ICE Deports 3 U.S. Citizen Children Held Incommunicado Prior to the Deportation

Historical Parallels & Fascism Fears

• Many compare current practices to early Nazi Germany: dehumanizing language, data-driven targeting, offshoring detention, testing how far agencies can defy courts.
• Debate over whether evil regimes are “incompetent” or frighteningly competent; several warn against underestimating a cohesive, determined authoritarian project.
• Some argue the U.S. is in a systemic crisis where institutions and norms are being deliberately broken to normalize cruelty and consolidate power.

Law, Due Process & Qualified Immunity

• Central outrage: U.S. citizen children and legal residents held incommunicado, denied meaningful access to lawyers, and moved before courts can intervene (including alleged workarounds of habeas petitions).
• Strong disagreement over qualified immunity:
  • One side: removing it would deter abuses and force officers to care about probable cause and civil rights.
  • Other side: without it, policing becomes unworkable and law enforcement a litigation magnet; they favor criminal prosecution instead (though critics say immunity itself blocks that).

“Always This Bad” vs “Something New”

• Some insist abusive deportations and even wrongful removals of citizens have long precedents under both parties; see this as degree, not kind.
• Others counter that current behavior is different in scale, intent, and targets: openly stated goal of removing due process, deporting citizens, sending people to foreign prisons, and overt defiance of court orders.
• New element highlighted: U.S. citizens and legal residents effectively disappeared into foreign “concentration-camp-like” facilities where U.S. courts cannot reach them.

Birthright Citizenship & Family Outcomes

• Long, heated subthread over the 14th Amendment:
  • Some argue for ending or narrowing jus soli, adopting a “Swiss-style” parentage model, claiming current rules incentivize “gaming the system.”
  • Others respond that all birthright citizens are equal under the Constitution; adding “solely by birthright” is a rhetorical attempt to downgrade their status.
• Competing “solutions” for mixed-status families:
  • Deport no one;
  • Deport only parents and place children with U.S. guardians;
  • Deport whole family but call the child’s removal a “parental choice”;
  • Create or restore intermediate lawful statuses (e.g., something like DAPA) that let parents stay without full citizenship.
• Several note at least one case where a father had legally arranged U.S. custody for his child, yet ICE moved mother and child out before a judge could act.

Policy, Enforcement & Alternatives

• Broad agreement that the immigration system is overloaded and under-resourced, but sharp disagreement on remedies: more judges and funding vs. tougher border and employer enforcement vs. broad amnesty.
• Some argue the only morally coherent approach is open borders or near-open regional free movement; others insist a sovereign state must enforce entry rules or citizenship is devalued.
• Many emphasize employers as the real lever: if hiring undocumented workers carried real penalties, unauthorized migration would drop, but business interests and politics block this.

Media, Misinformation & “Technicalities”

• Part of the thread fixates on whether children were “technically deported” or “accompanied” parents, with others calling this a distraction from the core issue: citizens removed without real choice and without counsel.
• Later reporting (e.g., Newsweek) claiming parents requested children accompany them is cited; others highlight court records and a judge’s expressed “strong suspicion” that a citizen was expelled without process.
• Underlying distrust of media fuels close parsing of language; some say this is weaponized to blur clear moral violations.

Tech, Culture & Responsibility

• Multiple comments criticize tech culture’s history of “tools are neutral” ethics, arguing this mindset helps build surveillance and enforcement systems now being turned on vulnerable people.
• Social media and partisan media ecosystems are blamed for normalizing dehumanization, widening the Overton window rightward, and radicalizing longtime acquaintances.

Moral Reactions & What To Do

• Many describe deep shame, fear, and a sense that “this is how democracies fall,” with explicit references to Kristallnacht and “first they came…” dynamics.
• Some urge immediate engagement with local advocacy and legal groups rather than waiting for a heroic leader; others, more pessimistic, talk about emigration, quiet self-protection, or the possibility of future violent conflict.
• A recurring theme: the cruelty appears to be the point, both as deterrent to migrants and as a loyalty test for officials and supporters.