In the past year, the nation has borne witness to a federal administration that has defied constitutional norms, overexerted its power and treated immigrants as enemies of the state. Most recently, it shot and killed point-blank U.S. citizens protesting against the brutality that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has grown all too accustomed to using. With this in mind, it can be said that there is no institutional neutrality under fascism.
Small businesses throughout the country that rely on customer loyalty and positive word of mouth are risking disrupting their economic inflow to take a stand against ICE by joining the nationwide shutdown on Jan. 30. This is a clear contrast to business chains with large financial inflows that are remaining quiet as an attempt to remain neutral on political affairs.
In an era where the nation is rapidly succumbing to fascist tendencies, this approach is simply not good enough anymore, as neutrality under fascism paves the way for totalitarianism.
Hauntingly enough, the parallels between the persecution of Jewish people under Nazi Germany’s rule and ICE’s persecution of immigrants in the U.S. are growing increasingly similar. By remaining neutral under these fascist tendencies, those who remain silent are allowing history to repeat itself.
Turning one of the most recent stories of ICE brutality, the late Alex Pretti — an intensive care unit nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital — was shot dead in broad daylight by ICE officials in the streets of Minneapolis while defending a fellow protestor against ICE’s manhandling. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” for legally conceal-carrying a handgun — a right protected by the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment — despite there being a clear video of ICE officials shooting Pretti multiple times after his weapon was already taken from him.
This man dedicated his life to saving the lives of others until his last breath, with his last words being “Are you okay?” directed at the fellow protester he was attempting to protect from being thrown around by an ICE agent. Stella Carlson was among the protesters present when she watched and filmed what would soon turn out to be Pretti’s last moments. She recalls how ICE agents “maneuvered his body around like a rag doll” after they shot him, which at first she believed was a form of medical aid, but soon discovered that “it could be because they wanted to count the bullet wounds … like he’s a deer.”
These ICE agents killed him, and all they wanted to do was see how many times they shot him, not see if they could revive him. They wanted to know how many bullet wounds he had, presumably to include in their report of the incident.
This is not the first instance in which the Trump administration and its henchmen have lacked basic human empathy and have even gone as far as attempting to reframe ICE’s brutality to be the victim’s “fault.” This was also seen by the murder of Renee Good, who was also undeservedly labeled a “domestic terrorist” by Noem.
Attempting to rewrite stories or erase history is a clear-cut tactic utilized by fascist regimes to assert authoritarian rule. So when the Trump administration is repeatedly using these tactics to control and reframe the media, it should be concerning to Americans and evoke a desire to defend American values such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press and protection against discrimination.
While on this subject, it feels appropriate to mention how in Oct. 2025, journalists decided to walk out of the Pentagon rather than agreeing to follow new “government-imposed restrictions,” as many reporters felt as though it was an imposition on their freedom of speech. Fascist governments tend to follow a pattern where they censor the media by attacking rights as freedom of speech, among other fundamental rights. So, when the U.S. federal government seeks to impose restrictive rules on journalists and actively attempts to rewrite stories to dismiss its violent tendencies, the public must defend the right to have unfiltered media.
Overall, rights are among the most prevalent foundations of American democracy, which were meant to protect the nation from once again succumbing to being ruled by a king rather than leaders who are held accountable by the public. By remaining a bystander and allowing the government to challenge these fundamental rights, it signals to the country’s leaders that there will be no backlash from the general public, ultimately throwing away centuries of American democracy.
There cannot be any institutional neutrality under fascism, or else the public permits history to repeat itself, as it did during Nazi Germany’s rule.
