This Is the Perfect Moment for Democrats to Grow a Spine

"The time for triangulating is over. With the second murder of a Minneapolis citizen at the hands of untrained, immunity-drunk, and predatory federal agents, Democrats must fundamentally shift their approach to immigration policy. It's long past time for the party to move past its learned helplessness in the face of MAGA bloodlust fantasies about an invading horde of undocumented immigrants-and to vindicate the human rights of workers and neighbors confronting Gestapo-style seizures, renditions, and executions of a lawless invading force."

"Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old VA nurse shot 11 times in the back after being thrown to the ground by federal goons, was documenting their abuses in the hopes of halting them and returning our federal government to some semblance of moral responsibility. The bare minimum that national Democrats can do in his memory is to dismantle the ICE bureaucracy of terror once and for all."

"After Pretti's execution on Saturday, a key swing bloc of Senate Democrats had signaled that they would vote no on the House-passed appropriations bill that would deliver $10 billion in additional funding for ICE. This is on top of the tripling of the agency's budget secured in last summer's tax-and-spending bill. House GOP leaders had already carved out the ICE appropriation into a separate bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, so that another swing bloc of right-leaning Democrats would support it."

Federal agents killed a Minneapolis resident, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old VA nurse who was shot 11 times in the back after being thrown to the ground while documenting alleged abuses. The killing demands a fundamental shift in Democratic immigration strategy and an end to political triangulation; calls include dismantling ICE. The House passed an appropriations bill that would add $10 billion for ICE, on top of a tripled budget from last summer's tax-and-spending bill. House GOP leaders separated ICE funding into a DHS bill to entice right-leaning Democrats. After the killing, Democratic support for the measure collapsed, imperiling the appropriation.

Read at The Nation