The Senate has passed a bill making Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the U.S.'s largest interior law enforcement agency with funding for Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda higher than most of the world’s militaries, including Israel’s.
Pending its passage in the House of Representatives, Trump’s bill could mean a massive increase in ICE funding as part of an immigration enforcement agenda worth $150 billion over four years.
This figure is more than the annual military budget of Italy, which at $30.8 billion, is the world’s 16th highest defense spender for this year according to tracker Global Fire Power.
It is also higher than military spending for Israel, ($30 billion), the Netherlands ($27 billion) and Brazil ($26.1 billion).
We should quit paying our taxes
Leave the US. If you have expertise you’ll be easily welcomed into most countries, if not, there is are a lot of countries you can still move to that are not police states. Either way you’ll stop paying/supporting and supporting US fascism with your work. The immigrants your government is so eager to deport have been through worse.
I would have been gone years ago I just don’t really have the means to leave
People with far fewer resources than some of the poorest Americans make treks across continents. I’m sure most Americans could figure it out if they really wanted to.
All right well I’m not going to do this back and forth about it with you. You know nothing about me or my situation.
You are right. My comments shouldn’t be taken as precise advise for specific situations, but I stand by the generalities. I’m general though, if a family with less than a grade 5 education can make a cross-continent trek in hopes of a better life, most US citizens are well positioned to immigrate elsewhere.
Sure. We’ll just start walking from the American continents to… Well, fuck
Have you considered getting one of those floaty things with pushy arms that go in water?
I was gonna say that you can’t just row across the ocean, but apparently you can.
If you gain the sponsoring for an ocean rowboat, you can then secure sponsorship for the 3-4 months-worth of food since restaurants and gardens are hard to come by in the ocean. I understand that fish live in the ocean, but fishing eats into your 17 hours per day during which you’ll need to row. Also, trying to handle fish on the open ocean in a small boat is an incredibly risky maneuver. Even worse, once you catch the fish, you gotta set your boat on fire so that you can cook it and not get parasites.
All told, it’s significantly cheaper to just fly, but that’s unhelpful advice to someone who just told you that they can’t afford to uproot their life and fly to another country. You might ask, how can you not afford that, and the problem is that hiking across countries smaller than my state gives you opportunities to work odd jobs in exchange for shelter, food, and money. But since planes and airports generally don’t hire random passengers, it puts you back in that “I’m fucked” boat that you suggested.
Also, all this is giving your unserious comment the credence that you weren’t talking about taking a gondola ride across the Atlantic.
Thats a brilliant deep dive. Thank you.
I guess that’s how most immigrants make it to the US?
No.
Literally most fly in, and then just say they are here to visit, then stay.
Your understanding of modern immigration is similar to what you see on Fox News.
Sorry, I thought I’d made it clear enough that I was taking the piss.
You know literally nothing about immigration, do you?
Beyond personal experience and the experiences of colleagues, friends and family going to/from a wide variety of countries, and how different countries structure their legal immigration process, not much I guess.
Riiiiiigth…
Yup
The US is an odd duck when it comes to taxes…
The USA is one of the few countries of the world which levies personal income tax on all its citizens: not only on its residents - citizens or non-citizens - but also on its citizens who do not live in the country. All citizens of the United States are taxed under the same personal income tax system, regardless of whether they live in the country or abroad.
This is true but you’re only taxed by the US if the country in which you live isn’t taxing you higher already. So if you move to a gulf Arab state with no income tax yes. But most places in Europe? You won’t have to pay US tax since domestic tax will be higher.
You only have to pay them if you move back to the US (and want to work). It’s not like other governments disclose your finances to the US.
Absolutely not true. If you want anything to do with US banking, social security, Embassy services, you better pay up. And every bank you open abroad is literally required to disclose to the IRS that you have a bank account with them. Source: I live abroad.
The idea being put forward is leaving the US and never returning.
Until you acquire a new citizenship and renounce your US citizenship, the US government affects everything you do, regardless of where you are. Just leaving with no intention of returning does nothing. Source: me
That anyone would want to be part of a regime that oppressive and call it freedom is insane, to put it lightly.
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You only have to pay them if you move back to the US
Specifically if you’re a contractor simply working abroad. If you don’t actually reside in the US and you earn foreign income /pay taxes for a year, you’re not going to owe anything.
That said, if you travel overseas for three months on contract, earn a ton of money, and come home to spend it, you have to report that in the US minus taxes payed abroad.
