Shutdown Circus: Democrats Fall in Line When It Counts
📰 THE STORY: Senator Catherine Cortez Masto publicly affirmed she would not break with the Democratic Party during an impending government shutdown, amidst budget battles that included funding for agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: This 'unity' is precisely what allows for the sustained funding and unchecked expansion of
agencies like ICE, whose brutal actions against migrant families and asylum seekers escalated dramatically under the Trump administration (2017-2020), but have deep roots in bipartisan policies. Operation Wetback in 1954 saw over 1 million deportations under Eisenhower, showing the long history of state violence against migrants across administrations. The Department of Homeland Security, which
houses ICE, was formed in 2002 via the Homeland Security Act, a bipartisan effort to centralize security apparatus post-9/11, drastically increasing its budget and purview. Double Standard: While mainstream media often portrays shutdowns as ideological skirmishes over 'fiscal responsibility,' the consistent bipartisan consensus on defense spending, intelligence agencies, and border enforcement
funding rarely faces such scrutiny or threats of defundment. The same politicians who express deep anguish over funding for social programs or healthcare will almost always greenlight budgets that prop up the military-industrial and carceral state. Compare the 'difficult choices' made during a shutdown debate to the near-unanimous rubber-stamping of astronomical military budgets, such as the $886