The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is an agency that has been provided a significant opportunity to fashion an extra-large federal force to serve at the pleasure of the President. It is evident that the government is recruiting and growing ICE by leaps and bounds.
There are reports that, although there are written standards that include a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent, the recruiting tendency is to accept candidates off the street and begin their training before the candidates are vetted. The result has been the integration of criminals and normally undesirables into the ranks of the organization.
Also, the question of the recruitment of such a large ICE force goes against the notion advanced by the administration that the border is more secure than ever and that new security measures even include army bases located along the international line. So, why such a large force?
The answer can be that ICE under the present administration is being converted to an organized body of “shock troops” in full combat gear that go into urban areas and interfere in the lives of everyday Americans. They appear to be doing “dirty work” that goes beyond apprehending undocumented immigrants and seem to form an important part of contingents that “invade and attack,” especially cities and population centers across the country.
The intimidation and arrests of American citizens and legal residents by ICE is a major characteristic of their bullying tactics. It is as though ICE has received a political mandate to go after everyone that does not conform to the wishes of the audience of one that sits in the White House.
This brings to mind the pre-World War II Volunteer Militia for National Security better known as the Black Shirts that Benito Mussolini organized and used to advance his Fascist ideology, gain control of the government and establish a dictatorship in Italy. Adolf Hitler and his cronies followed suit with the organization of the Sturmabteilung (SA), a large private army of street brawlers also known as Storm Troopers that helped to propel the Nazis to power and control of the German State.
The Nazis also converted the Schutzstaffel (SS), a personal “protection squadron” to an elite agency of national security that enforced the racial policy of Nazi Germany, provided army divisions for the war and was responsible for the “Death Heads” that manage the concentration camps that murdered 6 million Jews and millions of others. A critical aspect of these groups was their total sworn allegiance to one person.
Loyalty to the President, although in conflict with allegiance to the Constitution, has been a point of tension in the present Trump administration as well as in his first. That is quite evident in the gradual purging of our military leaders that in some ways do not fit his standard or walk his line.
I have also noticed a leader playing at war in the Caribbean where he has got the USS Gerald R. Ford, our most advanced carrier and its strike group, sinking fiberglass boats and killing people with multi-million-dollar missiles. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the President may not be held accountable for these extra-judicial murders, but his underlings will.That may be why Admiral Alvin Holsey leader of the Southern Command, who complained about this, is leaving the military in December. The diminishing of military honor and lawful function together with amassing a private pseudo-military army paid by public funds may become the ultimate challenge to our democracy.
The views expressed by Ben Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
