They want us exhausted. They want us hopeless

They want us exhausted. They want us hopeless.

By SDC News One, IFS News Writers

WASHINGTON DC [IFS] -- Even as a 70-year-old high school dropout, I understand something that the people running this country’s immigration enforcement apparently do not: a consulate is an extension of the nation it represents. You do not violate it without diplomatic process. That is not politics—it is basic international law. The fact that ICE agents either don’t know this or don’t care should terrify every American. Their ignorance would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. These are people who seem incapable of tying their own shoes without permission, which is why they need an orange “daddy” to tell them what to do.

And let’s be honest about who is actually in charge right now. The president is a man visibly slipping deeper into dementia, yet everyone around him pretends he’s sharp, focused, and fully engaged. He isn’t. Stephen Miller and Tom Homan are effectively running the presidency, while Republicans either can’t or won’t confront the reality that their president is disappearing in real time. That denial is not harmless—it’s how authoritarian systems function.

This situation is spiraling out of control. ICE has gone far beyond enforcement and into outright lawlessness. These actions involve people who are protected not just by U.S. law, but by the governments of their respective consulates. History tells us where this leads. Remember Iran? We’re still living with the consequences of diplomatic recklessness. The sheer gall of this criminal behavior is staggering.

There are also deeply disturbing unanswered questions. Was the officer who killed Alex Pretti quietly moved out of Minnesota and placed in another city immediately, as Greg Bovino suggested? If that’s true, it should alarm everyone. No one wants a potential murderer roaming freely, weapon still in hand, shielded from accountability. Any other law enforcement officer involved in a fatal shooting would be disarmed and suspended pending investigation. Why is this case different?

What we are witnessing is not just corruption—it is obstruction. When federal agents arrived at the homicide scene, an official investigation had begun. Any public lies from officials after that point are not “spin,” they are interference. If an attorney general knowingly lies to the public during an active homicide investigation, that should be a criminal offense. Noem, Bundy, Miller, Trump—anyone attempting to shape public perception or taint a potential jury pool should be held accountable.

So why can’t the American people act? Why can’t we file a class-action lawsuit when our civil rights are being violated and Congress has abdicated its responsibility? This feels like taxation without representation. Many of us are doing everything we can—calling senators, organizing, speaking out—but it feels like screaming into the void. What more are we supposed to do?

The hypocrisy is overwhelming. We are living inside the worst dystopian fiction imaginable, except it’s real. Congress and the Supreme Court are actively enabling this collapse. If nothing changes soon, they will be remembered as the institutions that finished the job.

Minnesota’s Attorney General put it plainly: masking is a tactic of authoritarianism. That statement should haunt us. Masked agents dragging people away, withholding evidence, blocking public oversight—this is overt fascism, and it must be stopped. When a regime refuses transparency, it is effectively confessing guilt. If there were nothing to hide, there would be nothing hidden.

Renee Good and Alex Pretti deserve full justice. They were executed by their own government. Sit with that fact. Let it sink in.

And let’s be honest about race. If Renee Good or Alex Pretti were Black, none of this attention would exist. We barely know Keith Porter Jr.’s name. A Black man can be killed without video, without fundraising, without national outrage—and the system counts on that silence.

Children are not spared either. We have footage of kids screaming and crying outside detention centers. A two-year-old girl with sickle cell disease died in custody because she didn’t receive medical care. Who was changing her diapers? Was anyone? ICE has a documented history of abuse, and yet we are supposed to trust them with children?

This is why Minnesota matters. This is why Trump hates Minnesota. It represents resistance—longstanding, consistent, unapologetic resistance. The state has the longest Democratic presidential voting streak in the nation, and it refuses to bow. That’s why Alex Pretti became a “mistake” in their eyes: he stood between armed power and vulnerable people.

The so-called “law and order” crowd has exposed itself completely. They scream about protecting children while masked agents grab kids in public. They worship the Second Amendment yet stay silent when a literal tyrannical government kills its own citizens. The NRA says nothing. The men with “1776” stickers do nothing. Because this was never about freedom—it was always about control.

President Obama deported more undocumented immigrants than any other president, and not a single one was killed in the streets. No brutality. No chaos. That proves this can be done lawfully. This administration simply refuses to do so.

I will never forgive the people who voted for this—not family, not friends. We all knew who Trump was after the first term. The damage done will last longer than our lifetimes. I acknowledge those who finally woke up and changed course, but forgiveness is another matter.

Authoritarianism thrives on denial, silence, and fear. The answer has always been the opposite: truth, exposure, and collective action. This country belongs to all of us—not to strongmen, not to masked agents, and not to those who would turn America into a gated property with themselves as landlord.

They want us exhausted. They want us hopeless. Instead, we need to make good trouble—relentless, informed, principled trouble—before there is nothing left to save.

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