As if any cops would even attempt to stop them instead of joining in. Calling the police is just giving them backup.
No, but there will be a war front that you can position yourself on the not-scum side of.
There are too few places to escape to in modern society, given the rise of authoritarian globally. I was planning on Germany until the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Now I find it more prudent to stay in the U.S. and relocate to a low population area. For the handful of dense urban environments in the U.S. there are far more wide open spaces with no people.
Head in the sand is always an option, until it’s not.
It’s all relative. It’d be just as easy to argue the head in the sand argument at an American who thinks they’re just gonna pack up to a random city in Europe and avoid the consequences of what’s happening globally. I understand we’re all just trying to feel like we have agency over our own lives and don’t exist at the whim of a handful of billionaires, so to each their own.
Fascism is always a possibility anywhere in the world. The difference is that it’s here and now in the US. I sure as shit would be doing everything I could to not be there anymore if I were there. It’s fucking scary enough watching it from Canada and I won’t have any hesitation to flee if the tanks start rolling in this direction.
I left earlier this year. I’m a tan skinned Latina trans woman immigrant, basically their #1 target. I’m still absolutely terrified for my friends and family.
I truly hate that I’m still chained to the US via my citizenship. A part of me hopes they denaturalize me so I don’t have to pay them shit.
Can’t you denounce your citizenship? It’s also not possible for them to force you to pay taxes on income you don’t earn in the US - unless you want to return at some point. I hope you’re some place safe that respects your identity now.
Renouncing US citizenship is no easy task, and I’d rather not do that before I get new citizenship
Totally fair - being stateless is objectively worse that being hated by your state (I don’t mean that sarcasticly, it’s fucked up on so many levels)
I think it’s actually pretty expensive to renounce US citizenship
The US is a bit special. It is the only state to require its citizens pay taxes to it on (regular) earnings abroad. Other places only tax earnings made inside their own borders.
So to truly be off the hook for American taxes as a non-elite, you’ll have to renounce your citizenship.
Don’t leave. It solves nothing and allows growth of tyranny. Fight back.
Tyranny has taken over - staying is a choice to live in fascism. Fascism does not die from within, it does a slow death from being excommunicated from the world or it dies a quick death as the world responds to it’s expansionist tendencies. It does not die because people stop voting for it.
I am not speaking about voting. I am speaking about revolution. Americans wouldn’t understand that I suppose. They certainly don’t seem to.
Civil war/sabotage from within are option too, but I am not seeing any sense of leadership emerging on either of those fronts (not to say it would/should be obvious).
Don’t leave. It solves nothing
It keeps you alive. Just ask all those Europeans who fled the bloodbath of the world wars.
It ensures others fight your battles for you when it takes you standing up first to ensure others help.
An easy thing to say if you’ve never been shot at
I have been shot at thank you very much. For just doing my job trying to help people. A good chunk of Americans certainly have been shot at with feeding the war machine for decades and having one of the highest mass murder and gun ownership rates in the world.
Too late for that now…they’ll just take all your money, house, claim you’re not a citizen, force you to work for 1/256th of that you earn now and keep the bribe from companies that bought you.
Well either choice leads to imprisonment of some type so I’ll go out blasting rather than perpetuate it
Be safe.
Then your government will acquire yet more debt. And if everything crumbles down for them, there will be your offspring paying for that debt and their taxes for generations.
I don’t know what’s worse, honestly. I just know everyone needs to fight back and resist, and they’ll get exhausted fighting everywhere in the world. But it they don’t have to fight, they’ll just keep doing their shit.
This shit can’t be bankrolled any more. I personally didn’t have offspring because the future is far too bleak to even dream of subjecting another human being to what’s to come. Yeah, we need to start fighting and needed to quite some time ago.
Nice of you to assume I’m gonna have kids.
I’m not great with English, sorry. The message I was trying to get through was for “you all” as a group of people.
Offspring? In this economy?
The government can just print money, they don’t actually strictly need your taxes (see MMT). The only actual path is withholding labour and mass protests (with at least a credible threat of violent escalations).
Printing money is how you get hyperinflation. You cant just print money without it flooding the market. If you do that too often, the money becomes worthless.
Fuck it! Either the dollar fails because no one wants to come to the US… or you just keep printing money. Either way you’re fucked.
Yeah, I don’t see a lot of ways this ends well. Maybe a prolonged national strike. But even that isn’t likely to happen.
