ICE Age
Audio Recording by George Hahn
President Trump is no longer fighting inflation, China, or AI. Instead, he’s declared war on a manufactured threat: the “enemy within” — immigrants, journalists, and professors. Our biggest threat, apparently, isn’t Russian aggression or economic inequality; it’s your Uber driver or anthropology professor. This is not only cruel (and depraved) but stupid, as the chill being cast across the agriculture, services, and construction sectors will likely be more inflationary than the tariffs (more stupidity). Trump’s goal is to deport 4 million undocumented people over four years — that’s about 3% of the U.S. workforce; 10% to 15% in several sectors dependent on immigrant labor.
The “Big, Beautiful Bill” signed into law on July 4 isn’t about border security. It’s a blueprint for mass detention and deportation, a $75 billion hammer in search of a scapegoat. Under the law, ICE gets funding that rivals the military budgets of Italy or Israel to build sites like the facility in the Everglades nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz. The goal? Fear.
This isn’t law enforcement. It’s authoritarian cosplay designed to scare the electorate and silence dissent. Trump’s war doesn’t punish behavior but identity, as immigrants from certain countries and ethnicities are targeted. Federal agents in full tactical gear swept through a park in Latino-heavy L.A. this week, just to make a point. The mayor said: “It’s the way a city looks before a coup.” Q. What do storm troopers, the KKK, and ICE have in common? A mask.
Modern-Day Gestapo
ICE has become Trump’s personal Praetorian Guard. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Vice President Harris’s running mate, was excoriated for comparing ICE to the gestapo. But spare us the bullshit indignation: Masked agents in fatigues raiding churches and schools separating families is not modern America but 1930s Europe. Or is it?
In the 2026 fiscal year, ICE will receive over $11 billion, a 10% increase from current funding. The new law will more than double that. It authorizes the hiring of 10,000 agents, bringing ICE’s force to nearly 30,000. In 1944, Nazi Germany had 32,000 gestapo officers and $2b (inflation adjusted) in funding. They were fighting a world war. Trump is fighting home health aides and Uber drivers.
Criminals? Not Really
ICE claims it’s targeting “the worst of the worst.” But fewer than one-third of the record 59,000 immigrant detainees have been convicted of any crime. The rest? A: Immigrants who didn’t look like the typical Iowa voter.
Trump’s reach even extends to his political rivals. He publicly questioned the citizenship of NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and his former First Friend (Elon). Mamdani has been a U.S. citizen since 2018. Doesn’t matter. “Criminal” now also means “not for Trump.”
Jobs and Lies
The argument that immigrants are stealing jobs is a lie told by people who’ve never built a business or managed a P&L. Immigrants create jobs. They work jobs native-born Americans won’t touch. They pay into Social Security but rarely collect. Deporting them is an economic own goal. The Cato Institute estimates the cost of mass deportations could eventually exceed $1 trillion. The Peterson Institute projects a 1.2% drop in GDP if 1.3 million people are deported, growing to 7% if deportations hit 8 million. That’s not policy, but (see above) stupidity: hurting others while hurting yourself.
The Real Invasion: AI
Instead of militarizing immigration enforcement, we should be investing against the real challenge: AI. The World Economic Forum says 9 million jobs globally may be displaced in the next five years. Anthropic’s CEO warns AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs. Imagine the population of Greece storming the shores of America and taking jobs (even jobs Americans actually want), as they’re willing to work 24/7 for free. You’ve already met them. Their names are GPT, Claude, and Gemini.
Want to protect American workers? Train, don’t terrorize.
Media and Academia in the Crosshairs
Trump’s war on domestic enemies doesn’t stop with ICE. He’s coming for the press and the academy. Disney, Meta, and Paramount have all settled nuisance lawsuits with Trump, for a combined total of about $60 million. All the funds go to his presidential library — where truth will go to be laundered, not learned. Newsrooms are folding or playing defense. Breaking with a long-standing tradition, the White House is handpicking press pool participants.
