alec karakatsanis

The ICE and CBP behavior that has outraged everyone is happening **before** DHS has even deployed tens of billions of extra dollars Democrats voted for last year. Unless something changes, they have enough money to do this on steroids with hundreds of thousands more agents.

One way to judge a society's investments is asking: "what kinds of people and relationships will this investment create?" Sit with this question. Investment in repressive bureaucracies has become so normalized that we are desensitized to how far away from the best parts of humanity it takes us.

As the negotiations over DHS budget continue, please remember: the ICE detention budget alone was exploded in 2025 so it is now 62% greater than the entire Bureau of Prisons. People are not clocking what this infusion of cash to build concentration camps will do to our society.

Dems are pushing for body cameras to curb abuses by ICE.

Trump/MAGA are proud of footage of ICE's brutal murders. What good will body cams do?

The necessary fix isn't documenting ICE agents being abusive; it's ending the cruel, abusive unconstitutional secret police force.

Body cams are a trick to get you to stop talking about bigger changes to reduce the power of government bureaucracies and corporate grifts that spy on you and repress social movements for a better world. Send this video and article linked in the thread to a liberal you know: bsky.app/profile/equa...

This question, of course, has no answer. It's why Noem and Homan are celebrating cameras. It has no answer for the same reason that the explosion of body cameras in local police coincided with them killing more people than ever before and not reducing levels of misconduct according to the studies.

A question no Democratic Party official has been able to answer: Given that Bannon says they will deploy ICE to voting locations in November (after *filming themselves* killing Renee Good and Alex Pretti), what do you want to accomplish with more body cameras?

This is an absolutely shocking and irresponsible comment from the leader of a supposedly progressive group. It shows absolutely no understanding of political strategy, the current moment, the workings of the punishment bureaucracy, or the history of fascist capitulation: bsky.app/profile/ezra...

bsky.app/profile/equa...

You cannot have progressive leaders peddling this unenforceable snake oil. Listen to the experts on what kinds of constraints and demands are actually useful in reducing the harm and violence of an institution like ICE. It's *not* the things in Schumer's list. Stop giving him cover.

This is an absolutely shocking and irresponsible comment from the leader of a supposedly progressive group. It shows absolutely no understanding of political strategy, the current moment, the workings of the punishment bureaucracy, or the history of fascist capitulation: bsky.app/profile/ezra...

Shameful background here: bsky.app/profile/equa...

From what I can tell based on Bannon's comments, Chuck Schumer's position is now essentially that Democrats should renew the 300% budget increase for ICE so that Trump can deploy enough ICE agents to surround every polling station in the U.S. in November.

Steve Bannon just apparently said on television: "We're gonna have ICE surround the polls come November" and that they are not going to "allow you to steal the country again," and Schumer is gleefully talking about tripling the ICE budget in 2025. www.instagram.com/reel/DUXE5e1...

This document is one of the great political failures of our time. It must be immediately denounced by all people of good will. And it will be a major scandal if any "civil rights" organization gives cover to this capitulation to fascism.

Most of this is deceptive, unenforceable, snake oil to distract people from focusing their energy on much more transformative change. And don't even get me started on body cams. They think people are morally depraved enough to support most of what's happening and/or stupid. bsky.app/profile/civr...

Not only do the Democrats propose abandoning the only remotely workable set of demands to clawback the obscene tripling of ICE budget, but they have removed even the basic suggestions to enable people to more easily sue ICE for constitutional violations.

This document is one of the great political failures of our time. It must be immediately denounced by all people of good will. And it will be a major scandal if any "civil rights" organization gives cover to this capitulation to fascism.

More info: bsky.app/profile/equa...

Anyone is free, e.g, to look up the letters civil rights leaders are sending to Schumer and others with their demands. And to see which organizations join in them and which don’t. But it’s a much wider problem than a few names. I wrote about it with names in my body cameras article linked in thread.

A important but taboo subject is how some “civil rights” organizations launder Democratic Party complicity in fascism. Prominent nonprofit organizations are providing cover to Dems by calling for more body cameras as DHS celebrates that very idea and builds unprecedented surveillance databases.

America's obsession with cop shows needs to be studied, oh wait-

Source: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... cc @emmarackstraw.bsky.social

I also strongly recommend @equalityalec.bsky.social ‘s book Copaganda for a much more thorough overview of cop media

DHS is tracking people who protest using biometrics and entering them into databases; hunting people who send emails on behalf of asylum seekers; tracking neighbors who help immigrants w/ facial recognition and license plate readers, and Hakeem Jeffries wants more surveillance tech for every agent.

Sometimes the propaganda is simple but consequential. The basic decision of the news media to refer to a chemical weapon that is banned as a war crime from being used in armed conflict as "tear gas" has helped normalize its use across the U.S. This is just aggravated assault.

Somehow managed to co-opt a moment of mass consciousness and political leverage into a massive funding grab for ICE and the police surveillance industry. Aided and abetted by a number of “progressive” groups along a spectrum from ignorant to nefarious.

Now we can get official footage of every murder and kidnapping

Thread, but this part!

Somehow managed to co-opt a moment of mass consciousness and political leverage into a massive funding grab for ICE and the police surveillance industry. Aided and abetted by a number of “progressive” groups along a spectrum from ignorant to nefarious.

More background here: bsky.app/profile/civr...