I was at first going to call this post “And So It Begins,” except that nothing’s begun. What’s happening right now in America is just a continuation of what’s been happening all along. President Biden’s true-believing Democratic boosters keep reminding us that a Trump presidency betokens fascism, but someone needs to tell these people that fascism is already here, care of their favorite cantankerous, incoherent, amnesiac president. Biden has recently taken to bragging about the draconian, quasi-Trumpian quality of his “border enforcement” policies. I don’t doubt that Trump’s policies will be worse, or even much worse. What I doubt is that the difference matters enough to be worth a vote for Biden. What I don’t doubt is that he’s not getting one, at least from me.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently made a visit to Princeton, where I live, sowing fear and confusion in the name of law and order. I wasn’t in town the day they were, but predictably, they invaded the immigrant neighborhood I walk through each day on my way to work. Ten days after the fact, it’s still unclear what they were trying to accomplish, or what they did accomplish. Press accounts are a miasma of obscurity:

The Newark ICE office stated that ERO came to Princeton “to arrest two unlawfully present noncitizens.” They detained the first, a 29-year-old Guatemalan national who had been charged earlier this year with aggravated assault and robbery in Princeton, and he remains in ICE custody.

The second subject for arrest, a 27-year-old Guatemalan national, who had been arrested for assault by automobile and convicted of DUI in Lawrence Township in 2023, was identified by ERO agents, but was able to escape because of interference by people trying to stop the arrest, according to ERO reports.

If the first subject was “charged earlier this year with aggravated assault and robbery,” why wasn’t he put in ordinary police custody back then? If the second was convicted of DUI in 2023, why was he walking the streets in 2024? Granted, DUI doesn’t usually lead to jail time. But then, why was he being arrested? Was he being arrested for DUI, or for something else? In either case, why the need for federal law enforcement in garden-variety criminal cases? How many people were arrested, anyway? And how many detained? Why the need for such a big dragnet to arrest two people?

The preceding questions are both natural and pointless. They’re natural because they’re the obvious ones to ask, given the circumstances. They’re pointless because they’ll never really be answered. The point of the raid was not to arrest two suspects but to show Princeton that sanctuary city or not, ICE is here to do as it pleases. All was calm before they showed up. It’s of the essence of their version of “law enforcement” that “law and order” entails lawless disorder. Then they wonder why no one respects them. (For a sense of the characteristically asshole behavior involved, watch the video in this link.)

There’s really only one way to deal with law enforcement, federal or otherwise: resist. Do not cooperate. Do not communicate. Do not trust them, and do not befriend them. They’re not your friends.  When law enforcement comes for you, it places itself in an adversarial relationship with you. Once it does that, it becomes an adversary. You can’t rationally cooperate with, placate, or trust your sworn adversary. You either have to resist it or prepare to be deceived, manipulated, and destroyed by it. If you think this is a dramatic overstatement, I would suggest that you lack the experience to know what an encounter with law enforcement really involves. There’s always time to learn. But there is a such a thing as learning too late to do any good.

Princeton is (informally) a “sanctuary town“–meaning (informally) a municipality whose stated policies are friendly to undocumented immigrants–and is, with some justification, proud of being one. I give the local authorities credit for making Princeton something of a safe haven for migrants, “legal” or otherwise. But pride goeth before a fall, and leave it to well-meaning liberals to descend into well-intentioned bullshit. Not content at feeling pride at their success at maintaining a successful sanctuary town, Princeton’s local authorities are now insisting that local law enforcement is totally different from federal law enforcement, and that while federal law enforcement is a source of suspicion, local law enforcement is to be trusted. Local law enforcement, they insist, is our friend.

No, it isn’t. The correct posture for migrants to take toward law enforcement–federal or local–is the one captured in the bright red flyer pictured nearby. Though it makes explicit reference to “migra“–immigration enforcement–the advice it gives applies to all law enforcement. “What should you do if migra shows up at your door?”

It’s your right not to open the door. Exercise your right to remain silent. Do not give permission to register your name or house address. Note down the agents’ names and badge numbers, and any items they’re carrying. Do not sign any documents except with your lawyer present.

I don’t agree with the letter of every formulation above, but there’s no quarreling with the crux of the message. There’s no room for faith or “trust” when the cops show up. If they issue a legally binding order, follow it. Otherwise, refuse all cooperation.

Here, by contrast, are the complacent liberals of Princeton:

Freda [the mayor] went on to note that while there was some like-mindedness in the community’s objections to ICE’s presence in town and the methods they employed, a rift has emerged between some groups and local government organizations like the police and human services. Some groups that have involved themselves in this matter have been falsely telling the community not to trust the town,” he said. “That serves no real purpose because this deprives a community that’s already challenged of services that they should be taking advantage of. There’s no basis for that.”

Yes there is. The “basis” is known as constitutional criminal procedure, and the adversarial system of criminal justice. We have Fourth Amendment rights for a reason: it’s because all law enforcement is adversarial, not just federal law enforcement. No one has any reason whatsoever to trust local law enforcement–or any law enforcement. No affluent liberal accused of DUI or drug crimes trusts them. No one who’s spent even a minute at Princeton University’s Gaza Encampment trusts them. So why should an undocumented Guatemalan laborer trust them? And why are these cosseted white liberals gaslighting us about the obvious?

It’s also worth underscoring that local law enforcement has explicit, legally binding obligations to assist federal law enforcement in a long list of cases. Here is the relevant document, the New Jersey Attorney General’s legal directive of 2019. Section II-C gives a list of ten “exceptions and exclusions” on restrictions or prohibitions involving cooperation between local and federal authorities. In other words, in all ten cases, local law enforcement must cooperate with federal authorities, including ICE. My personal favorite is exception 9:

9. When required by exigent circumstances, providing federal immigration authorities with aid or assistance, including access to non-public information, equipment, or resources.

In undefined “exigent circumstances,” it is obligatory for local law enforcement to give federal law enforcement everything it demands. But trust them. Everything will be OK. What’s the worst that can happen? You end up in Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility for the next couple of years?

News flash: Cops do not give a shit about you. Stop giving a shit about them. When they inform you that “anything you say can and will be held against you,” they mean it–every word of it. They mean “anything,” and they mean “will.”  White affluent liberals may live in a world where those words don’t mean what they seem to say, but no one else does. It’s time to stop listening to these people, and start using some common sense.

Joe Biden is the locus classicus of this head-up-the-ass orientation to the world. He’s as much what’s wrong with America as Donald Trump. Feel free to vote for him if you feel you must, but don’t pretend that you’re doing anyone any good. He is why ICE stalks the streets of otherwise unremarkable suburbs, looking for trouble and creating it. He, after all, is president right now. Stop fooling yourself. A vote for him is a vote for more of the same. Can we really afford more of the same? It’s probably too late to be asking such questions. But it’s never too late to resist.