Copyright The Boston Globe
The Globe still has not learned how to avoid repeating President Trump’s propaganda. The Oct. 18 headline “ICE ramps up its surveillance capabilities” (Page A2) had the subhead “Technology may be used against extremist groups.” The subhead should have read “Technology may be used against ordinary Americans.” ICE is acquiring technologies that are right out of a dystopian novel: facial recognition of crowds; iris-scanning; spyware that can hack into smartphones remotely; cellphone tracking; drones. Since Trump has called antifa a domestic terrorist organization — a move that raises serious legal questions — and since antifa is a decentralized movement, not an organization, Trump can accuse anyone of being a member of antifa. He has already used “antifa” to refer to protesters outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities and, even more broadly, for people taking other actions he opposes. Advertisement Are there safeguards to keep ICE from detaining anyone? They have already detained US citizens and others legally in this country. And there is little evidence Congress or the Supreme Court will protect us from future abuses. It is up to ordinary citizens to oppose Trump’s authoritarian takeover of America. If we do not act now, any one of us soon could be a victim of his regime. Michael Biales Acton
