Willow Eby-Fischer

Northumberland

In less than a week, we have seen a minister, hands raised in prayer and eyes closed, shot in the head with a pepper ball by an ICE agent firing from a rooftop. Another federal agent aimed his gun directly at a woman in Berwyn, Chicago, because she dared to record ICE. As a U.S. citizen, recording a federal agent while they are performing their duties in public is a constitutionally protected right.

A Blackhawk helicopter landed on the roof of a Chicago apartment building, smashed open doors and used flash-bang grenades during a middle-of-the-night raid. Adults and children alike, were dragged out of their beds crying and screaming, without regard for citizenship.

Witnesses say small children were sitting in the street, zip-tied naked or in jammies. When asked about the treatment of children, one ICE agent said “F*** the kids.”

These military-style raids in American cities are being perpetrated by masked gunmen sanctioned by our own government.

The use of masks, plainclothes and unmarked cars by ICE agents has already resulted in criminals impersonating law enforcement to sexually assault immigrant women. If this behavior is acceptable, how long before we see the weaponization of rape?