The Ice Gulag-Power, Surveillance, and Fear Undermine Our Democracy; Push Back.

Because the structure of the “Ice Gulag” is currently supported by all three branches of the Government, opposition must target all three aspects: apprehension, detention, and removal.

The Ice Gulag series centered on how the Trump Administration led by DHS has created a vertically integrated structure that relies on a massive multi-year appropriation from Congress, the newly recruited paramilitary detention force, the Roberts Court Shadow Docket decisions, the active cooperation by Big Tech, and the ability to operate without fear of serious legal consequences to apprehend, detain, and remove thousands of undocumented individuals currently residing in the United States.

Assault on the Constitution and Rule of Law

While the series focused on the terrible impact this structure has had on documented and undocumented individuals within the United States, the Gulag effort is also a fundamental and dangerous assault on the rule of law and the constitutional principles that provide the basis of our democracy.

The administration’s coordinated effort to deny basic fifth amendment due process rights to all non-citizens threatens the basic rights that we all enjoy as US citizens. The violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on illegal searches and seizures is not limited to warrantless break-ins but includes collection and analysis of massive amounts of data. The denial of these basic rights applies indiscriminately to refugees, those seeking asylum, Dreamers, those in the process of obtaining permanent residence status, and those in the United States under Temporary Protected Status. The mass ICE and CBP roundups that we have seen in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis also have swept up US citizens in Supreme Court sanctioned “Kavanaugh stops”. DHS has taken aggressive measures intended to discourage protests and actions to document activities of masked and armed ICE agents in public spaces. Last year, according to the Wall Street Journal, DHS officers have taken to X to publicize the arrest of 279 people accused of attacking federal officers, of which 181 were US citizens. Close to half of the publicly accused US citizens were never charged with assault. Most appear to have been arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights in protesting ICE actions that have routinely violated our Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights against warrantless searches and seizures and deprivation of liberty without due process.

Assault on Civil Liberties

As part of the removal program, ICE has created a vast domestic surveillance network contracted out to such powerful high-tech companies as Palantir. The ICE database, assembled with no judicial oversight and seemingly no internal DHS oversight, includes vast troves of US citizen data, to include license plate collection, protest activity, facial recognition data, and DNA samples. In addition to contractor collection and analysis of massive amounts of bulk data, it has been widely reported how heavily armed ICE and CBP forces have followed protesters, engaged in aggressive driving, and appeared at protestors’ homes, all intended to intimidate citizens. Individuals who have had their faces scanned by ICE have received notices from DHS cancelling their access to TSAPre screening at airports; others have been told they are now domestic terrorists.

It’s Up To Us

Following a series of disastrous appearances before Congress that exposed the incompetence and corruption that has been a hallmark of DHS, the President fired Kristi Noem. Noem’s replacement is Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin. Given the results of Senator Mullin’s recent hearing, it is doubtful that we can anticipate any meaningful reforms at DHS, and we can look forward to the continuation of what is now a wildly unpopular aggressive program of mass apprehension, detention, and removal.

In Minnesota, the pushback has started, as local prosecutors have begun criminal investigations into the behavior of individual members of the ICE detention force during its deployment to Minneapolis.

• As demonstrated by the millions who turned out across America on March 28 for the “No Kings” protests, it is important for individuals and communities to continue to organize, protest, and report on the inevitable abuses that occur when the ICE paramilitary detention units arrive in force.

• It important to demand investigation of the cruel conditions that currently exist in the detention facilities that seem to operate with no independent oversight.

• It is important that local communities continue to object to turning warehouses into massive prisons intended to hold thousands of detainees.

• It is important to show support to brave communities like Minneapolis, which this year has borne the brunt of ICE aggression.

• It is important to call out members of Congress who are not actively promoting legislative measures to limit ICE’s abusive behavior directed against both undocumented individuals and US citizens.

• It is important to continue to highlight the impact of Shadow Docket decisions by the Supreme Court.

And throughout, let us always remember the unwilling sacrifices of people like Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who wanted only to exercise their First Amendment rights and instead became victims of ICE brutality.

James Petrila spent over thirty years as a lawyer in the Intelligence Community, working at the National Security Agency and, for most of his career,at the Central Intelligence Agency. He has taught courses on counterterrorism law and legal issues at the CIA at the George Washington University School of Law. He is currently a senior advisor to the Institute for the Study of States of Exception and is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.