A year ago, I made a prediction about the direction Donald Trump’s second administration would take in its first year, and it brings me no joy to say I was right. My analysis, based on the approach of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who inspired Trump’s immigration policy, cautioned that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would resort to racial profiling to carry out its agenda. “The concentration camps will be full to the brim of a mix of undocumented immigrants and American citizens caught in the crossfire—all of a similar shade though.” Since then, there has been no shortage of cases to back up this claim: Mahmoud Khalil, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and Rumeyza Ozturk. These are just a few of the high-profile cases. ProPublica reported that in the first nine months of Trump’s second term, 170 American citizens were unjustifiably detained by ICE. This figure doesn’t even factor in the American citizens who were deported. 

Eisenhower demonstrated this very pattern in an effort to deport undocumented Mexicans from the United States. He weaponized the narrative that Mexicans were coming to steal Americans’ jobs to manufacture consent from the public. The truth is, many were legally invited by the U.S. government to work the fields under Operation Bracero. At the same time, American citizens were caught in the crossfire, being racially profiled and swept up in dragnets. 

This is the exact pattern we see unfolding today, except with an added element of repression and fear. Trump is reaching for something between Eisenhower and Hitler, steering the government in a fascist direction, founded on deporting brown people and protecting “legacy Americans,” while also reminding American citizens of their place. This plan, as we have seen over the past year, involves an increase in repression against any opposition, whether it be against Israel, ICE, or the president’s favorite podcaster, Charlie Kirk. 

In order to carry out that repression, there has to be someone who enforces it. Hitler used the stormtroopers (SA), as well as other forces, including the infamous Gestapo. In my original prediction, I wasn’t sure who would serve as Trump’s force. The Jan. 6 rioters had just been pardoned, so I suspected he might rely on his loyal fanbase to carry out acts of brutality. It makes much more sense, though, that Trump would use the existing deportation agency, ICE, and transform it into a secret police force.

Members of ICE hide their faces, wear plain clothes, and have no badges. They ride around in unmarked vehicles, disguised in plain sight. That way, there is no accountability for their actions when they violate the law, which they often do.

Americans have long held onto our “freedom of speech,” one of the best protections we have, which even other Western countries with similar colonial roots don’t possess. But with an unpopular, weakening empire comes the imperial boomerang. At the moment, Minneapolis is a great snapshot of what the next year could look like. The fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent has sent the city into justifiable chaos, but perhaps that’s exactly what Trump wants so he can justify what comes next. 

The Imperial Boomerang

The imperial boomerang theory says countries that develop repressive techniques to control colonies will eventually deploy those same techniques domestically. The term was popularized by French historian Michel Foucault and is sometimes referred to as Foucault’s boomerang. If I’m being honest, this boomerang started long before Trump.

The use of tear gas has been outlawed in international war under the 1925 Geneva Protocol, but remains legal domestically. Despite its origins in the trenches of World War I, U.S. police have used this chemical weapon against protesters since the 1930s labor movement. One could also point to C4 being dropped on the MOVE family’s house (a Black liberation group) in 1985 by the Philadelphia government. Even our collaboration with Israel’s IDF to train major American police forces could be seen as the imperial boomerang.

Israel is a colony that the U.S. has supported monetarily and militarily. This support aims to scare other Middle Eastern countries into submission and gain access to their oil. It also carries out its own fascist, repressive regime against the Palestinian people, and now teaches its imperialistic methods to its daddy. This imperial boomerang has developed slowly over the course of 80 years, and Trump is only bringing the foundation laid by his predecessors to new heights. 

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The murder of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother who was fatally shot in her car by an ICE agent, is yet another example of how violence is justified at home as it would be abroad. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called her a “domestic terrorist” and accused her of trying to run over Agent Jonathan Ross, but eyewitnesses and video viewers say otherwise. Citizens in the community were warning their neighbors about ICE in the area, and among them was the Good family. The family reflected on this when making a statement later that morning, saying, “We stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns.” 

