June 26th, 2025
I didn’t set out to spend an hour in the revolution today.
I was going to work.
And I forgot my glasses – and one of the things that’s awesome about living in my home town again is that I can forget my glasses, go back home to get them, then go back to work, and still be on time.
My commute is 3 miles. I was late to work.
Somewhere between parking, getting coffee, leaving work to retrieve my glasses, and getting back to the office I had an occasion to say hello to a person I refer to privately as “a leader in the revolution” – She’s pretty cool. We chat a couple times a week.
This was one of those times.
She was clearly stressed.
Long story short is there’s a young mom with an infant who is totally freaked out because her husband has been detained by ICE and she has no job and no groceries and no money because he had it all when they grabbed him.
It sounds horrible — Iike seriously horrible.
Leader of the revolution’s car was otherwise occupied with another mission in support of the revolution. Nobody else was available. She’s calm and measured as she’s laying it all out. Shes stressed the way some people are stressed playing golf.
Its Thursday. This is a normal day in her life. It will be fine as soon as she figures this out. Then something else will come up.
It’s truly heartbreaking unless you’re some kind of automaton or just plain cruel.
I tell her my car gets 40 mpg and if the university actually adheres to the values they espouse then I can take an early lunch and offer a ride. So let’s do it.
Between diverting from work to a food bank then out to an underground hideout (a totally normal and nondescript dwelling where normal people live normal lives) I got to see the revolution in action. Apparently it’s connected by end-to-end encrypted text / chat apps and the phone is non-stop.
The kids are off for the summer and have turned tracking ICE around the area into a full-time hobby. Updates are constant.
Someone in Montecito who got this number from another wealthy friend in Montecito is deeply concerned that strange men are talking to the gardener and is there anything to be done? They cannot be on your property without a warrant but they can ask questions from the sidewalk. Someone with a legal background is heading over there.
Hey kids, you missed one, but here’s where they are…
In between texts and calls and while loading transporting and unloading I get the story on the family whose perfectly normal living space I’ll glibly refer to as an underground hideout because I’d rather you think I’m a complete asshole than give away a stray detail on who they are where they are.
ICE was looking for the guy’s brother. Somehow looking for bro came down to, “Eh, you’ll do in a bind.” and they grabbed this guy at Home Depot. ICE is loving Home Depot. I wonder how Home Depot feels about this.
While processing Working Dad they at ICE verified that he’s already legally accounted for by the US government and he’s been keeping his appointments as promised.
Further, he’s been doing literally everything he is legally required to do in order to retain his right to be here. There is zero legit reason to be hassling this particular man.
Yes, he has (had?) a job. He pays taxes. He and his wife have a nice (but very small) place and a couple of kids, including a newborn baby.
Upon verifying all of this ICE agents presented this man with a document that they SAID would allow him to go home if he signs it. A formality. One quick signature and you can get on with your day. Sorry for the hassle.
The document was a self-deportation form.
From what I understand from the brief discussion (a lot happened in that hour though I just drove around a bit and made couple of stops) there is no coming back from signing the form.
Which leads us back to where my associate the leader in the revolution was making sure New Mom has some groceries and snacks for the kiddos for a couple of days. She had a brief discussion with New Mom and I assume New Moms Dad to make sure they also had contact info to other resources to figure out what happens next and how to manage that.
While they talked I sat behind the wheel of my idling European-designed luxury sport sedan and watched an expensive Gulfstream Jet on final approach to SBA. I had a moment to really consider what I’m seeing this morning.
This family is seriously fucked.
Extrapolating that out to the basic concept that history shows any civilization lives and dies on how it treats its poorest members and we are all seriously fucked. This is our representational government in action. In real time. This is happening all around us.
I’m sorry – But if you’re supportive of or engaging in shady underhanded shit to fuck over vulnerable people then you are NOT the good guys.
The good guys are the young people I glibly refer to as “the revolution” – The kids following ICE agents around all day and warning their friends about their movements.
The good guys are grief counselors who are helping new moms break the news to their kids that dad has been abducted by the state and will be exiled to a foreign country. Anyone working with kids can explain to you the trauma that inflicts on young kids if you don’t already get it.
The good guys are legal aid people empowering underserved and vulnerable communities to force their government to follow its own rules in law enforcement.
The good guys are people at the food banks and the people who stock those banks with inventory.
The good guys are the rich old people in Montecito telling the grounds crew to please work in the back of the property where those so-called cops can’t mess with you without a warrant while other rich old people get a line on a legal expert to deal with this.
It’s easy to see the news and especially easy when confronted with the experiential reality to cave into despair.
But then 12,000 people show up to an event where 1,000 was a dubious goal.
But then you realize the level of involvement required from a large segment of the greater community ranging from a leader in the revolution to the random middle aged privileged white dude she kinda knows to support a New Mom with maybe a week or so of groceries.
Almost gives one hope.
Viva la revolución