I haven’t contributed to the economy in any meaningful way and have managed to make money without working any real job since the last place I worked at shuttered in 2020, withholding my labor. I’ve been doing my part. And I’m only one person so there’s not much else I can do unless more people are also doing it.
Do you not buy anything with sales tax attached to it?
I worded what I said to account for small things like that by saying I haven’t contributed to the economy in any meaningful way. I see you want to play little games about it so I guess I’ll have to explain that that part of my statement was to mean things such as loans, stock market, and not spending expendable income. If you want to play the game of scrutinizing though then fuck off
Or leave. Stop supporting the country in the most literal sense.
Leaving would make it worse. Every single person who wants to leave as a result of this is the opposition. Without us, they have free reign.
They already have free reign. There is no active opposition against them.
If the majority of the intelligencia class leaves the US will be critically harmed in one of its most lucrative areas. The US has done an excellent job of attaching to talent over the past century, if that talent simply up and leaves it places the US at a disadvantage economically, socially and intellectually (importantly including science and engineering fields).
I think you may be underestimating just how many engineering folks have zero morals and find it ‘fun’ to build bombs and missiles and sensors. They don’t require ethics courses for a reason
This is incredibly bad logic that you have constructed so that you can have the reality you want.
Your simple solutions are like that of Elon Musk suggesting a submarine for a cave rescue just because you think it would be a cool way to do it. It has no backing of reality behind it.
You’re totally right, no other dictator has ever taken an oppressive position to their intelligentsia and those that remained in fascist nations have been super effective at degrading it from within… Just look at the USSR, Italy, Spain or Chile under their fascist leaders. They all were super supportive of their institutions of higher learning and those that remained stopped all kinds of atrocious government actions. They were all better off for staying put. /s
Even if everyone left, he’s still got a bunch of nukes and other powers that could affect the rest of us.
It’s status quo at this point. It’s either leave or gear up for civil war.
That means this is their new military.
Pretty clever if you think if it. They don’t try to convince their current one but build one up besides them while starving them of their resources.
Building a paramilitary beholden to Party-aligned officials as a stopgap until the Party seizes total control of the actual military is boilerplate fascism.
EDIT: And when they do seize control the military, it usually doesn’t end well for the paramilitary.
Who do you think they’re going to Merc? Is it Jigsaw?
It does seem a lot like Schutzstaffel. They’ll need their very own Stasi too.
Pretty similar to what the Nazis did
And not beholden to anybody but Trump himself. He can do with it as he please.
There’s no way they need all those people and resources if they’re only going after illegal immigrants. They’re going to start disappearing their other targets too. People of Colour, Democrats, LGBTQ, scientists. Get in line. I hope you’re ready for what we know is coming.
First they came for the immigrants…
It’ll be trans people first. Then gays. Eventually blacks. Then democrats.
Seems like right now it’s Iranian Americans.
They skipped the disabled. They’ve been killing them for centuries.
Is anyone still pretending ICE is about immigration? ICE is Trump’s SS, and they just got funding beyond any dictator’s wildest dreams. Good luck with your totalitarian police state.
Edit: I want to retract my last sentence. It was callous and stupid. My heart aches for the people who fought against this.
Don’t worry, the gun nuts will stand up against the totalitarian regime.
Its probably time we all become the gun nuts at least while they still let us
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Actually really curious as to the exact wording of this.
Because I wonder if this one in particular were better publicized, if it would turn some percentage of hardcore single-issue 2A types against the regime, if they put their money where their (very loud) mouths are.
It seems like it wouldn’t work, but I imagine if we can broadcast a lot of “Are you STILL so sure they’re not the bad guys?!” messages with receipts, it could eventually change some minds.
Even if they want to get back to arguing with us over the dinner table when the dust settles, we need everyone we can get.
I’m going to neg on my own comment, I don’t trust Snopes anymore, but many news services also discredited what I mentioned. So at this point, because we know their reality is mutable and transient, who knows if it really happened or not. I’d still bank on yes, but I have no actual evidence to back it up.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-roger-stone-guns-memo/
Your integrity and commitment to transparency and truth is most honorable and appreciated.
Thank you for the update and for being a shining example the rest of us should follow. Stay safe out there. <3
I appreciate that, it is a thin line to ride, social comments can be whatever they want, do you want a free dopamine hit? Or hope to share information even when you end up being wrong in the process? It can even be affected by current moods.
For whatever it is worth, I just try to hopefully post enough helpful stuff to overall average being useful versus accidentally spreading disinformation. Although everyone trying to be their own truth filter alone is very exhausting. Especially without inducing bias. Not looking for credit in this either, just, I hope we could all aspire to be better-er, even if only a tiny bit.
