1/9: ICE raids have already started in Kern County CA. Federal raids are organized months in advance; by the time they show up, it’s already a problem. Protecting the immigrants in our community is our absolute top priority.
In Trump’s first sit-down interview after winning reelection, he reaffirmed both his intention to pardon the January 6 insurrectionists and his belief that they were the victims of a “corrupt system” (although one of his former staffers walked this back a bit, saying he intends to review these pardons “on a case-by-case basis”).
Pardoning the J6 guys will set a dangerous new precedent for the political power of right-wing militias. At best it will embolden them, and at worst it will empower them with de facto legal protection.
The event was a flash in 2021 and its memory has already faded for many, but I want to remind everyone that over 1,500 rioters were charged with everything from disorderly conduct to seditious conspiracy (terrorism) and many were sent to federal prison for ten years or more.
The relationship between law enforcement and paramilitary organizations is as blurry as it is storied. Abroad, paramilitary groups like the Black Shirts and Brown Shirts were instrumental in helping Mussolini and Hitler’s respective fascist regimes seize power. Here at home, they’ve long been used by business magnates and politicians to crush trade unions and suppress political dissent. Deputizing citizens, whether officially or otherwise, is the oldest tactic of far-right regimes who need someone to do their dirty work in the shadows.
In states like Idaho and Montana (where I grew up), forested compounds full of conspiratorial gun nuts are common knowledge to the locals; law enforcement largely looks the other way regarding their existence, owing greatly to the fact that their ranks are full of cops and they’re a reliable helping hand during violent police operations.
The greatest reason for this enabling relationship between cops and militias is that paramilitary ideology, despite being characterized by its members as “distrust of the system,” somehow always aligns with goals of “the system” to the letter. Paramilitaries—left to their own devices and sometimes softly encouraged—will always reliably use violent action to defend the institutions of private property and white supremacy. Thus, it’s always in the cops’ interest to empower these groups, like in the case of the 1979 Greensboro Massacre when Klansmen and Nazis killed five members of the Communist Workers Party at a labor march in North Carolina.
The relationship between cops and Klansmen may not be apparent at first glance, but the facts always tell the whole truth: an “informant” embedded in the Klan (or, a member who was also a cop) knew of the plot; on the day, the police issued a strict no-firearms policy upon the demonstrators, who had been armed during all previous marches; and they were conspicuously absent when the paramilitaries arrived and slaughtered the pro-union demonstrators.
A more recent example is Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenage boy who shot three people and killed two while “defending” a car dealership during a Wisconsin protest in 2020 alongside several other Gravy SEALS; he then ran to safety behind police barricades, and was notably not just cleared of any charges, but celebrated as a hero afterwards.
Back to January 6th:
The crimes of the J6 insurrectionists were not minor. They violently assaulted police officers in service of a very real attempt to obstruct government proceedings. They were charged with all manner of crimes pertaining to violent assault and terrorism, and while my heart certainly doesn’t break for injured or dead cops, they’re steeply punished offenses nonetheless.
Should these men be released from prison, the somewhat crippled spirits of far-right militia groups will be revitalized with the unilateral understanding that their worst crimes will go unpunished. Given their well-documented past of aiding both fascist regime changes abroad and suppressing political dissent at home, this is not good for anybody.
Trump has stated that he plans to deport over 2 million migrants, openly saying that they are “poisoning the blood of our country”. This is not a partisan issue—Newsom has sanctioned massive ICE raids just days into the new year and Biden’s deportation numbers beat those of Trump’s first term—but this is different for two reasons:
Anti-immigration fever has escalated to an uncharted temperature among both government and the working class, priming more citizens than ever to take action, and
The J6 pardons will give paramilitaries unprecedented de facto legal cover for violence against immigrant communities and anyone else they consider a political enemy.
If you’re still not convinced, this article published at the end of October details how DHS has been training civilians to “conduct violent raids on immigrants” for almost eight years; training includes weapons competency, how to strike someone with a baton to cause varying levels of injury, and how to legally kill “an unarmed suspect.” All of the info is taken from DHS internal documents obtained through FOIA, which are linked at the bottom of the article.
The stakes could not be higher. Government and paramilitaries are prepared, and most of us aren’t. The stated date for these pardons is his first day in office, which is a week and a half away. If you don’t already have infrastructure in place to protect your community, hide your vulnerable, and meet these deputized goons with arms of your own, now is the time to start putting it together.
I’ve written before about the tried and true way to deal with these assholes. The bottom line is: for all the jokes we may crack about how the only thing dangerous about them is their blood pressure, they’re absolutely a very real threat to our safety; and a certain one if the J6 guys are set free.
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Deputising citizens is also what the British Raj did with their sepoys!!
Deputized civilians are also essentially invisible. They don't wear badges, they are accountable to nobody and will be used to do the dirty work. I encourage people to read about what is happening right now in Nicaragua. Please Google Nicaragua death squads.
If this sounds familiar, you are right, they did this in the past and now they are doing it again
It's coming here. They will start with the immigrants and escalate to the long list of people they hate.