From Fear to Fire
“Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.” ~ Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny
Escaping the notice of almost no one, U.S. immigration enforcement has grown increasingly aggressive in recent weeks. These detentions and deportations are meant less to control illegal immigration than they are intended to test the judicial limits of the Administration’s power. They are also done with the express intent of spreading fear among immigrants both legal and otherwise. Within this climate, the case of Rümeysa Öztürk has emerged as a particularly ominous example. We should reflect on this case because it’s instructive to what the intentions of this administration actually are.
Rümeysa is a PhD student at Tufts University and a legal resident of the United States living in Somerville, MA, who came to this country from Turkey to study medicine. Plainclothes security officers using unmarked cars seized her despite her legal residency, revoked her visa, and shipped her off to a prison in Louisiana out of reach of her family and her lawyer, illegally and against court orders. Then they used a peaceful political op-ed in a school newspaper to justify denying her right of due process.
The choice of target is not random, nor is it meant to actually solve any kind of problem with radicalism, though she was in no way a radical. Trump is deliberately and strategically targeting prominent pro-Palestinian protesters because the Administration intend to use alleged terrorist affiliations as a smear in their public relations campaign around the issue and to justify an expansion of power. He is seeking to further weaken a political opposition that is divided around particular issues—in this case, the Gaza war in Palestine. It’s a racist attack, preying on people's ignorance and fear to distract us from the real thing we should be afraid of. They hope the public responds with apathy, the courts respond with deference, and the security services that execute on such orders respond with compliance.
It also serves to divide and distract the public with a kind of political sleight of hand. Politicians who could be allies may be tempted to not raise political hay over this particular abuse of power because of a position they hold in the public, especially if the target of abuse had controversial views. Liberty for the individual and the right of due process are weakened with compliance, which is the Trump Administration’s real objective. If they can do this to her, they can eventually do it to you.
Öztürk’s case is particularly egregious and documented with video, so it hits a chilling note, but it isn’t an isolated incident. On March 15th approximately 261 people were loaded onto a military flight and shipped off to a gulag in El Salvador built for terrorists and hardened criminals. The Administration claims these individuals were gang members due to tattoos that they possessed, but again there were legal residents among them. Information about the detainees is scant, but at least some of the tattoos are not related to gangs at all. The family of Texas Resident Neri Jose Alvarado Borges claims that he has only a single tattoo, and it’s about autism awareness. Another is reported to have been deported over a tattoo of the iconic silhouette of basketball legend Michael Jordan. Yet another is a hairdresser and makeup artist with a tattoo honoring his mother. Recently the Administration has admitted it made an error in one case, but it now claims in court that, since the detainee is already in El Salvador, nothing can be done.
A tattoo does not and should not qualify as a justification for deportation of legal residents, and certainly not to the worst prison in the world, with no due process or the protections afforded by law. These deportations were done in defiance of a court order, under a wartime authority called the Alien Enemies Act, which was originally written in 1798. This authority has rarely been used wisely, and almost never to the benefit of the citizens of the United States.
Then there is the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia whose wife is a citizen and 8 months pregnant, also shipped to Louisiana. This man was also an activist, simply expressing his opinion. A few weeks ago, by executive order, Trump revoked the legal status of approximately 530,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. These are people who fled violence, repression, or communist governments under humanitarian parole and they were in the country legally. This order goes into force on April 24th so they will soon be technically illegal immigrants, despite only being in the country because we invited them here. They were fleeing persecution and through the thin veil of policing illegal immigration, they are now targets for persecution—in America.
Through arbitrary government fiat these people who did things the right way, following the law and respecting the process are soon to be undocumented by arbitrary diktat and then they are at risk of deportation to nations that may oppress, harass, or kill them should they return. These incidents, and the many others too numerous to list in print, are a demonstration of a clear trend and a window into the sinister intent of this Administration.
Photo Courtesy of ICE
An aspiring dictator is powerful, but their influence is not infinite. They use executive actions like this to stretch the muscles of their executive power and to test legal, public, and civil resistance to their malign authority. The intent is to erode our institutions through attrition. It’s at the edge of legal, with low-order process violations meant to push the boundaries of what is permitted and using lies and the political views of the targets to give the Trump Administration convenient cover for ever more egregious future violations.
Now, consider his attempt to revoke birthright citizenship through executive order. While it’s unlikely to pass muster in the courts, do not underestimate the capacity of this Administration to find a loophole to exploit. If he is able to find a way to undermine this constitutional principle, then he will have the authority to denaturalize anyone in the country, without the input of courts, and then deport that person so that they are unable to resist at all. Think academics or political leaders who have opposed him, or simply someone who posted a mean tweet on a platform controlled by Elon Musk. Don’t forget that Elon is now a hatchet man that already works in Trump's government and he has been given vast power, including direct control of at least a few federal marshals. DOGE is now gathering your Social Security, tax return, and other data from government databases and there is no legal authority that is preventing him or the Administration from weaponizing it.
