The killing by ICE operatives of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis marks a chilling turning point in American history. Close on the earlier death of Renée Good, these cold-blooded murders are the actions of state-organised, lawless thugs designed to frighten people into submission.
Under two Trump presidencies, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has turned an instrument of state terror. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz rightly calls it “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.”
The parallels to Hitler’s Storm Troopers (SA) – the Nazi brownshirt movement – are not as accidental as they may seem, given that according to his first wife, Trump’s bedtime reading included writings by Hitler. Trump’s administration frequently uses Nazi slogans and messaging.
With around 3,000 federal agents deployed to Minnesota, this is about intimidation and control by an administration which openly celebrates far-right, white supremacist views, operating with the brazenness of a country heading for civil war. These killings send a clear message: resist and face deadly consequences.
The present dangers are equally profound as during Mussolini’s and Hitler’s ascents to power in the run up to World War II.
ICE: Militarized and unleashed
The numbers tell a devastating story. Through Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed on July 4, 2025, ICE received more funding than any federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history – surpassing even the federal prison system. The agency expanded by 10,000 additional officers, who were given cursory training, with recruitment incentives including $50,000 signing bonuses and $60,000 in college loan forgiveness.
By December 2025, ICE held 68,440 people in detention, nearly 40,000 with no criminal record or only pending charges. Between January and December 2025 alone, the administration arrested over 328,000 people and deported nearly 327,000.
“Amazon Prime style” deportations
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons revealed the administration’s mindset in disturbing terms, comparing mass deportation operations to Amazon Prime delivery: “trying to figure out how to do that with human beings.” His leaked May 2025 memorandum authorized ICE officers to forcibly enter homes without judicial warrants—a direct assault on constitutional protections.
The choice of targets is deliberate. ICE operations have concentrated on Minnesota, Oregon, New Orleans, and New York – historically Democratic strongholds with diverse, working-class populations and traditions of anti-racist, pro-immigrant organising. High-profile raids at workplaces, places of worship, and schools send a clear message: nowhere is safe.
ICE recruitment strategy is equally calculated. With its huge budget it purchased advertising on TikTok, Hulu, HBO Max, Snapchat, Spotify, and YouTube, using memes and influencers to normalize deportations. Geo-targeted ads reached people attending Ultimate Fighting Championship events, listening to patriotic podcasts, or interested in guns and tactical gear. Some advertisements incorporated white nationalist slogans.
A Crisis of American Power
This recruitment didn’t emerge in a vacuum. America’s declining global leadership, challenged by China’s economic rise has created a crisis within the global capitalist system. Trump and similar authoritarian leaders worldwide are responding to this instability by consolidating power through fear and force.
The response to ICE’s brutality has been massive and nationwide, one of the largest sustained protest movements in recent American history. People are taking to the streets from Minneapolis to New York, from Oregon to New Orleans. Enraged citizens have blocked ICE vans, surrounded detention facilities, and formed human chains to protect neighbours from arrest. Alex Pretti’s family has already received over $1 million through a GoFundMe campaign. New York City Council member Chi Ossé demanded accountability, saying: “We need Nuremberg trials for the people of ICE, for the people who are committing crimes against humanity here in our country.”
But will legal challenges and protests be enough? Lawyers are challenging the Trump administration’s measures under the constitution, but it continues to violate existing laws. ICE’s documented history even includes allegations of forced sterilizations at detention centres – violations that constitute genocide under United Nations protocols.
A Call for Popular Power
The slide into dictatorship must and can be stopped – but not by waiting for the next election. In key cities, Democratic Party leaders and mayors are courageously demanding the withdrawal of ICE. But as a political party, the Democrats will not mount the kind of resistance this moment demands.
The first aim must be protection from the state violence imposed by ICE. The mass protests should evolve into something more substantial: popular assemblies that bring communities together.
The goal must be for such assemblies to create and enshrine a new citizens-sourced constitution in a second American revolution. These assemblies would become the foundation for an advanced form of democracy, where communities directly control their own destinies. Only through organized, militant, popular resistance with a clear strategy for power can Trump’s plans for civil war be transformed into the birth of a truly democratic America.
Good thinking. Trump might have been forced to withdraw at least some of his ICE thugs, but he (with his extremist advisers) will come again.