If I were President of the United States, I would ask us to take a long, honest look at a federal agency many of us have come to accept without question:
ICE.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It was born in fear—created in 2003 in the wake of 9/11, meant to stop terrorists and intercept threats.
But today, ICE isn’t chasing terrorists.
It’s chasing landscapers.
Housekeepers.
Construction workers.
People whose only “crime” was to hope for a better life.
Let’s be clear about something:
The overwhelming majority of immigration violations in the United States are civil violations, not criminal ones.
Overstaying a visa? Civil.
Crossing the border without authorization (the first time)? Misdemeanor, often unenforced.
Living undocumented? Civil.
So why does ICE show up at 4 a.m. in bulletproof vests?
Why do we treat paperwork problems with paramilitary force?
We don’t send armed agents to your house if you miss a jury summons.
We don’t haul people to detention centers for filing taxes late.
We don’t storm a landlord’s home over a lease dispute.
But when it’s an immigrant—especially a poor one—we send ICE.
This isn’t law enforcement.
It’s political theater.
It’s fear in uniform.
It’s a contradiction at the heart of who we say we are.
And it’s time to stop pretending this is normal.
❗ICE is an overreach of federal power.
It now operates far beyond its original mandate.
Instead of focusing on real threats, it’s:
Raiding homes and workplaces,
Monitoring peaceful families with ankle bracelets,
Detaining people indefinitely in for-profit centers,
And using intimidation tactics that have nothing to do with public safety.
All while most of these people have committed no crime beyond trying to survive.
This isn’t about border security.
This is about control.
And fear has become the business model.
🧭 If I Were President...
I would demilitarize compassion.
Strip ICE of its civil enforcement role.
Civil immigration matters should be handled by a reformed, rights-based agency—not by tactical units in armored trucks.Ban armed raids for civil violations.
This is paperwork, not warfare.End ICE’s use of private detention centers.
No company should profit from pain. Full stop.Re-establish due process as the standard.
No more indefinite detentions. No more family separations. No more fear-based compliance.Create a civilian oversight board for all immigration enforcement activity—independent, transparent, and accountable to the people.
This Is Us—and this is who we’ve become:
We’ve allowed a civil administrative system to be enforced like a military operation.
We’ve criminalized compassion.
We’ve outsourced our courage to fear.
But we can change that.
We don’t need to abolish everything.
We need to restore proportion.
And dignity.
And a little humility.
Because when we demilitarize our immigration policy,
we don’t just protect immigrants.
We protect ourselves.
From the kind of country we don’t want to be.
From the future we’ll regret if we don’t act now.
From the illusion that might makes right, and silence means consent.
If I were president, I’d say it plainly:
No more guns for paperwork.
No more threats for presence.
No more walls where a welcome could stand.
Because when we lead with grace,
we are stronger.
We are freer.
We are us.
Next up: Episode 4 – “The Character of Power”
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