A tipping point on ICE…if we make it one
The situation in Minneapolis gives us the opportunity to flip the script on Trump’s immigration narrative.
Last week’s horrific murder of Renee Good by government-employed thugs in Minneapolis has sent shockwaves through the hearts and minds of millions of Americans. This was not an isolated incident nor a random tragedy. It was a clear, filmed act of state-sanctioned violence, carried out under the banner of a federal agency emboldened by Donald Trump’s eagerness to broadcast law and order messaging. And now, as the administration continues to peddle disgusting and abhorrent lies to cover up what we all saw with our very eyes, the public is onto them.
Trump is overreaching, and more and more Americans know it. What happened in Minneapolis has exposed what so many immigrant and refugee communities have long understood: that cruelty isn’t the consequence of Trump’s immigration policy—it’s the point of it. The administration will do almost anything in its attempt to win a political messaging war—including enabling the murder of American citizens who visibly oppose them.
Our own Panic World podcast host, Ryan Broderick, was in Minneapolis reporting the story for COURIER this week, following the large-scale mobilizations closely. His dispatch helps cut through the sensationalism dominating traditional media and tells the real story of how ordinary people are standing up to authoritarian tactics on American soil.
On the local level in other states, our team has been conducting original reporting of other abuses by the rogue agency, including this recent report from the Copper Courier in Arizona, this story from UpNorth News Wisconsin, or this opinion column from Cardinal & Pine North Carolina.
Meanwhile, in Washington, some Democrats are feverishly drafting messaging memos, running polls, and workshopping whether to say “abolish ICE,” “rein in ICE,” or “reform ICE.” Others seem terrified of saying anything at all. At the same time, the well-paid consultants and liberal Twitter pundits keep arguing over a magical, universal message on immigration that will make everyone nod in agreement. All of this is so wildly out of touch it makes me want to scream.
There’s no poll-tested slogan that can replace moral clarity. When government agents murder a woman in broad daylight, the right question isn’t how do we talk about it? It’s how do we keep people talking about it, and most importantly what are we going to do about it?
At COURIER, we’re focusing on what matters: making sure the truth about Renee Good’s murder and what’s happening in Minneapolis doesn’t get buried under spin from MAGA media. The right is already twisting this story into another “law and order” talking point. But that’s only the dominant narrative if we let it be.
According to the team at Magnitude Media (formerly Resonate), left-leaning accounts are starting to win the online battle for attention on this issue. In the past two weeks, major left-of-center social media accounts have received more engagement on immigration/ICE-related content than their conservative counterparts, with COURIER being one of the primary drivers of this coverage and narrative.
Among all of the several thousand accounts Magnitude tracked, COURIER is one of the top left-of-center brands by engagement on this issue, receiving millions of likes, shares, and comments on our immigration and ICE-related posts in the past month. And just this week, COURIER was ranked #2 for engagement on TikTok content about ICE and Immigration, just behind NowThis and far ahead of FOX News and CNN.
This data shows that we have a real opportunity to remind people that Trump’s America means more violence, more fear, and more government power used as a weapon against its own people. And that the only antidote to that is collective truth-telling, courage, and accountability.
As opposition to ICE grows among Americans at a rapid pace every single day, we cannot afford to dilute this story, and we absolutely cannot look away, or decide immigration is too tough an issue for Democrats to lean in on.
Whenever you see videos from COURIER or other outlets of the violence and inhumane treatment of people by ICE in your feeds or in your inboxes, please share it with your own networks and keep the drumbeat that is bringing more hearts and minds to our side going. You can start by helping amplify COURIER’s Minneapolis coverage and our broader coverage of ICE overreach.
What happened to Renee Good will happen to more innocent Americans if we don’t do everything in our power to keep saying her name, bearing witness to the terror ICE is bringing to our communities, and lifting up the voices of veterans, cops, and Trump voters alike who are standing up to say this is not America. We need to turn this moment into the turning point that brings this regime to its knees - for Renee, her children, and for the future we all want to live in.
What I’m reading this week
F.B.I. Searches Home of Washington Post Journalist for Classified Documents (NYT, 1/13)
“It is exceedingly rare, even in investigations of the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, for federal agents to search a reporter’s home.”
Democrats Appear Ready to Duck a Key Fight on ICE (The Bulwark, 1/13)
“Despite the fast-spreading outrage over the actions of DHS, many Senate Democrats aren’t eager to wage a fight over the department’s budget as part of this month’s funding fight.”
If You Think MAGA Journalism Is Bad Now, Just Wait (The Bulwark, 1/14)
“If this sort of person doing this sort of work can be so richly rewarded on the right right now, it’s safe to say both that Shirley will be a major fixture of the online right for a while, and that many others will try to follow in his footsteps. But if he’s the future of right-wing journalism, the future is very bleak indeed.”