The ICE agent in question attempted to open Good’s car door and demanded she get out of the vehicle, something he can’t do without a proper warrant. The agency’s protocol suggests that in situations like a traffic violation, ICE has no jurisdiction. That should’ve been the case in this circumstance. The New York Times reports, “Michael Feinberg, a lawyer and former F.B.I. agent, wrote in an article for Lawfare, a legal affairs website, that according to Minnesota statute, peace officers, defined as state or local law enforcement officers, are empowered to enforce the law against stopping on a road or highway, a misdemeanor. Federal agents may serve as peace officers only at the request and under the direction of a state or local officer. (Custody of anyone they arrest, according to the law, must be turned over to a state or local officer.) If Ms. Good was violating traffic laws in a way that did not interfere with federal agents’ work, one option would be to call for help from the local police.”

Footage of the situation shows Renee Good backing up, turning her wheels to the right, and attempting to drive away as Jonathan Ross fired his gun toward her. According to video analysis from the New York Times, Ross was not run over by Good, despite Kristi Noem’s claim. The government has attempted to disparage Renee and her family, but Minneapolis’ ongoing protests show citizens are tired of ICE terrorizing their city. Every day, they face the brunt of that imperial boomerang as they are attacked with tear gas and pepper spray.

Just days after Renee Good was murdered, there was another shooting by ICE. A man who allegedly assaulted an agent was “defensively shot”; however, unlike Renee, the shooting wasn’t fatal. To be honest, with how much this administration lies, it’s natural the people of Minneapolis would be angered by this shooting, even if there was a confrontation. ICE is not removing “illegal immigrant murderers,” as they say; they are creating distrust, fear, and chaos within a blue state with a large Somali population. 

This escalation didn’t ensue until the investigation into widespread fraud among daycares and medical facilities in Minnesota began recirculating online. It was used by right-wing influencers and the government to justify their narrative that immigrants, legal or not, are the main perpetrators of crime. In particular, it escalated after right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley made a video “investigating” the fraud. All he really did was harass random Somali Minnesotans, walk through medical plazas, claim it was odd that the businesses were in close proximity, and confusedly ask why a daycare wouldn’t let a stranger inside to see the children. Despite Shirley showcasing that he has the brain power of a sea cucumber, his video was touted as high-caliber “journalism” by Vice President JD Vance, who said he should win a Pulitzer Prize. 

This same argument could be made about business owners and PPP loan fraud during the pandemic, many of whom were never held accountable. Despite this, it was all too easy for people like Nick Shirley to assert that all Somalis were criminals and fraudsters. The president even floated the idea of revoking Somalis’ citizenship (90% of Somalis in Minnesota have full citizenship). 

This is how we arrived at a situation where Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 in Minnesota. This would deploy troops to deal with those he calls “professional agitators.” In other words, people using their First Amendment. 

Following the shooting of Renee Good, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued a warning order to prepare the National Guard to defend the state against ICE, but it’s clear that was an empty threat. Now would be the time to do so because if Tim Walz doesn’t, Trump will. This is classic Democrat behavior: make empty promises, empty threats, and then back away to preserve this fake “civility.” But Trump has never hesitated to break the rule of law—he abides by the principle of act first and ask for permission later. This liberal civility will lose every time against someone like that, and leave your constituents to defend their neighborhoods without support. 

It’s clear that if Trump continues down this path, the protection of the First Amendment won’t just be threatened for Minnesotans, but for all of us. Amid his falling approval rating, which sits at around 42%, the imperial boomerang has become an absolute necessity to maintain control. Americans who do not fall in line will be treated like victims of imperialism, wrapped in a curated narrative and fabricated truths designed to hide repression and violence. We will get a taste of that power and might so many celebrated post 9/11. It was all a veil, a temporary satisfaction to make us feel like our country was fighting something just. Once that veil is removed, we will see that we have always been disposable.