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by\u00a0Harold Meyerson<\/a><\/strong> January 13, 2026 (Prospect.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Federal](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Meyerson-on-Tap-011326.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1\")
ICE has frequently been labeled as America\u2019s own Gestapo, but that\u2019s not the only historical antecedent that we should invoke. It\u2019s also, I would submit, a resurrection of the Klan, but this time with de jure, as opposed to de facto, state power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its second flourishing\u2014roughly 1915 through 1929\u2014the Klan expanded to Northern states and directed its violence and threats of violence against not just Blacks but also Catholics and Jews, all of whom they saw as threatening the white Protestant essence of the United States. They were the tip of the nativist spear, which in 1924 led Congress to restrict immigration to the overwhelmingly white Protestant nations of northwest Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More from Harold Meyerson<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The ads that the Trump administration is running to bolster recruitment to ICE\u2019s ranks are pitched to white nationalists. One borrows the lyrics of a white nationalist ballad<\/a>, which promise that \u201cWe\u2019ll have our home again\u201d if only we can restore it to its pre-immigrant purity. One social media posting shows a classic car parked on a beach, under the words \u201cAmerica After 100 Million Deportations.\u201d In this case, the mythic past that fascism always invokes is that of the Beach Boys circa 1964\u2014white teens on white beaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting to 100 million, of course, means it\u2019s not just immigrants but most of non-MAGA America that stands athwart our recapturing of white hegemony. By that standard, the killing of Renee Good was, if not exactly official policy, at least well within the administration\u2019s meta-policy (i.e., conforming to Stephen Miller\u2019s hatreds).<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how can we stop the violent maraudings of our 21st-century Klan? At the state level, some Democratic legislators have introduced legislation<\/a> that would at least ban state police agencies from hiring ICE employees and former employees. At the congressional level, another federal spending authorization to keep the government open will come before Congress later this month; in theory, at least, the government will have to shutter most of its doors again on January 30. Could the Democrats refuse to pass it unless it defunded ICE?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not in the House, of course, since the Republicans hold a small majority sufficient to prevail over any Democratic modifications. But it requires only 41 of the Senate\u2019s 47 Democrats to keep a bill from clearing the Senate\u2019s 60-vote cloture threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the public\u2019s opinion of ICE has tanked since they began raiding homes, workplaces, and communities last June. An Economist<\/em>\/YouGov poll<\/a> released Tuesday afternoon shows that the share of Americans who support abolishing ICE has risen from 27 percent to 46 percent over the past year (with 43 percent opposed); 77 percent of Democrats and 47 percent of independents are ICE abolitionists. Other polling from YouGov<\/a> shows that ICE had a net approval rating of +16 percentage points one year ago; today, it\u2019s at -13 percentage points, with 62 percent disapproving (40 percent strongly<\/em> disapproving) against 39 percent approving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are, of course, complications when it comes to abolishing ICE. For one thing, Trump has assigned a host of agencies to serve as deportation cops, including Customs and Border Protection agents who by now are functionally indistinguishable from ICE agents on their patrols. For another, it\u2019s clear that Trump would happily transfer funds from, say, the Defense Department to fund ICE if it were abolished, or put ICE agents on the DOD payroll. Ultimately, it will require a Democratic Congress and president, I fear, to make Trump\u2019s deportation thugs stand down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also political complications. Polling shows overwhelming support for the deportation of undocumented immigrants who\u2019ve been convicted of violent crimes; last March, a Pew poll<\/a> found that position commanded the support of 97 percent of Americans. But the percentage who supported the deportation of all undocumented immigrants was one-third of that: a bare 32 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d be hugely surprised if there were 41 Senate Democrats who are willing to shut down the government unless ICE is abolished. There are swing states and swing districts where that stance could reduce the Democrats\u2019 chances of victory, and of retaking Congress\u2014the latter being the most certain way of curtailing our 21st-century Klansmen. But 41 Senate Democrats can probably be found who would impose conditions on the Department of Homeland Security as to who could be deported and who couldn\u2019t be, along with some restrictions on our daytime night riders. Today, the Congressional Progressive Caucus adopted a policy of opposing new funding for immigration enforcement within DHS \u201cunless there are meaningful and significant reforms to immigration enforcement practices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the Democrats plainly have to do something, and as ICE abolition almost surely isn\u2019t in the cards, asserting themselves on deportation policy and deportation tactics in ways that actually make a difference would, well, actually make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You’ve just read one of the stories we published this week because readers like you made it possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Prospect <\/em>doesn’t answer to advertisers or billionaire owners. We answer to you. That’s not a slogan\u2014it’s how we’re funded, and it’s why we can report without fear or favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Independent, reader-supported journalism is rare. We’d like to keep it going. If you believe this kind of reporting should exist and remain free to read we hope you’ll consider chipping in. Every contribution, however modest, makes a real difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Support independent journalism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n With gratitude,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mitch Grummon<\/strong> In an article from our last print issue, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Schellenberger argue that liberals will not succeed in making dirty energy expensive, and should instead focus their effors on making clean energy cheap: What happened next was indeed a dress rehearsal, just not the one the environmental movement\u2026December 1, 2008<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n February 19, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a>CPB<\/a>,\u00a0Democrats<\/a>,\u00a0DHS<\/a>,\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>,\u00a0ICE<\/a>,\u00a0Immigration<\/a>,\u00a0Ku Klux Klan<\/a>,\u00a0Law & Justice<\/a>,\u00a0ON TAP<\/a>,\u00a0polling<\/a>,\u00a0Race & Ethnicity<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n hmeyerson@prospect.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Harold Meyerson is editor at large of The American Prospect. More by Harold Meyerson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today on TAP: With another government funding deadline looming, congressional Democrats can at least partly curtail Trump\u2019s thugs. by\u00a0Harold Meyerson January 13, 2026 (Prospect.org) ICE has frequently been labeled as America\u2019s own Gestapo, but that\u2019s not the only historical antecedent that we should invoke. It\u2019s also, I would submit, a… Continue reading
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