Also, just human, so not all posts are gold, or bronze, hahahaha…
Stay safe!
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The left need to arm themselves asap
That’s how it was supposed to be, until the Right co-opted firearms as an entire personality, and the liberal response was to spread ignorance, miseducation, and fear about them so that their party branding looked different enough.
So now all the insecure, hateful, scared-of-everybody violence-fantasists are armed, knowledgeable, and stocked.
And those that would oppose authoritarianism en masse were force-fed “Only cops and the military should be armed and the rest of us should just wish they didn’t exist”.
So they’re now largely rendered toothless and clawless normies who think flash hiders, rail grips, and black paint make a weapon “more lethal.” And don’t know what to do with themselves if pickets and law systems don’t have an effect.
Meanwhile the “patriotic” bullies ramble about “freedom” and “small government” whilst simping for their fascist overlords unopposed by any actual threat.
Like most loud bullies, most are the types that would likely break if met with any actual opposition that could do them harm.
I don’t want to see it come to this, but we need to educate and train ourselves before it’s too late. The threat alone might be enough to put them in their place.
It’s very clear nobody is coming to save us from this worsening state of affairs.
Any moment now 🫠
Daily reminder to all ICE agents. By signing up for ICE, you have signed yourself up for a lifetime of fear and criminal liability. There are Nazi concentration camp guards that were tried for their crimes in their 90s. There is no statute of limitations on crimes against humanity. Your names are recorded; your deeds are known. And you will face justice for your crimes. And do not count on a blanket pardon saving you. Crimes against humanity are violations of international law that cannot be pardoned.
fuck legal systems, we all know the next democrat will pardon them or refuse to prosecute them.
they need to live in fear from decent human beings,
There’s not going to be a next Democrat.
I hope you’re wrong but…I really don’t think you are and I hate it.
Yeah why would the Democrats do this to us??? 🙄
they already did that.
trump should have been put in jail during the Biden administration.
surely this neck gaiter will protect me from consequences
That’s something I’ve thought about a lot; these people are going to war with their society, and their and their family’s names and addresses are one data breech away from public knowledge.
Fortunately the government is protecting them by mass layoffs and encouraging mass retirements from anyone involved in data security.
My personal bingo card has the families of some these people dropped off in the chihuahaun desert if they piss off the cartels.
Not all guards of concentration camps or SS members were prosecuted. That was also an unusual situation as the Nazi state and the SS ceased to exist and was occupied for decades.
No ICE agent will be prosecuted for conducting arrests or executing warrants against illegal immigrants. Once mass torture, inhumane treatment, extralegal executions and such start, it becomes more risky for them.
We don’t know how bad it will get yet or what comes after. In the best case Trump and republicans lose the next elections. A New Democrat government could simply downsize ICE and only prosecute a handful of bad apples. Remember what happened after Abu Ghraib.
Gestapo. They’re Nazi Gestapo. Treat them as they deserve.
I’d argue they are more like the SS at this point. Consider: the point of the Gestapo was to police the German population and root out internal threats to the Nazis. The SS, on the other hand, were a military branch that were responsible for eradication of the “undesirable elements”. I feel like the latter is a more fitting mold for ICE.
The SS had many tasks. One of them was to protect the regime against coups from the army or SA.
At the beginning the SA also ran concentration camps, the SS took them over soon.
SS, Gestapo, and regular police were all under Himmler’s command via the Reichssicherheitshauptamt.
Gestapo was formed from preexisting secret political police forces.
Trumpism operates differently than Nazism. However Trump needs a loyal oppression infrastructure to build a more authoritarian system. ICE is on its way to enable that.
Thanks for the clarification!
We’re probably nearing the point where Americans will start trying to get over the border wall and into Mexico.
Luckily CBP got a nice budget increase so they can prevent anyone from leaving too.
I can totally see this coming.
The developed world has a population growth problem. Population growth has slowed or reversed in many countries, but the global economy is designed around infinite growth, fed by an infinitely growing pool of workers and customers. Then when they retire they can be taken care of by the infinitely growing population of young people.
It takes zero imagination to picture this administration forcing “high value human resources” to remain in the country, including putting them on no fly lists. Unfortunately since they are stupid, the brain drain has already started.
This goes nicely with abortion bans, criminalization of life choices that don’t produce babies, and the disenfranchisement of women.
