According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

“Americans didn’t vote for men in masks and tactical gear brandishing guns and dragging people out of their cars to disappear them or ICE operating with total impunity, and with political retribution on their mind. As citizens of this nation, we must understand that when we allow one person’s rights to be violated, our collective rights are in danger.   How can we trust that this administration will protect our rights or focus on actual public safety threats? The evidence is there in front of us – they are willing to go to any lengths to fulfill their mass deportation fever dreams.”

See below for key stories of ICE operations kicking into high gear to further the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda:

In The Atlantic, Eric Schlosser writes, “We Voted for Retribution,” noting:

“The tactics used by ICE agents to arrest immigrants and bring them to detention evoke those of a police state—masked, armed officers raiding churches, farms, schools, garment factories, and Home Depots; appearing by surprise to seize graduate students; separating parents from children; conducting sweeps while on horseback. ICE agents can arrest anybody, without a warrant, based on probable cause that a person is undocumented and may flee.”

The Atlantic article concludes with a chilling quote from former Proud Boys leader and January 6th rioter Enrique Tarrio: “We didn’t vote for cheaper eggs. We voted for mass deportation, and we voted for retribution.”

The Maryland Matters article, “As immigration arrests surge, so does number of Maryland sheriffs agreeing to work with ICE”

“Every person getting booked in jail in Frederick County is asked two questions: ‘Where were you born?’ and ‘What country are you a citizen of?’ If the answer to either question is anything other than the U.S., said Sheriff Chuck Jenkins (R), officers will take the individual to the facility’s ‘ICE unit’ where they determine the person’s legal status. If residing in the country illegally, officers will then place a detainer on them to initiate removal proceedings — if determined appropriate by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

USA Today highlights Tom Homan’s pledge to “flood” Democratic-run cities with ICE agents — and the unprecedented new funds available to Homan, Stephen Miller, and ICE to do so:

“Congress earlier this month gave the Trump administration more than $170 billion over the next four years to dramatically scale up enforcement, detention and deportation … ICE now has a bigger budget than the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons combined, according to an analysis by the American Immigration Council.”