Do not kid yourself about the scope of malfeasance that this regime is capable of. There will be more abductions. They will slowly increase in both scale and sophistication. They will cast wider and wider nets, potentially grabbing up even native-born citizens of any race or creed and throwing them into legal limbo, daring states and courts to act against them. They will attempt to paint their opponents as radicals unworthy of the due process that is our right under the U.S. Constitution, and then use that expanded power to further suppress all dissent, no matter how innocent, legal, and fair. They will need to be opposed at every possible turn, and with every legal and political means at our disposal.
Do not obey in advance, no matter how seemingly petty the case in question, no matter how much you may agree or disagree with the political views of the target of political retribution. For every authoritarian action, there must be an opposite and equal democratic reaction. Failing to do this at any point along the many lines of contention only gives the adversaries of liberty more space and time to maneuver. This will need to be a multipronged defense, using public pressure campaigns, petitions, protests, boycotts, strikes, and a tsunami of legal challenges. We should aim to legally exhaust the Administration's resources, erode their public claims of a mandate, and interrupt their decision loop by burying them in the consequences of the scandals they will inevitably create.
This sounds like a ton of work, and it is! However the early stages of an Authoritarian regime are when it’s at its most vulnerable. It’s a black chrysalis birthing a new and terrible thing, that acts out with such menace and bile because it is afraid it will be stillborn. There are still private and public institutions with the power and incentives to provide meaningful opposition, and that opposition is growing day by day with each outrage.
People are defecting away from the Trump camp slowly but inexorably. How many farmers have already had their lives destroyed and are now reconsidering their allegiances? How many federal workers are realizing their situation is financially precarious and legally dangerous? How many felt a chill in their spines when they realized the definition of “illegal” can be stretched to include their neighbors and friends, people they didn’t have in mind when they chose to support him? How many people are witnessing their friends and family dedicate their lives to something greater than themselves? Can they continue to ignore demonstrations of bravery in their closest friends in the face of obvious cowardice, cruelty, incompetence, and spiritual decay?
For those not yet involved, our defiance is a beacon. They look on and think, “Perhaps I, too, must stand up.” And in time, many will. Fear is contagious—but so is courage. Manifest it boldly, and it will echo—one soul to the next—triggering a chain reaction of conviction across the nation in those who once stood silent and apathetic. This is already happening and we need to accelerate it.
For those of us already involved in this movement, while these attacks on our fellow citizens feel like a terrible blow, have they really changed your attitude or forced you to reconsider your commitment to the cause? Or have they instead served to reinforce your resolve and shrink your doubts? I believe it is the latter and not the former.
We scream into the void as people who we thought would know better dismiss our concerns. However, you are still in their lives, they see what you are doing, and while they won’t admit it, at least a few of them are curious. Some may silently support you; others may feel guilt but be unsure how to process it. Others still are simply in denial and retreat into the familiar echo chambers that say we are overreacting. This is normal and expected, but it doesn’t mean that we aren’t reaching them. Every statement of truth in the face of a bald lie is a chip in their psychological armor.
The signs of cognitive dissonance are beginning to set in, and the energy of those who defend Trump's missteps is eroding. Those who capitulate are shamed, and their reputations are tarnished. Those who stand strong are held up as heroes and examples of principled opposition. The lesson to all is beginning to sink in, and with every person who can find a home with us, no matter where they were before, we break a link in the chain of power from citizen to tyrant and create holes in the authoritarian superstructure that can be further exploited by yet more acts of moral, political, intellectual, and physical courage.
We have been aggressive in our language around this Administration, and this too is a choice that we have made because we want to give the people the space to voice their darkest fears and to appreciate that they are not alone in those fears. By giving voice to them, they shrink, and when they shrink they can be conquered.
We stand with Rümeysa Öztürk for the simple reason that she is a human being that deserves dignity, respect, and the freedom to speak her mind, no matter how much you or anyone else may disagree with what she has to say. We extend this same courtesy to actual Nazis—because in America, if you cannot speak, you cannot be free—and we will not give this Administration an inch on this point or on any other.
On April 5th of this year, we will join en masse in Boston to demonstrate to this Administration that we will not meekly comply. There will be hundreds of protests across the country on the same day, coordinated with many different groups. This is a confident demonstration of raw and growing political power that this Administration will not have a strategy to contend with, if we act quickly, with conviction and in solidarity with others. Simply saying the truth no matter how uncomfortable is both an act of courage and a conversion factor that turns the darkest of fears to the brightest of fires, as others follow you. We are a movement of the people, born in defiance of tyranny and in defense of something sacred, and that gives us a power that cannot be suppressed—only delayed.
Believe in these principles and believe in yourself and we will overcome.
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