P.G. Smith Author

Another innocent citizen was killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis last week, in broad daylight, with impunity, with multiple video cameras recording it. He was shot ten times “in self-defense” as he lay on the ground. His own gun never left its holster.

The outcry against this travesty has been so great that Trump is waffling slightly on his invasion there, which is based on nothing more than revenge against the Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who had the audacity to run against Trump in the presidential election. The ensuing chaos has had its desired effect in that Walz has announced that he will not run again for elected office.

There is no other reason to send ICE to Minneapolis, which is 600 miles from any border, has a tiny immigrant population, and a low crime rate. It’s certainly not known for it’s gangs. If someone asked you to name five US cities with a big gang problem, would Minneapolis pop into your head right away? Or, for that matter, a large immigrant community?

The interesting thing is that, as mild and tentative as Trump’s conciliations were (he suggested that they might ease up a little bit) his more extreme MAGA followers immediately screamed that he was backing down on his campaign promise to deport ALL illegal aliens. ALL of them.

This is not a majority view. While securing the border is broadly supported, mass deportations are not. In July, a Gallup poll showed that 62% of Americans opposed mass deportations, and that was before Minneapolis. One wonders what such a poll would look like now. However, it might just reflect the same deep divisions we have long had. The MAGA supporters think that the protesters are obstructing justice. Interfering with law enforcement.

And they are–at least some of them are. What are those whistles supposed to be for except to interfere with law enforcement? Those whistles say: Run! The cops are coming! Isn’t that interfering with law enforcement? So, should it be illegal? Should ICE agents be able to impound the whistles? Arrest people for blowing whistles? Shoot them? Kill them? I’m being sarcastic but it does illustrate the problem.

Shouldn’t ICE agents be able to do their jobs? Apparently, a majority of people in Minneapolis think the answer is no. At least not without a warrant. Not without due process. That’s unconstitutional.

And that is the immigration problem in a nutshell. If you must have a warrant and provide due process for every arrest you make (as our Constitution requires) then mass deportation is impossible. Some immigrants wait years for their cases to come up. Immigration courts have been flooded and overwhelmed for decades.

That’s what MAGA supporters are pissed off about. They have been waiting decades for the law to be enforced. But! But, do you want to live in a country that does not require a warrant or due process for an arrest? I don’t. That’s a scary, authoritarian state. That’s what we have right now and it’s been ugly. But! But, both sides have a point, don’t they?

Minneapolis is a microcosm of America. Sadly, it’s as though the deep, intractable divisions of our country were distilled and deposited in the small, concentrated space of a single city. The result is ugly and dangerous, and shows what we have become.

Trump should declare victory and move on. He should say that the gangs have been cleared out. The worst of the worst have all been arrested, and the crime rate is very low. So ICE, having done its job can move on to somewhere that is, perhaps, less volatile and confrontational. Who knows where that is. Less volatile and confrontational than Minneapolis? Really? Trump is suggesting Ohio may be next. We’ll see how that goes.