The Rot Goes Deeper Than ICE

[gfarber]

5. DHS Re-imagined

There once was an agency, ICE,
That decided the law was “be nice…
to ourselves,” they all said,
As they stomped on the dead,
And called it “enforcement” (how trice).

With quotas to hit and to brag,
They hunted like points on a tag.
“Not people,” they sneered,
As the cruelty cleared,
Just numbers to toss in a bag.

They crowed, “We’ve got absolute shields!”
While swinging their boots like they’re seals.
No judge, no review,
Just “fuck you, fuck you”—
Accountability’s for the weak-kneed.

Minneapolis learned the hard way
What happens when goons get carte blanche to play:
When the stick meets the head,
And the badge’s well-fed,
Public safety just fucks off and stays away.

But ICE is just one nasty limb
Of a Homeland Security grim.
Born post-9/11,
It metastasized, leavened
With fear till the monster grew slimy and prim.

D.H.S. calls the public “a threat,”
Every neighbor a target to vet.
Protect and serve? Please.
It prefers to police
The idea that freedom’s a bet.

Back in ’01 we had choices to make—
Liberty or the panic-brain take?
We picked “don’t look weak,”
Let the balance go bleak,
And crowned “security” king of the snake.

The courts chimed in, nodding along:
“Yeah, sure, more power—what’s wrong?”
Now presidents reign,
Checks gone down the drain,
And the rest of us get fucked lifelong.

Undoing this shit won’t be fast,
And Trump sure as hell won’t look past
His strongman wet dream
Of a jackboot regime—
But the time to start fixing was past.

So here’s the fix, boring but true:
Take the goddamn badges back to DOJ too.
Law first, not the gun,
No more cosplay for fun—
De-militarize or enjoy the coup.