ICE Redefines 'Agitator' as Anyone Challenging the State
📰 THE STORY: Newsweek reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has issued new guidance to its agents on identifying and handling 'agitators' and 'protestors' during operations. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: This isn't ICE's first rodeo. The agency, born from the post-9/11 Department of Homeland Security, has a documented history of targeting activists. In
2020, during protests against police brutality, federal agents including ICE and CBP were deployed to cities like Portland, Oregon, where they abducted protestors in unmarked vans, directly suppressing dissent. This mirrors tactics under COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) from 1956-1971, where the FBI actively surveilled, infiltrated, discredited, and disrupted domestic political
organizations, including civil rights groups and anti-war movements. The term 'agitator' was a common slur then, used to delegitimize any challenge to state narratives. Double Standard: When governments in countries like Venezuela or Iran arrest individuals for 'agitating' against their policies, Western media decries it as authoritarian suppression of free speech. Yet, when US agencies like ICE,
FBI, or even local police target 'agitators' among migrant advocates or anti-war protestors, it's often framed as maintaining 'law and order' or ensuring 'public safety.' The arbitrary definition of 'agitator' always benefits the powerful, never the dispossessed. Follow the Money: The expansion of ICE's powers, surveillance capabilities, and deployment of agents against protestors directly