Harvard, once America’s aircraft carrier strike force of soft power, is now a MAGA speed bag. Autocrats always come for universities, which train people to ask questions. The White House is threatening to defund billions in research, choke off international student visas, and criminalize campus dissent. Nearly 300 top researchers have applied for “scientific asylum” — in France. In the thirties and forties, some of the world’s premier academics fled Europe for America. They brought quantum theory, chemotherapy, modern computing, and other breakthroughs with them. Oh, including the bomb. The rivers of elite human capital are now flowing in reverse, and we’re sending the scholars back. How can we be this fucking stupid?
Warriors vs. Whiners
This isn’t a slippery slope, but a vertical drop. Trump has Congress kneeling, courts folding, and corporations cashing in. What’s left is us. This was never just about immigrants, professors, or journalists. It’s about unchecked power that, unchallenged, is metastasizing.
Democracy doesn’t defend itself. We won’t fight this with hashtags, but with votes, lawsuits, and courage. This is the moment we decide: Are we citizens of a republic, or spectators to its collapse?
Life is so rich,
P.S. Historian Heather Cox Richardson joined me this week on the Prof G Pod to discuss the rise of authoritarianism, the myth of rugged individualism, and what Democrats keep getting wrong. Listen on Apple or Spotify or watch on YouTube.
30 Comments
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UPDATE: So it turns out that the ICE raid at the California pot farm not only rescued a bunch of child labor victims but also caught a convict with a history of sex crimes.
A California marijuana farm is under investigation for child labor violations after 10 illegal alien juveniles were found at the facility during an immigration raid on Thursday, some as young as 14.
CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott on Saturday, “one of the farmers they arrested was previously “sentenced to 7 yrs for kidnapping & attempted rape, w/ a prior conviction for attempted child molestation.”
Why do all of these ICE raids seem to uncover child laborers and convicted rapists / child molestors?
How come the Left does not care about that.
At all.
Why does the Left always seem to be on the side of defending the convicted rapists / child molestors?
What happened to the “missing” 300K at the border during Biden’s watch?
Who sold those kids?
Who bought those kids?
Who covered it up?
This is what I voted for. Every day I wake up and check the news to see how many people have been deported. Honestly, I have no sympathy for illegal aliens. I don’t care how many jobs will be lost, or how much the economy will suffer. I don’t care if they are separated from their families, or how long they have lived in the United States. I don’t care! I want them gone!
Your paragraph about AI is understandable given your limited interest, but wrong nonetheless. This matters because the marketing you’re unwittingly repeating is aimed directly at your core audience of angry, stupid young men seeking a grift.
The C-suite at every one of the Big Tech cartel will say & pretend whatever is deemed necessary to make Line Go Up. The WEF is a publication mill by and for them. Several of their reports are produced “with” Accenture, a buy-&-kill vulture capital and consultancy i.e. specialists in destroying profitable jobs. Anthropic’s product is destruction of jobs. All these have incentive to make massive claims about the number of jobs AI can destroy, and no incentive to tell the truth.
The specific tactic in use here has been dubbed “criti-hype”: You & your co-opted reporters write from the POV that you’re TERRIFIED because the thing you’re working on is SO POWERFUL & IMPORTANT & DANGEROUS. Hey, do you remember when Tesla was totally building full self-driving cars? & everyone built a big division headed by an ambitious VP with a Rolodex? & the years-long barrage of articles on how self-driving semis were going to end civilization by destroying the last OK job for uneducated men? That. In reality, the genAI “industry” is a money hole, has total user numbers comparable to a successful freemium mobile game, & had the hose turned off in January this year.
In addition, Scott is trying to instill fear of AI in everyone so that they will all sign up for his Section classes. Not sure how it is doing now, but in 2022, Section whacked 25 percent of its staff.
