people. As their boss said, we’re gonna have troops everywhere.
Arturo is an independent journalist whose work can be found at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, and more. Arturo is also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support his work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
Again, a well researched and well written piece. You are consistent in keeping us informed and better able to answer questions from friends and family who are not reading accurate information. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your work.
When local law enforcement says they're not working with ICE but there is a fusion center located in that city, or near that city, what are they really saying? That the federal agencies aren't sharing their information and plans with them any longer or that they are? When I see people online claiming calling 911 resulted in SWAT responding to ICE that makes me feel like we're either seeing some kind of Good Cop, Bad Cop theater or a real breakdown in the function of fusion centers. Which I definitely wouldn't want to imply is a bad thing, but it would leave us with even less understanding of the ever-expanding data capture and surveillance state and who is using what and to what ends.