They Are Building the Cage Around Us Now
Arresting children. Deploying troops. Rehearsing the next phase of authoritarian rule. We either stop this now or lose what is left of our freedom.
“No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.”
— Joseph Addison
“Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given…In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked.”
— Timothy Snyder
A Machinery of Violence
This week, I sat across from a boy barely into his teens. He was quiet, eyes wide with questions older than his years. He asked me if the men with masks would really come for him. In twenty years as an immigration lawyer, never before had I paused so heavily before answering a child's question.
I spoke of laws, of protections America claims to promise. But his eyes told me he already knew the bitter truth, the fragile nature of promises in times like these. He fled here believing he was escaping danger, not running toward it.
That night, I watched my own young child sleep, breathing softly in innocence. A single question lingered, as sharp and raw as it was necessary: What kind of country are we becoming?
Over twenty years, I've witnessed the Department of Homeland Security transform from a reactive bureaucratic response into a relentless political paramilitary force. Cruelty is no longer accidental; it is systematic, institutionalized, deliberate. This machinery of violence, built and perfected across presidencies and party lines, is now fully unleashed.
We must be clear about this: Immigration enforcement is merely the pretext. Power and control are the true objectives. Immigrants are not the crisis; authoritarianism is.
The Trojan Horse Unmasked
The armored vehicles rolling through Los Angeles streets are not enforcing laws; they are normalizing force. Bright floodlights and camouflage uniforms are not responding to emergencies; they are rehearsing submission. Today, immigrants bear the brunt. Tomorrow, dissenters, protesters, and any American who dares to resist could face the same.
My young clients, afraid in San Antonio, are the first tremors of a deeper quake. The canary in a coal mine.
Six months ago, it would have been unimaginable to suggest to a child that they might be targeted in a raid. Today, it is my grim responsibility. Families now ask me questions I've never before had to answer: Will they come tonight? What do we do if they knock on the door?
Their fear is deliberate, crafted meticulously by a regime dismantling protections and eroding trust. These children are being taught the most brutal lesson: America may not protect them.
If you imagine this is only happening to someone else’s child, reconsider. Oppression never remains isolated; it tests its strength on the vulnerable before turning on everyone else. Immigrant children today. Your neighborhood tomorrow. Your family eventually.
Black communities recognize this intimately. Middle-class white communities might feel secure now, distant and insulated, but history shows clearly: complicity through silence eventually claims all.
America's Moment of Truth
Donald Trump did not build this apparatus alone. It was meticulously assembled by previous administrations, strengthened by bipartisan neglect and willful blindness. President Biden’s continued enforcement policies were the mortar that solidified the foundations. The silence of mainstream Democrats is not just betrayal; it is active complicity.
Dismantling this machine requires America to face the uncomfortable reality: We built it, enabled it, and must now dismantle it.
This moment transcends immigration. It is a test of America's soul, unfolding right now; not in the distant future or after another election cycle. History's judgment will hinge on what you choose to do in these very moments.
The regime bets on indifference, on the hope that you will look away, believing this battle does not touch your doorstep. Defy that expectation.
Act Now
If this resonates, speak out. Share these words. Join the resistance. Subscribe to this publication and upgrade your support. The Firewall is more than a voice; it is a shield against the darkness threatening to consume us all.
Let courage, not silence, be your legacy.
🔗 RSVP for our weekly Organizing Call, Mondays at 7 PM ET / 6 PM CT / 4 PM PT
🔗 Subscribe to The Firewall
🔗 Share This Now