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<\/p>\nEoin Higgins is the author of \u201cOwned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
With two U.S. citizens<\/span> shot to death in the streets of Minneapolis in just over two weeks, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents abducting and detaining children as young as 2 years old, Americans might be forgiven for expecting a forceful response from the country\u2019s nominal opposition party.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unfortunately, in the United States, that party is the Democrats. Their refusal to react proportionally to the threat of President Donald Trump and his army of secret police with \u201cabsolute immunity<\/a>\u201d is only making things worse.<\/p>\n Even before Alex Pretti was shot dead<\/a> on Saturday \u2014 in the back<\/a>, seconds after his concealed and holstered gun was disarmed by federal agents \u2014 the brutality of ICE and Custom and Border Protection\u2019s occupation of Minneapolis demanded definitive action. <\/p>\n When they had the chance, that\u2019s not what Democrats delivered. At the federal level, seven House Democrats \u2014 including mainstream media darling<\/a> Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and outgoing Maine Rep. Jared Golden \u2014 voted with their GOP counterparts last week to pass a bill giving even more money to ICE. That vote came after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to whip<\/a> his caucus into opposing the legislation, instead simply \u201crecommending\u201d a no vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Senate Democrats reportedly plan<\/a> to kill the bill \u2014 knowing it would force a government shutdown<\/a> \u2014 but their commitment to holding the line must be treated with suspicion. One notable exception is Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., who introduced legislation to restrict ICE\u2019s use of force<\/a>, a bill she\u2019s characterized as \u201cthe bare minimum<\/a>.\u201d Even that bill is unlikely to pass through the GOP-controlled House.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, on the ground in Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz was unable to meet the moment as early as January 7, when Renee Good was killed. Rather than forcefully show up for his constituents, Walz prioritized preemptively scolding protesters, posting<\/a>: \u201cTrump wants a show. Don\u2019t give it to him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While Walz has been clear that he is angry over ICE\u2019s presence in the state and has asked that they leave, he\u2019s failed to provide any clear directives or policy proposals for expelling the agency from his state. Attorney General Keith Ellison has yet to bring any charges against Jonathan Ross<\/a>, Good\u2019s killer, something Walz could order him to do under state law<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Minnesotans are out in the streets calling for action, but beyond public statements, they\u2019re not getting much material support from their leaders.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n What Walz did do on January 20, days before Pretti\u2019s killing, was to invite the president<\/a> to \u201cjoin me, and others in our community, to help restore calm and order and reaffirm that true public safety comes from shared purpose, trust, and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n Mere hours after Pretti\u2019s killing \u2014 and, importantly, drawing on the same playbook used with Good\u2019s killing<\/a> \u2014 the administration made clear there was no \u201cshared purpose, trust, and respect\u201d to \u201creaffirm\u201d with Minnesota. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino both held press conferences in which they blatantly lied about the events of Pretti\u2019s death, which was caught on video from multiple angles. Walz\u2019s demand<\/a> that \u201cthe state must lead the investigation\u201d into Pretti\u2019s death is falling on deaf ears, just as it did with Good\u2019s killing<\/a>.<\/p>\n Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has been angrier, dropping \u201cfuck<\/a>\u201d in his press conferences \u2014 something Democratic Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith has done as well<\/a>. But this deployment of profanity only serves to remind the public that sound and fury often signifies nothing. Minnesotans are out in the streets calling for action<\/a>, but beyond public statements, they\u2019re not getting much material support from their leaders, least of all Frey, who earlier this month wouldn\u2019t even entertain<\/a> abolishing ICE, even after the agency killed one of his constituents.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Democratic base has been demanding action on ICE for months. Eager to make political hay, Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat with his sights set on the Senate seat held by Ed Markey, called ICE \u201ccowards<\/a>\u201d and threatened to defund the agency and prosecute its officers. But Moulton and most elected Democrats fall short of calling to abolish the institution outright \u2014 a position now held by a plurality of voters<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Leaders like Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, chair and vice chair, respectively, of the Democratic Governors Association, vaguely called<\/a> on Saturday for \u201ctransparency and accountability\u201d after \u201cwhat happened today in Minneapolis,\u201d without specifying what concrete steps might be taken to deliver either. Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle issued a statement in the wake of Pretti\u2019s death that was heavy on the concern<\/a> but light on substance. Former President Bill Clinton was more forceful, calling this a moment<\/a> \u201cwhere the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come\u201d but declining to suggest what, exactly, people should do.<\/p>\n Setting aside the morality of suppressing anger over state killings of civilians, it\u2019s politically shortsighted on the part of Democrats and their allies. But the party is trapped in a world of its own creation, where committing to anything that might alienate mythical moderate conservative voters or, more importantly, donors, is anathema.\u00a0<\/p>\n The party is trapped in a world of its own creation, where committing to anything that might alienate mythical moderate conservative voters or, more importantly, donors, is anathema.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n One specific idea gaining traction is impeaching Noem<\/a>, a plan all but guaranteed to fail. So are demands<\/a> from border hawks like Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy that ICE agents stop wearing masks, end quotas, or give in to other \u201creforms.\u201d ICE and DHS have shown no willingness to bend to any constraints, and when the White House tells them they\u2019re shielded by \u201cabsolute immunity\u201d for their actions<\/a>, any efforts to reform a malignant agency<\/a> are dead on arrival.\u00a0<\/p>\n A strong opposition party would take the initiative and, even if done cynically, attach itself to the growing public anger for political gain. Steering the popular upswell into some form of action would allow Democrats to gain power and perhaps even win elections. Instead, they appear to understand their role as tamping down the energy and enthusiasm for change and ensuring whatever comes out of the Pretti outrage is defanged and does not challenge entrenched power structures.<\/p>\n Fear of making an actual stand is so widespread there\u2019s a cottage industry of advisers and think tanks devoted to encouraging elected Democrats to moderate<\/a> at every turn. There\u2019s something amoral to the whole project, exemplified by how the popularists \u2014 a group of centrist think tankers who endorse triangulation on issues based on polling results, as long as those issues aren\u2019t Israel or Abolish ICE \u2014 have reacted to the occupation of Minneapolis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even after Good\u2019s killing, Adam Jentleson, founder and president of the think tank Searchlight Institute, was smearing left organizing around \u201cAbolish ICE<\/a>\u201d as a \u201cpolitical albatross\u201d that\u2019s unrealistic and damaging to the movement; now he\u2019s seizing on Pretti\u2019s death as a moment to course-correct<\/a>. Paul E. Williams, who\u2019s supposed to be the left-whisperer of the popularist cohort, said hours after Pretti\u2019s killing (and reams of other evidence of abuse and torture<\/a> at the country\u2019s largest detention center) that he still didn\u2019t have a problem<\/a> with Democrats like Gluesenkamp Perez voting to fund ICE, only that she was criticizing Frey and Walz for their reaction to the shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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