The Trump regime sent a seismic wave throughout the United States on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis, Minnesota when armed and masked Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot 37-year-old Renée Good. Good was a legal observer who was observing ICE activity taking place in front of a dual language K-12 school. Good was attempting to exit the scene when Ross opened fire.
According to the justice manual on the use of force, 1-16.200, deadly force may not be used solely to disable a moving vehicle, making Ross’ action completely illegal. Despite this violation of the law, the White House applauded the killing across various social media outlets. Vice President JD Vance echoed a defense of the illegal killing in a press conference the day following the murder. Vance said we should be thankful for Ross and the job he has done, also referring to Good as an “agitator” who died by a “tragedy of her own making.”
The United States, like most capitalist countries, has an unsavory history of policing. From bounty hunting and terrorizing enslaved citizens in the South, to protecting factories in the North, the capitalist idea of policing has always held a deep commitment to protecting capital accumulation. This legacy has never fully subsided in the way of the overall approach to policing. The Black Panther Party for Self Defense (and the later Rainbow Coalition), formed in the 60s as a material consequence of over policing in marginalized neighborhoods and general excessive use of force in situations where deescalation is needed.
I remember growing up in the mid to late 2010s era in which state violence skyrocketed. From Ferguson to Cleveland to Minneapolis, it became a violent part of the American way of life, especially for marginalized communities in a very similar way to school shootings, which also grew around the same time. This systemic violence has transformed into a more concentrated violent force, operating with complete immunity from the state with current ICE operations.
A common defense of ICE is to combat an overwhelming wave of mostly criminals who are entering the United States through the “open border” policies during the previous Biden administration. It’s worth noting that the Biden administration spent 3.4 billion dollars directly to aid in ICE detention of immigrants, according to reporting from the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC). At the time, this billion dollar endeavor was an historical acceleration in funding for what has become a Gestapo against anyone inside the borders of the United States.
Historicizing the nature of policing generally under capitalism is fundamental to understanding just how, and why we’re living under de facto military occupation in many areas across the United States at this present moment. It loosens the illusion that the state is here to help, provide or protect you in any way shape or form. In fact, the present moment (and the overall history quite frankly) shows us the opposite. Since Trump came back into power, a record 73,000 people have been held in ICE detention centers, reporting from the American Immigration Council shows. Out of those 73,000, as much as 74% of detainees have zero criminal record, according to a report from TRAC Immigration late last year. I expect this number to continue to grow.
The material reality on the ground is simple: the state doesn’t care if you’re a mother, a nurse, or a 5-year-old trying to go to school; if you’re not European or pose any dissent whatsoever, they have grounds to come after you, by any means necessary.
