Masses Rebel Against Brutal ICE Tactics

by Zachary Miller

Read our editorial on mass deportations here, and the anti-ICE uprisings here.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is utilizing more brutal tactics in its campaign of terror and mass deportations across the country as a symptom of the deepening economic crisis. In response, the masses have become more combative and rebellious, boldly confronting federal agents and driving them out.

On June 10, in Westbury, New York, Homeland Security agents got into a car crash as they fled from a crowd that mobilized to confront them. Local residents had noticed federal agents in the area the previous week and instantly recognized the unmarked cars outside an elementary school. The agents had been waiting to abduct parents who were coming to pick up their children from school. Residents spontaneously gathered to confront the masked agents, with videos showing people yelling at the agents in Spanish and English: “Show your face!” and “Leave the school grounds!” The agents fleeing the scene are reported to have run a stop sign and were hit by an oncoming car. The agents from the damaged vehicle climbed out, got into another car, and sped away, while one agent left to stay with crashed vehicle.

Federal agents in Los Angeles got in a car crash earlier this month as they attempted to detain the driver of a car, which also had a toddler and a baby in it.

In Richford, Vermont, two local immigrant rights activists were viciously attacked and arrested on June 13 by border patrol agents. According to the non-profit migrant advocacy group the two worked for, the father and stepdaughter were pulled over by agents, who then smashed their windows and violently arrested them. Over the weekend, protesters gathered outside the border patrol office where the activists were being held. The protesters chanted and banged on the windows of the office demanding the activists’ release in the face of warnings and threats of arrest by the police. A protest for the activists was also held at the state capital in Montpelier.

In Los Angeles, protesters have successfully driven ICE agents out of hotels through daily protests outside of their lodgings. Groups have organized rapid mobilization teams and “ICE sightings”, with residents spreading the word of where ICE agents have been seen to be staying and organizing consistent protests throughout the night to disrupt their sleep and drive them out of town. Images from at least one protest show a line of riot police standing in the lobby of a DoubleTree Hotel with its windows shattered as local residents shout and chant with bullhorns. Such tactics have since spread to cities across the country.

In the face of such confrontations, the forces of the old-state are struggling to fill quotas set for them by the Mafioso Trump Administration. ICE officials have instructed agents to “get creative” with their brutal tactics, such as abducting individuals they happen to encounter during raids, known as “collateral arrests”. Such arbitrary and violent methods have only increased the animosity of the masses, isolating them further.

Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the mobilization of roughly 700 troops to assist ICE in Florida, Louisiana and Texas in processing detainees at ICE facilities. This in addition to the 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guards deployed to Los Angeles. The mobilization of more troops is a sign of the desperation and isolation of the old-state; while the imperialists aim to offload their economic crisis onto migrant workers and the working class as a whole, they have only deepened their political crisis.

Photo: Riot police stand outside of DoubleTree Hotel in Los Angeles as protesters demand ICE agents leave.

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