The government admits it is coming for those who have 'ideas'
It tells us so.
Yesterday, I wrote about the government's acknowledgment that it will review the social media of international students and people who apply to immigrate. The government claims to be on the lookout for "antisemitism."
Tucker Lieberman
Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) posted to X claiming it enforces federal laws to prevent "people, money, products and ideas" from illegally entering the US. A few hours later, it deleted the post.
Paul Blumenthal asks rhetorically: "What ideas does ICE believe are illegal?" Obviously: "Chief among them is any criticism of Israel."
Preventing criticism of Israel doesn't translate to protecting Jews. Jews (like everyone else) benefit from a climate in which political dissent is possible. Also, Jews are often the ones criticizing Israeli policies, so this sort of investigation can directly target Jews too.
It puts everyone at risk insofar as no one has a comprehensive list of what the forbidden "ideas" are, nor how the government will identify instances of those ideas. If there aren't rules, we can't comply. We become out of compliance as soon as someone says we are.
I try to keep these posts actionable or at least usefully informative. What's important to recognize here is that the government will come for anyone it wishes to arrest, and it will cite the person's alleged "ideas." It has said so.
