ICE violence: escalating tensions in the US?
Agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency have shot and killed a person in Minneapolis for the second time within a month. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, the officers were acting in self-defence. However, video footage broadcast by US media shows no evidence that the victim, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, had threatened them with a weapon. Europe's media fear a dangerous spiral of violence.
A storm is brewing
Die Zeit voices concern about what comes next:
“There are those who talk of counter-violence. ... Of armed left-wing groups across the United States preparing for battle. These are dizzying moments. A president who knows no boundaries. Masked men who are accountable to no one. A city that is fighting back with dignity and solidarity. And a small number of radical left-wing activists who no longer seem bound by the principle of non-violence. This kind of situation, so complex and dangerous, is what you call a perfect storm.”
Brutality creates resistance
The Trump administration is making two serious mistakes, news website Liberal surmises:
“First, it is underestimating the scale of the problem. It's one thing to protect borders, but quite another to remove millions of people as they go about their lives in the cities. ... Deporting illegal immigrants is not something that can be achieved with 'a little more determination'. It's a completely different kind of measure, with enormous costs and enormous potential for tragedy. ... Secondly, a show of force is no substitute for legitimacy. When law enforcement looks like a military raid, when the use of force is more of a reflex than a last resort, the government is not 'enforcing' order. It is creating resistance.”
A vehicle for centralising power
The brutal and massive deployment of ICE agents is clarifying Trump's real goal, says Dagens Nyheter:
“It is obvious that he would like to centralise control over the law enforcement agencies. He is always trying to deploy the National Guard, but these attempts are rejected by the courts. The ICE is being used as a kind of brutal substitute. In any case, it's clear that the president sees the ICE as a major asset. Either people submit – or there will be confrontations that give Trump the opportunity to portray himself as a man of law and order and justify further measures.”
Live death of a democracy
Le Soir draws parallels with events in Iran:
“Renée and Alex – these citizens, these protesters – are being shot point-blank in the streets today, not in Tehran, but in Minneapolis. Their masked and unidentified killers are not sent by an Ayatollah, but by the American federal government. ...Each time they are acquitted without investigation or trial. ... Need we point out that it was Donald Trump himself who threatened the Iranians with missile strikes if they killed even one of their demonstrators? What is unfolding before our eyes is the live death of a democracy and the rise of a dictatorship at the helm of the world's leading power.”
A turning point for voters?
For the Frankfurter Rundschau, the latest case has the potential to shift sentiment against Trump's migration policy:
“Even some of his supporters are now questioning the use of ICE. ... However, such a defeat for Trump would weigh more heavily than the backtracking on Greenland. On the one hand, foreign policy issues are less relevant in the US. On the other hand, migration policy is an essential component of Trump's politics. If this domino falls, it could prompt voters in the US to reassess Trump's policies, which can only be to his disadvantage.”