I think that the comparison of ICE (only veen with is since 2003 btw) to a Gestapo is inapt. They seem more like a paramilitary force waiting for the next target. Harnessed to fight for their leader and his faction, not for the nation. Otherwise, good stuff, bound to get you on the enemies list.
Thanks for reminding us that a journalism degree is a good prerequisite for becoming an Uber driver.
I’m willing to wager that I’m the only US born reader of Scott’s newsletter who has both 1) worked on the US-Mexico border and 2) been a “undocumented alien” in a foreign country. The first was as a managerial employee in a Maquiladora in Reynosa Mexico, crossing the border each way for three years. I’ve seen the lifestyle these undocumented workers are fleeing – most gringos couldn’t even conceive of it, let alone live that way. The second was when I worked in the UK for the American criminal enterprise known as Cabletron Systems/Riverstone Networks. The company fell apart in a flurry of SEC violations and prison sentences for execs, and I was left in the UK with a no-longer valid work permit. It took me a year and a shedload of lawyer fees to get a UK green card equivalent, but while I was there no one was knocking down our door or trying to deport me. White Americans have no clue just how cruel stupid and depraved Trump, ICE Barbie and Stephen Miller are – it is indeed 1930s Deutschland behavior. Open your eyes!
“I’ve seen the lifestyle these undocumented workers are fleeing – most gringos couldn’t even conceive of it, let alone live that way.”
You are correct.
There are some Hell on Earth 3rd World countries that are being ruled / terrorized by some of the most horrible cartels on planet earth which is why it’s really important you vet people before you let them into your country.
Open Borders completely destroys that vetting process and creates trillion dollar revenue streams for those very same horrific human trafficking & drug cartels.
Import the Horrors of the 3rd World and then become the 3rd World.
So whatever happened to the immigration bill while Biden was in office that was supported by Congress until Trump told them to shut it down, he didnt want the immigration crisis solved? How is that not being re-tried to help solve this issue? I guess it doesnt result in good videos though of immigrants being detained and flown away? Answered my own question.
I love and follow your podcast since inception, Prof G. But, coming from a legal alien naturalized American citizen, law and order is an important issue to me. I also do not think is morally right to encourage industries that rely on low-wage labor benefit indirectly from undocumented workers. And if your point is inclusivity and diversity, that’s OK with me if you abide to the law of this country and you come to be a positive force to the only long-lasting experiment of democracy on this planet. Many of us do not want to end up like many European countries where the local history and identity is negatively impacted by an uncontrolled immigration.
Scott’s never stepped foot in places wrecked by Biden’s border disaster. He’s not staying at Roosevelt in NYC—he’s in hotels 99.9% of us don’t know exist, smirking from his private jet as it flies over towns like Reading, OH, forever changed for the worse. He’s never spoken to a teacher drowning in overcrowded classes from mass illegal immigration. He just bloviates, attends fancy events, and bangs his keyboard.
He trashes higher ed as cartels (they are) but virtue-signals about universities teaching people to “ask questions.” Bwahahaha. To quote Scott: “So Rich.”
Normal people—who ended this in November—are sick of higher ed indoctrinating our youth, especially girls. How many of us know young women who went to college as happy kids and emerged angry at the world, determined to right imagined wrongs? Thank God young men have figured it out.
Higher ed won’t stop. It’s spent 40 years pushing this crap into K-12, producing teachers hellbent on liberal dogma instead of reading, math, and science.
Scott, let 300 academics flee to France. We’ll replace them with brilliant Indian immigrants who work harder and value family. I agree: immigrants often outwork Americans with equal or better education. But Scott, it’s your party’s guns-and-butter policies that incentivized poor behavior, eroding accountability—the bedrock of all cultures.
An Iranian Uber driver, newly a citizen, told me becoming American meant “freedom.” He EARNED it.
At first, they came for the illegal aliens who had committed violent felonies, and I said nothing because I was not an illegal alien who had committed a violent felony.
