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Trump's secret police are terrorizing American streets
The altercations are growing more tense — especially in Los Angeles.
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Narciso Barranco was trimming the grass with a weed whacker last Saturday outside of an IHOP in Santa Ana, California, when masked Border Patrol agents showed up.
The agents pepper-sprayed Barranco and pinned him to the ground, punching him repeatedly in the face as bystanders watched in shock, one of them recording the disturbing scene on his phone.
The Department of Homeland Security now claims its officers were in the right in attacking Barranco, because the father of three Marines “ASSAULTED” the officers, the agency claimed on X. DHS’s evidence: a second video that shows Barranco briefly pointing the tool toward an agent who was pepper spraying him while the landscaper and father of three Marines tried to run away.
The video of Barranco’s brutal detainment has gone viral as further evidence of the brutality of Donald Trump’s immigration raids that have swept across California and other states. Videos of immigration agents roughing up immigrants, bystanders, activists, or people recording the incidents surface online every day now.
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Many of the incidents are being caught on camera by citizens, bystanders, and activists in the Los Angeles area. They show the aggressive and often inhumane tactics used by immigration agents who are concealing their identities with masks.
On Tuesday in downtown LA, a man who activists say is a street vendor was taken down by several immigration agents. The scene quickly devolved into chaos as bystanders pulled out their phones. One agent — who had just put his taser to the man’s head as he lay on the ground underneath two other officers — pointed the weapon at the face of a woman who was recording the scene.
Meanwhile, right-wing media, Republican politicians, the White House, and immigration agencies are in full celebration mode. The same scenes of masked agents grabbing immigrants off the streets that have drawn outrage from many Americans are being saluted by Republicans and the American right as the embodiment of law and order.
What would you call it in another country?
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has called on the Senate to pass the budget reconciliation package — named by Trump and Republicans as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — because it will allow for the hiring of 18,000 additional immigration agents, including 10,000 new agents at ICE alone.
At the same time, the Supreme Court has sided with the Trump administration and will allow what’s known as third country renditions — snatching immigrants from American streets and sending them to countries where they have no ties. The court also recently granted sweeping immunity to Trump’s immigration agents from being sued for violating the civil rights of citizens and non-citizens alike.
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As ICE and other agencies have taken to the streets to carry out the mass deportation plans of Trump and top aide Stephen Miller, Americans, mostly in large, Democratic cities, have pushed back. The scenes have been chaotic, leading to large demonstrations in Los Angeles and clashes with law enforcement there. In recent days, Angeleno responding to ICE raids have been glitter-bombing agents