No ICE, No KKK; No Fascist USA!

his slogan, along with Abolish ICE! and ICE Out Of Everywhere, has reverberated across various cities of the US as more anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests are held. The protests were triggered by a call for a “national shutdown,” urging people to stay home from school and work. The call was aimed at disrupting economic activity nationwide.

In his second term, President Donald Trump is again showing a firm resolve to fulfil his campaign promise of “the largest domestic deportation operation.”

Recent protests across both the so-called ‘red’ and ‘blue’ states were fuelled by the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by the US federal agents in January 2026. Good was part of a deportation action protest when she was killed. Pretti, shot two weeks later, was videotaping ICE federal agents who had been shoved to the ground. The New York Times reported that Pretti’s death became a national tipping point. It said, “Yet it was Mr Pretti’s death that broke the dam, galvanising public sentiment against the federal government’s tactics and forcing a remarkable retreat by the Trump administration.”

The two deaths that led to popular protests came amid Operation Metro Surge that has seen thousands of federal agents arrive in Minneapolis, where they’ve been tasked in part with detaining undocumented immigrants. The ongoing operation has been decried by local leaders, including the governor and the mayor. “Minnesota is a state that believes in the rule of law and in the dignity of all people,” Governor Tim Walz wrote in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal. “We know that true public safety comes from trust, respect and shared purpose, not from intimidation or political theatre.”

The trend isn’t new. According to the recently launched annual report of the Human Rights Watch, “Immigrants and asylum seekers have been subjected to inhumane conditions and degrading treatment; 32 died in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025; and as of mid-January 2026, an additional four have died. Masked immigration enforcement agents have targeted people of colour, using excessive force, terrorising communities, wrongfully arresting scores of citizens, and, most recently, unjustifiably killing two people in Minneapolis, whose deaths Human Rights Watch has documented.”

With Trump’s authoritarianism on the rise, several anti-immigrant operations have already been carried out. These include Operation Dirtbag in Florida; Operation Catahoula Crunch, aka Swamp Sweep, in Louisiana; and Operation Catch of the Day in Maine, to name a few. According to a recent piece by Kaleah Haddock and Diana Roy for the Council on Foreign Relations, “some legal experts say Trump is pushing the limits of presidential power, including by invoking centuries-old statutes and expediting deportations. Immigrant rights activists warn that the administration’s aggressive tactics have eroded migrants’ due process protections.”

Expanding on Trump’s immigration agenda, they write, “Growing criticism of the administration’s immigration policy comes after the July 2025 passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which allocates nearly $170 billion to enforcement over the next four years.”

Recent protests across both the so-called ‘red’ and ‘blue’ states were fuelled by the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by the US federal agents in January 2026. Good was part of a deportation action protest when she was killed. Pretti, shot two weeks later, was videotaping ICE federal agents.

Protests by rights activists have ramped up after the killings in Minnesota. One can recall President Trump’s interview with The New York Times last month, where he stated that his own morality is what can stop him: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” The self-proclaimed peacemaker who has his eyes on the Nobel Peace Prize has a fire raging at home under his watch. This has led some senior Republicans to raise alarm over ICE’s tactics.

Another incident that made news rounds was the visual, many can recall, of a child donning a blue bunny-eared hat who was detained with his father in an ICE family detention centre in Texas. The five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, along with his father, was released after mounting pressure from activists and elected officials, reported Democracy Now! It mentioned that “According to The Marshall Project, the Trump administration detains around 170 immigrant children per day, compared to 25 children a day under President Joe Biden.”

Following the two deaths, Trump spelled out a “more relaxed” approach for federal agents operating in Minnesota. Trump then assigned White House “border czar” Tom Homan to lead the operation in Minnesota. Asked what would change with Homan in charge, the president said “we can start doing maybe a little bit more relaxed” and “we’d like to finish the job and finish it well. I think we can do it in a de-escalated form.”

A country long regarded as the leader of the free world now finds itself in a moment where some of its citizens describe their president as a fascist. What was once perceived as an ideology confined beyond its borders is now, for many, a domestic threat.

On February 10, lawmakers confronted key administration officials about their high-handed tactics. Dan Goldman (Democrat) from New York, asked Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, about the “numerous documented instances” of US citizens being asked to prove their citizenship by federal agents. “Do you know what other regimes in the 20th Century required similar proof of citizenship?” Goldman asked. Lyons said there are “very nefarious regimes” that have done this, including Nazi Germany. Goldman pressed Lyons on his previous statements that ICE agents being compared to the Gestapo or secret police encourages threats against them. He said the problem was that Lyons “has it backwards” and that people are instead making valid observations about ICE tactics that are “un-American and outright fascist.” “If you don’t want to be called a fascist regime or secret police, stop acting like one.”

According to the American Immigration Council, January 2026 saw a shocking number of deaths tied to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “This included fatalities at immigration detention centres as well as deadly shootings involving ICE agents in public spaces. The deaths of eight people last month come on top of a record number of people dying in ICE custody in 2025. 2026 is already on track to surpass that record-high. These disturbing series of deaths have raised urgent questions about government accountability. Six people died in ICE custody in January 2026 across detention centrrs in Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and California.”

The writer, a communications professional at IBA Karachi, holds a master’s degree in international relations. She can be reached on X: @mariaamkahn