{"id":48759,"date":"2026-06-18T12:41:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48759"},"modified":"2026-06-18T12:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:42:20","slug":"terror-iced-trumps-immigration-crackdown-through-the-eyes-of-frightened-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/terror-iced-trumps-immigration-crackdown-through-the-eyes-of-frightened-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Terror-ICEd: Trump\u2019s Immigration Crackdown Through the Eyes of Frightened Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Protest sign reading, “Minnesota Shut It Down!” at an anti-ICE protest in downtown Minneapolis, MN on January 30, 2026. Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue \/ Flickr (CC BY 4.0)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klaus Marre<\/a>\u00a006\/17\/26 (whowhatwhy.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To better understand how ICE terrorizes US communities, it\u2019s important to know how it affects children when they see masked goons round up people on the streets, leaving care-giving adults in fear. Our recent series documented just that.<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the FBI\u2019s definition<\/a>, by carrying out \u201cviolent, criminal acts\u201d to \u201cfurther ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature,\u201d ICE is the best-funded domestic terrorist organization in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, if you argue that this definition stems from the previous administration, here is another one from Donald Trump\u2019s first term in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It says<\/a> that domestic terrorism involves \u201cacts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States.\u201d That certainly applies, even though ICE agents routinely get a pass for committing all manner of crimes against the civilian population of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we\u2019re not just talking about the Americans who were directly killed or injured but also the immigrants who died in custody<\/a> or through negligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key is that these acts are defined as intended to \u201cintimidate or coerce a civilian population,\u201d and there is no doubt that this is what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, ICE isn\u2019t exactly shy about what it is doing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be fair, there is a problem with using the Trump administration\u2019s own domestic terrorism definition. That\u2019s because it also states that those dangerous acts are intended to \u201cinfluence the policy of government by intimidation or coercion\u201d or \u201caffect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is plenty of kidnapping going on, and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis at the beginning of the year might be viewed as assassinations, ICE is not trying to influence the policy of government by intimidation or coercion; it is carrying it out<\/em> by using those tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is why Republicans in Congress just gave ICE and US Customs and Border Patrol another $70 billion through the end of Trump\u2019s term<\/a> to limit the Democrats\u2019 ability to curb the power of these lawless agencies if they manage to win the midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, by definition, the president\u2019s immigrant hunters are engaging in a form of domestic terrorism; it just happens to be government-sponsored, which means that nobody is getting prosecuted for any of it \u2014 at least not for the next couple of years.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is important to remember that there are different kinds of terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, we don\u2019t want to talk about the specific crimes that masked federal thugs are committing to intimidate regular Americans and immigrants \u2014 the ones we primarily know about because brave patriots have recorded them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also don\u2019t want to talk about the atrocities being committed behind closed doors in detention centers, or the neglect suffered by those kept there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t want to talk about citizens being wrongfully whisked away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, we want to talk about the kind of terror that one of our interns reported on in a four-part series documenting the impact that \u201cOperation Metro Surge\u201d had on students in Minnesota at the start of this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are doing this for two reasons: The first is that we are very proud of our Mentor Apprenticeship Program and the work that the young reporters do when they come to us to learn about journalism. The second is to remind people that this government terror reaches far beyond the immigrants who now live in fear for themselves and loved ones, or the protesters who are roughed up, followed, held at gunpoint, or arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In talking to students, teachers, a superintendent and a child psychologist, what our intern found is that living in a state resembling an occupation by an outside force was extremely traumatizing for many of these children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we don\u2019t just mean the dozens of kids who were detained or their friends and family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This trauma also extends to students who were familiar with the places where Good and Pretti were killed by government agents, or who got to know the smell of tear gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teachers told stories of younger children being frozen in fear when ICE was nearby and others who were puzzled about not hearing Spanish being spoken in the hallways of their schools anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These kids don\u2019t view their own government as a positive force in their lives. Instead, they experienced it as an army of masked and weapon-wielding goons trying to intimidate them and their communities \u2014 similar to what they learned about foreign dictatorships in their world history classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, as one of the students interviewed for the series said, \u201cIt feels like we\u2019re advocating for and fighting for the exact same things that generations before us have been fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We urge readers to read the entire series \u2014 not only because it is important but also because it ultimately inspires hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can read Part 1<\/a>, Part 2<\/a>, Part 3<\/a>, and Part 4<\/a> here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What our reporter found is that many students in Minneapolis, along with their teachers and school administrators, took action to stand up to the brutality of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They marched in sub-zero temperatures, carried whistles to alert their peers to the local presence of ICE, shared tips of how to behave when confronted by government agents, and, in general, were there for each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps most importantly, they realized that even an overwhelming government force that seems intent on intimidating their communities is not all-powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because, in the end, the people of Minneapolis, through protests and recording ICE\u2019s misdeeds and efforts to terrorize them, built up enough pressure to force the administration to scale down Operation Metro Surge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t a perfect victory because there has been precious little accountability on the ground and in Washington, DC, for those crimes. ICE is still getting a blank check, and its terror campaign has moved on to new targets \u2014 less visible, because of the backlash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, in the end, the students and adults covered in the series didn\u2019t just learn a valuable lesson, they also taught one to everybody else: Nothing is inevitable \u2013 and resistance is not <\/em>futile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n