On February 12, two female Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis were alleged to have feigned car trouble to lure Jesus Emmanuel Flores-Aguilar out of his home and detain him, reported CBS News. Flores-Aguilar, a mechanic with six children, two of which require special care, exited his home to help after the disguised agents knocked on his door. He was soon surrounded by seven additional ICE agents in video footage captured by a neighbor.
Where do we draw the line? When do we decide that using human trafficking tactics on immigrants is wrong? Flores-Aguilar posed no danger to our country, and neither do the vast majority of ICE’s victims. This is no longer a matter of national security. This is unconstitutional activity that involves blatant racism, a violation of the “unalienated” right to freedom and executive expansion that poses a threat to our democracy.
Supporters of ICE often claim – incorrectly – that noncitizens are not protected under the Constitution. The equal protections clause of the 14th amendment, however, would beg to differ. Citizens and noncitizens alike cannot be deprived of “life, liberty or property, without due process of the law.” Where was this inherent right when Flores-Aguilar was coerced out of his home? What about when Liam Conejo Ramos and his father – who were actively pursuing citizenship at the time of their detainment – were taken by ICE agents on the driveway of their home? Can the American people truly say, with confidence, that ICE is “simply doing their job?”
No. Not on January 7, when United States citizen Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in an attempt to defend a neighbor. Or on January 13, when Aliya Rahman, another U.S. citizen, was forcibly removed from her vehicle and tackled by ICE agents on her way to a doctor’s appointment for her traumatic brain injury. Through a blatant violation of the Constitution, Rahman was not asked for ID, told she was under arrest, read her fifth amendment rights or charged with a crime. Those who believe that this activity – not only by ICE agents themselves, but by the entire executive branch – is at all constitutional should reassess their perspective on the events unfolding before their eyes.
Our government was designed with the people in mind: checks and balances, limited government, rule of law. Of the 18 Fresno students I polled, 93% said they believe the expansion of ICE to be unconstitutional. Our democratic ideals seem to be more familiar to teenagers than to the government itself. Case in point: the Department of Homeland Security reported that over one thousand ICE-related 287(g) executive agreements have been signed by President Donald Trump in the past year, all in effort to expand the occupation of ICE agents in American cities without significant consent of other government branches. Is it truly constitutional for presidents to use executive agreements to bypass the Senate in their endeavors? It seems the executive is finding more loopholes as time goes on to avoid the barriers the Framers placed between them and overreach. What’s more dangerous to our democracy: immigrants or dictatorship?
Freedom is not a radical belief – not in a nation that was founded upon that very notion. It’s time to put an end to our government’s abuse of power and, by extension, an end to ICE’s unlawful actions. Educate yourself and your neighbors on your rights. Know that the government derives its power from you – not the other way around. The only thing scarier than a cruel government is an angry governed people. When we stand as an informed, united front, there’s no injustice we cannot mend.