Honestly been looking into it. If things go south enough, I’ve thought about driving down that way. Closer than Canada. I’d have to get through Texas, but teaching math in Mexico City sounds nice.
In Mexico right now. It’s beautiful, the people are friendly, cost of living is easily half that of the States, and the food is spectacular.
What’s rent for a one bedroom apartment? My Spanish isn’t great but it’s tolerable. Any science or math teacher openings in your area lol?
I imagine border security into the country is easier than the other way around.
What’s rent for a one bedroom apartment?
Pretty wide range depending on neighborhood and quality. I’m in Condesa, so it’s in the $600-1200 USD range. You can definitely find cheaper.
I imagine border security into the country is easier than the other way around.
It’s not really an issue in Mexico City.
My brother lived in Mexico City about a decade ago. We’re from the US. MC always had a bad rep, but like many things, it was overblown. Worst part of the city is the traffic. Public transport can be a little tight. Gotta get used to whatever lives in the water. Otherwise, I always enjoyed visiting. There was the one time there was an earthquake while I was on the roof of a high-rise, we don’t get those in Jersey, but that’s a fluke.
That was the secondary goal, keep people out and in.
I’d rather live around active cartels at this point.
I was gonna say. Things might be different if I was in poverty and in central America, but for the rest of us the US just seems like a real awful place to be.
Seems like it’s time to for people to learn about sustained direct action campaigns.
Rev Left Radio had a great interview earlier this year with a member of Palestine Action about their extremely successful direct action campaign against Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit. While the media would have you believe that Palestine Action is an ineffective bunch of clowns, they have already forced the closure of two weapons factories in England and forced Barclays Bank to divest from Elbit through sustained sabotage campaigns. Their incredible success is the actual reason the UK government has named them a terrorist organization, not just for spray painting some planes.
https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=Palestine+action
For legal reasons, I am not encouraging anyone to break any laws.
Love Rev Left, recommended listening for everyone
Remember when republican bitches about how much we spent on immigration?
What a stupid thing to waste money on.
You could save some of that money and just enforce rules and fines on the people who hire undocumented workers. You’ll get money from fines and people will stop hiring those without papers. It’s almost like the problem will take care of itself.
Oh wait, that’s right. This is all about hurting brown people, breaking up families, throwing sick kids in cages, and making them suffer.
Nevermind.
It’s a bit more than that. ICE can act outside the constitution within 100 miles of the border. We’ve really only seen this with warrantless searches but that’s gonna expand.
Which covers like 2/3 of the US population.
It’s even more egregious than that; I’m pretty sure a court ruled a while ago that international airports count as borders too, for the purposes of ICE.
Anyone take bets that ICE will start arresting political enemies?
tomorrow
Well, it’s nice to know the US is getting what they voted for. LOL
I’d like to see them crack down on employers who pay substandard wages no matter who they’re trying to exploit. It does not bother me that anyone is hiring illegal immigrants specifically.
But, but it’s not the poor employers fault for taking advantage of illegal immigrants. That would be very unfair to our glorious job creators. /s
O, we did this…and we decreased our revenue through tax cuts…while we sorta made up for that by fucking over millions of Americans in the process…but…the rich…will be richer…so thats nice.
I’m officially ready to be radicalized.
I’m this country, not wanting to go to a concentration camp makes you a radical
Not wanting to go to a concentration camp is understandable, especially if you have a high paying job.
Not wanting OTHER people you’ve never met to go to concentration camps? Whoaaa there Che, put down that AK-47!
Same, I’m done
*Palantir standing the corner taking notes.*
Arm yourselves now, before it’s too late.
But we can’t afford to feed kids or have medical care or research for cancers and diseases or build housing for everyone.
But we can buy expensive bombs galore to drop on families and build concentration camps.
Neat.
So, when do we all stop paying taxes and stop going to work and bring the whole system crashing down to stop this madness?
Just waiting for a large group to start a movement to call for the general strike. We all need to agree on when we start otherwise small pockets of strikers will just get fired. We need the collective to start all at once so we protect each other’s jobs by being unanimous.
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So now they are the biggest millitary and paramilitary spender. Cool.
This is perverse
Even more so when you remember that the original “we need to get rid of all those immigrants” argument stemmed from migrants costing the country too much money.
Trillions for deportation. Not one penny for infrastructure or social services.
The ICE budget is free college for everyone like 3 times over.
Its incredible what people will support with actual money and loss of freedom if they are sold racist lies
