On Monday, ICE agents surrounded a vehicle in New Bedford, Massachusetts (about 60 miles south of Boston) looking for someone named Antonio.
The fact that Juan Francisco Mendez, a Guatemalan migrant, was not named Antonio was immaterial to ICE agents who smashed the windows of the vehicle he shared with his wife Marilu and took him into custody. Mendez is now being held in New Hampshire and awaiting a hearing.
ICE really isn't interested in whether it is actually apprehending the correct person. They want bodies and anyone who looks like "they don't belong here" will do. They also want to put on a spectacle and exercise power and force over people who have none and whom they perceive as subhuman.
It was a disgusting act by ICE who see fit to behave like hooligans and thugs.
I hate to say it, but it is only a matter of time before ICE uses violence to wrongfully detain someone who will defend themselves with lethal force. Of course, should this come to pass, it would only embolden the Trump Administration to give ICE the greenlight to engage in worse behavior.
Even if such a scenario doesn't come to pass, things are only going to get more brutish and nastier. What happened in New Bedford will soon become a routine part of daily American life. A routine accompanied by a populace full of fear and apprehension which is exactly what the Trump Administration wants. We should not give it to them.
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