The cruelty is the point

No one should be surprised that we’re seeing the horrors of this new Trump administration emerge at record speed. He has no guardrails, no reelection fears. What’s more, he has a phalanx of rich and powerful men, all jockeying for position and favor with this grifter president.

I want to piece-by-piece all the horrors that have emerged from this second Trump administration in such a short time, but every day there’s some new outrage, some fresh hell to remind us that we are a nation in peril. We are now ruled by an incompetent narcissist and his cadre of oligarchs and bootlickers, while the Legislative branch of our government just sort of stands around, huffing and puffing, doing nothing to flex their authority.

Kudos to all those taking to the streets to protest this wretched kakistocracy. With every passing day, it becomes clearer that We, the people will have to save ourselves, Boston Harbor-style, Revolutionary, and with no regard for partisan entanglement. If we consider this our home, then we must be proactive, rather than reactive in saving it.

Or has that ship sailed?

I don’t know, but to circle back to my original point, considering all the horrors of this present day in these [somewhat] United States, I’ll focus on something I saw recently that chilled me, maybe more than anything else coming from this corrupted administration in recent days. It was like an exclamation point attached to the conversations about the ICE raids and how they are affecting families and communities around the nation.

Some of you may have seen this brief video clip yourselves. An immigrant man, dressed in jeans, button-down shirt and sweater, hair combed, paperwork in hand, showed up in immigration court. He was there for his immigration case, prepared, ready to do things “the right way.”

Hasn’t this long been the argument from the right, that immigrants and would-be citizens “do things the right way”?

At some point in the proceedings, a group of masked thugs took hold of the immigrant man. They were so much bigger, giving nod to the well-fed lifestyle enjoyed by even some of our nation’s less fortunate citizens, as compared to the undernourished, medically sparse, poverty-stricken upbringing evident with some of the immigrant population. They had no identifying gear. They wore shades.

As they pulled him along, he resisted, in as much as he could, given he was so obviously outnumbered and overpowered. He clung to his paperwork – the legalities of a nation that once stood for law and order, certainties of justice, and the Constitutional right of due process for everyone within our borders. He tried to plant his feet and was dragged across the floor by the masked brutes to either side of him.

It was his face, even more than this tawdry display of despotism that caught my attention, however. In the clip, the man said little, if anything, but his visage spoke for the ages.

He was afraid. He was so afraid.

I don’t know where this man was from, or his story, specifically, but I do know the story of so many in his shoes. In this moment, being ambushed while in the process of “trying to do things the right way,” and being forcibly taken away, it could quite likely be a reminder of the environment he came from.

We all know these stories, actually. In nations where criminal cartels rule the land, having unknown, masked assailants snatch you or a family member off the street, out of school, a shopping mall, a courthouse – wherever – and then that person being “disappeared,” is not uncommon. It is the violent act of criminals and thugs, themselves often supported or protected by the very government that is supposed to be protecting its people.

This is what so many of the immigrant population is trying to escape. They’ve come to a place where there is a constitution, a rule of law, and a chance to live a better life, if you’re willing to work for it.

Does that mean all immigrants are solid gold, good people, and we should just throw open the gates?

That’s not what I’m saying, at all. As the great Ronaldus Maximus once quipped, “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.” I do believe we need better border security. Working in the field that I do, I understand that not everyone coming here is coming with the best intent. I also have a dim view of those who want to plant foreign flags on American soil. Immigrants in the past helped build this nation. We all have immigrant roots. The difference is, they came with hope of being Americans. Period.

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with being proud of your ancestry, either. It’s not a knock against our nation to celebrate any culture-specific day. If anything, making space for those days further amplifies the greatness of a nation that can contain and nurture the many. We simply need our lawmakers to drop the partisan theater and create a workable plan for both the security of our borders and a humane and efficient method of dealing with those seeking asylum or citizenship.

What we don’t do, as a nation that has long claimed to be the “most free” in the world, is adopt the worst impulses of human nature as policy. We don’t look at third world nations that use terror as a method of controlling the population and say to ourselves, “Ya know… That seems like a good idea!”

Something else that everyone should be asking themselves is why do the majority of those being snatched up all seem to be of a “darker” variety?

I actually am aware of a gentleman who came here as a child with his family from a nation that doesn’t tend to have many darker skinned folks. He waited until adulthood to get his citizenship case into court and ran into trouble. Apparently, his parents paid a third party to set them up in the U.S., and the paperwork they were sold wasn’t legit.

So where is the raid on he and his family?

I doubt it’s coming. All I know is that he became a diehard Trump backer, working tirelessly for him, ignoring every Christian impulse he claimed to possess, in order to support Trump’s kingship. I could no longer maintain that relationship, nor could he bear to hear my protestations against the gilded toad that he’d set up on such a high pedestal.

I see cruelty in the way this administration is handling the immigration situation. I see such an inflexible, immoral wave of racially charged ugliness, that it is impossible not to call this out.

As a Christian, I owe a duty to my Lord to speak. As a Christian, I must remind others who claim the same of Jesus’ words to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world.” This was from John 18:36. He was telling Pilate, just before his crucifixion, that his followers would not allow him to be turned over for execution.

Examine this further. Those who had previously followed Jesus to hear his sermons, witnessed and enjoyed his miracles, still were willing to be swayed by the political climate of the day, to listen to the religious leaders, and to call for his execution on the cross, just for the crime of speaking out against worldly powers and the corruption of the spirit.

How many worldly Christians hear about these faceless, unmarked marauders ripping children away from the safety of their classrooms or churches, or forcing parents on the way to their menial jobs off the streets and into unmarked cars, are cheering this on? How many are saying, “I voted for this!”

Again, my job brings me into contact with ICE, rather often. The deportation agents I deal with are unmasked and wear clearly identifiable vests and/or badges. They’re not there to scare anyone. They’re not thugs or “enforcers.” They’re just following the processes of their job, and when they come to pick up someone under a federal detainer for deportation, it is an orderly, well-documented process. I’ve never once seen an immigrant under a deportation detainer react with the fear I see in the faces of those in so many of the videos being released in recent months. In fact, the interactions between they and the agents is most often calm and even affable.

When you hear of the cruelty and fear-inducing raids being carried out by this administration, if your reaction is positive, then I can only believe you are a bad person.

https://x.com/charise_lee/status/1935093616785113421

If your claim is that you are a Christian and you approve of this treatment, if you ignore that Trump referred to immigrants as “animals” and “vermin,” echoing language of the Nazis, I further have to assume your faith walk is only surface level. You’re putting on an act, as if God will be fooled. How can you claim the heart of God, if your heart does not break for all humanity, or cheers on cruelty, for the sake of partisan politics?

His kingdom is not of this world, which means for the Christian, neither is ours.

Folks, I can’t get the scene from that video clip out of my spirit. I can’t ignore the fear or the fact that this is happening in our nation. I don’t know who these masked goons are, but they’re not ICE. I just know I can’t be “ok” with this, and no good person should be willing to let this go.

If they’re snatching immigrants today, who will the thugs target, next? What do you say when it’s just political opponents? Journalists? You? Me?

You can’t unsee the cruelty, and if you have the heart of Christ, you can’t ignore their fear.