Then they came for the illegal aliens who had nonviolent crimes, and I said nothing because I was not an illegal alien who had committed a nonviolent crime.
Then they same for the illegal aliens whose only crime was being an illegal alien, and I said, “Be sure you round up every single one of those thirty million shitheads and deport them to their shithole of origin!!!”
Galloway has jumped the shark w TDS.
What is he saying that is hyperbole?
Galloway has an obvious grudge / vendetta against Trump and would rather America fail than Trump succeed.
correct.
Overtones of 1930’s UK as well.
Moseley, BUF and all. Cable Street.
(Entertaining but sideways soft recalled look at this is recently released dramadoc miniseries “outrageous” about the Milfords)
Fantastic column, Scott. I don’t get how people can stand by and defend our government’s actions when you so clearly lay out what’s happening. It’s terrifying and a sad commentary on what our world has become. Thanks for your eloquence and persistence. Very much hoping it will cut through with some of these readers who aren’t quite grasping yet.
Just the past few days:
10 arrested after planned ambush on Texas ICE detention facility, Alvarado police officer shot in the neck
Border Patrol car spiked
Rioter throwing concrete blocks on a Highway Patrol officer’s head in Los Angeles
Leftist shooting at ICE in California ICE Raids Glass House Farms in Carpinteria that was running a child labor camp.
Galloway: “ICE ARE GESTAPO KKK!!!”
For all the articles that Galloway has published about immigration, you know the one area he never ever mentions?
Human trafficking. Child slavery.
On August 19th, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security announced that they had lost track of more than 300,000 unaccompanied children who crossed the border without their parents and have been released into the US
Who sold those 300K missing kids?
Who bought those 300K missing kids?
Who covered it up?
Uncomfortable Truths will soon see the light of day.
Scott,
After your trip to Ibiza and flying around to one hotel after the next, please come and visit the streets of NYC, especially Chinatown Canal and Broadway/Lafayette and the Battery Park near the Statue of Liberty. It’s only a stones throw from NYU, so pay it a visit and see how local NYC residents are dealing with all the illegal migrants here. It is full of them crowding the street, harassing tourist, and selling fake and knockoff goods. It’s a terrible look not only for New York, but also perpetuates a awful stereotype for the Chinese American community in Chinatown. NYC is just recovering from the illegal migrant crisis where our schools and hotels were crowded by illegal migrants shipped form Texas and NYC tax payers had to pay billions of dollars to house, thus diverting valuable resources to help our own homeless and mentally ill. My family also runs a small business that accepts and deals with medicaid in a migrant community and believe me, there is a ton of fraud and abuse from the people who use it, especially among the illegal migrants.(most come here BECAUSE they can easily game the system) So before judging the heavy handiness of ICE, please understand how local residents on the ground are incredibly frustrated in dealing with the incompetence of the last administration and their open boarder policy and the inability of local city council and law enforcement deal with these quality of life issues steaming from illegal migration.
ILLEGAL ALIENS, not immigrants. By definition being in the USA is commiting a crime when you do not come legally. I am from more south than you in Southen California, about the same age, just as poor and there was five of us, and I wached illegals get benefits that were denied to citizens and still do. I did not get to go to a UC school for free. I want every single illegal in the US out, I don’t care if ICE drags them out of bed or bathroom or chases them through Home Depot. Must END birth right citzenship, it just rewards illegals. I do not like Trump. I also want lots of things that are now at both far sides of an ever widening divide, Trump is the sympton of the failures of the democrats, and they have only themselves to blame, not those of us who are struggling every day to stay afloat.
Professor Galloway- amazing article, thank you so much for your clear-headed insights! As always, I leave your articles better-informed. Outstanding writing.
