There is no easier or more important political position to take than to do everything possible to stop this. It will change our society forever, and Democrats are going along with it.

THREAD. Every day new evidence emerges of ICE agents committing the *most serious violent crimes* in our criminal code and then *lying about it.* It's important to draw correct lessons from this, but anyone with sense is excluded from mainstream news.

This passage from Copaganda seems particularly relevant:

THREAD. Every day new evidence emerges of ICE agents committing the *most serious violent crimes* in our criminal code and then *lying about it.* It's important to draw correct lessons from this, but anyone with sense is excluded from mainstream news.

A few news cycles later, and Trump's ICE and CBP are already using the ludicrous Democratic Party push for body cameras to talk about increased funding.

If you teach/study Media then you might already have a sub to @mediamagemc.bsky.social; if not, get one! Our Feb issue has just come out and it features an interview I did with @equalityalec.bsky.social about his excellent book, 'Copaganda'. www.englishandmedia.co.uk/emc-magazine...

THREAD. One of the great propaganda myths of our society is that police spend their time dealing with "violent crime." ICE is no different. "Violence" is a pretext to sell it. Did you know that only 4% of all police time in the U.S. is devoted to "violent crime"?

Last summer, a sheriff put it plainly: the federal government “depends on sheriffs and county jails to have bed space,” and his ICE contract helps “pay the bills.” Marie Gottschalk on books by @briannanofil.bsky.social @jesspish.bsky.social @michellesphelps.bsky.social @equalityalec.bsky.social:

One dangerous thing in this moment of Democrats focusing on fake "reforms" for ICE is that many news outlets, pundits, politicians, cops, and the for-profit policing industry are using this moment to downplay or erase the rampant lawlessness, surveillance, and brutality of contemporary policing.

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.

It is a scandal that more people in positions of influence are not informing people that everything they are seeing--e.g. dystopian government violence, databases, lawlessness--is occurring *before* the dramatic expansion in militarized surveillance spending for ICE.

If you see a politician or a pundit or even a "civil rights" leader who is not talking about clawing back this unprecedented funding for surveillance, militarized invasions, and privatized concentration camps, then you know this is not a serious person. It's an easy litmus test.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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!

Congrats to Hakeem Jeffries. He’s worked so hard for this victory.

One thing some Democrats I’ve talked to miss is that when they call for all the ICE agents in Minneapolis to have body cameras record everyone they interact with it undermines the demand that the agents leave.

This. I started Julian Go's Policing Empire this afternoon and it's incredibly relevant. Among other things the intro makes clear how domestic militarization has historically required a racialization co-factor to justify importing coloniality from the periphery.

THREAD. ICE is in the news, and rightly so, but a lot of the commentary fails to see how the underlying surveillance tech, militarization, infrastructure, policies/practices/training, and corporate profiteers are shared by other domestic agencies and repressive bureaucracies in other countries.

Much of the public believes violent crime is a major problem, even though it's at historic lows in the United States. This disconnect is "the product of carefully cultivated propaganda," says author @equalityalec.bsky.social. https://www.democracynow.org/2026/1/27/alec_karakatsanis

THREAD. There's one proposal that would make a difference and that is popular across the population: if ICE or any other federal employee violates your constitutional rights, you should be able to sue them for damages without any immunity or other procedural technicalities that now make it harder.

Notice that Democratic Party leaders are not only not proposing meaningful measures to stop this, but they are actively proposing to *keep giving ICE money to do it.*

I always recommend people spend less time consuming news and more time with long form journalism. Well, this is one of the best things you'll read. It's a hopeful story that has long been inspiring to me, and it's told beautifully here: www.gq.com/story/walpol...

This seems important 👇

THREAD. Yesterday we won a landmark injunction striking down the cash bail system in Riverside, California.

In this moment, I cannot emphasized enough how important it is to understand what Democrats and mainstream news media are doing to blunt and misdirect outrage over ICE to "reforms" and talking points that are utterly fraudulent and that will only increase the repressive capacities of the government.

Paper details how police pushed for body cams so that they could protect themselves and control narrative while policing and surveilling more aggressively. Dems allied w cops to create narrative that this was somehow a corrective for state violence, now every time they kill they get more $$/power

What we are seeing right now with leading Democrats is a defining moment of liberal propaganda. As you try to understand the situation, please read this article I wrote on Democrats, police, and body cameras. campuspress.yale.edu/yjll/volume-...

I want everyone to understand that Democrats are proposing not one thing that will meaningfully constrain ICE--and several things that will make it worse. But they also have absolutely nothing to say about the massive, daily violence of the DHS bureaucracy. Chris Murphy just ignores this stuff:

This is a speech designed by someone who thinks you are stupid. He’s explicitly promising to keep the *recently tripled* budget of the DHS gestapo if there are “reforms” that, behind closed doors, their lawyers admit are unenforceable, irrelevant, and even harmful.

In the wake of the horrific ICE killings in Minnesota, many prominent Democrats have called for ICE to wear body cameras. Yesterday, @equalityalec.bsky.social talked to @democracynow.org about how important it is that we don't get distracted by meaningless & counterproductive reforms.

Great segment yesterday with @equalityalec.bsky.social . There's a straight line from the post-2020 fearmongering about crime to the current horrors. We are, to a large extent, reaping the "Don't Say Defund" liberal backlash against the 2020 uprisings.

This video is one of the most important things to watch to understand our society and the legal system we have created. Two 5-year-olds are confined in a concentration camp because they lack cash assets to pay bond. Just take a look at their drawing. www.threads.com/@maddowshow/...

Here is my full appearance today on Democracy Now talking about the moment of Copaganda that we are now living in: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

If the Democrats approve the unprecedented DHS and ICE funding package (3x 2024’s already record budget!) based on these meaningless and, in any event, unenforceable “reforms,” it will be among the greatest moral betrayals and strategic failures of the modern era.

Find time in your day to listen to the fantastic @equalityalec.bsky.social talk copaganda

Thread: Body cams won't stop this. We want abolition. They want surveillance. Share this thread and read these 5 essential abolitionist resources exposing the body cam lie. PS these other reforms are garbage, too. bsky.app/profile/greg...