Hi. Sounds like you are not informed with facts, so I’ll share some news: He’s not just going after illegal immigrants. He’s going after naturalized American citizens with no criminal record, not even a traffic ticket. Their only crime is to be born in the wrong country and not look like you. I know them personally, and know for a fact that they contribute more to the system (through taxes and good citizenship) than a few American-born families combined. And they are not taking any benefits. Don’t let your bias kill what’s left of soul in you.
Where was everyone’s ire (including prof G) during Obama’s second term?
Obama (First Six Months of Second Term, 2013): ~216,114 deportations (estimated based on FY 2013’s monthly average of 36,019).realinstitutoelcano.org
Trump (First Six Months of Second Term, 2025): ~91,693 deportations (estimated based on early 2025 data).newsweek.comnbcnews.com
Weird. It seems like it’s not the deportations that everyone is upset with. Maybe it’s Trump and performative outrage…
Btw, Trump’s most popular policy among Americans is his immigration policy.
How the main stream media sensationalizes the ICE raids and gets people so worked up is the same tactics they use for the Russia hoax, “the very fine people” hoax, the ingesting Clorox hoax, the Ivermectin horse medicine hoax, Trump being a convicted felon, the 1st impeachment, ect. The American people has already taken the MSM with a grain of salt and re-elected Trump. People like Professor Galloway who still listens to the dishonest MSM develops TDS. This illustrates, along with those deportation state you outlined above under Obama, show how easily people like Professor Galloway can be manipulated.
Galloway doesn’t write any original ideas anymore.
All he does is parrot whatever propaganda that’s been fed to him from his echo chambers.
That’s probably one of Galloway’s biggest sins.
He’s become a lazy writer.
Just some facts my friend. Birthright citizenship is covered by the 14th Amendment, a cornerstone of post-Civil War justice. Ending it wouldn’t just affect undocumented immigrants—it would raise major constitutional, legal, and moral questions. Also, many people assume undocumented immigrants get generous benefits. In reality, they’re largely excluded from federal programs and often pay taxes without getting returns.
Here’s the thing. Our immigration system is broken, and so is the broader social safety net. It’s NOT THEIR FAULT. It pits poor and working-class people—citizen and immigrant—against each other, while those at the top avoid scrutiny. That dynamic is intentional. It divides us and distracts from the real issue: a system that’s failing to support anyone properly, regardless of status. Maybe be a little less hateful, my friend.
Excellent summary
Marion. You are just the exact person that MAGA was created for, someone in a life situation that you don’t like, or that you don’t take responsibility for, he has blamed on others, and you were already there in your own head.
Don’t get me wrong, sometimes stuff happens out of our individual control, and we end up where we are. That can be true, but it is not the fault of someone who crosses a line on a map looking for a better life.
MAGA NEEDS your anger. They NEED your hatred. They NEED to use it to whip others into a frenzy as well and to keep you all boiling more hatred over the sides of the stew pot.
Why? So they can solve problems and create a “better” country, and world; someone like FascistFantaFace and his band of sociopaths and miscreants? Are you kidding me?
No.
So they can amass more power, and make themselves richer in the shadows.
We can all argue until we’re blue-in-the-face about what kind of country, and what kind of world we wantthroughout history, but, no;
It is the criminals, the deviants, the sociopaths, and the fascists now occupying the pilot’s seat, in this country we are flying, and who work feverishly to push the navigator and the copilot out of the cockpit window that we must be most concerned with.
They’ll chime in with whatever keeps the conversation boiling, but then they’ll sneak in and steal your grandmothers ivory broach from her “dainties” drawer.
Migrant undocumented workers have been part of the American economy since the beginning of this country. It’s fine if you hate these people and want to get rid of them but I would also like to see plan for how you’re going to account for their loss in our culture. Food prices will go up, we will lose tax revenue, we will need to completely reinvent entire industries (like childcare, hospitality, and construction) and you will see double digit drops in the economies of immigrant adjacent municipalities. MAGA loves to find convenient scapegoats but they seem to have no interest in actual problem solving.