The Senate has passed a bill making Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the U.S.'s largest interior law enforcement agency with funding for Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda higher than most of the world’s militaries, including Israel’s.
Pending its passage in the House of Representatives, Trump’s bill could mean a massive increase in ICE funding as part of an immigration enforcement agenda worth $150 billion over four years.
This figure is more than the annual military budget of Italy, which at $30.8 billion, is the world’s 16th highest defense spender for this year according to tracker Global Fire Power.
It is also higher than military spending for Israel, ($30 billion), the Netherlands ($27 billion) and Brazil ($26.1 billion).
There are too few places to escape to in modern society, given the rise of authoritarian globally. I was planning on Germany until the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Now I find it more prudent to stay in the U.S. and relocate to a low population area. For the handful of dense urban environments in the U.S. there are far more wide open spaces with no people.
Head in the sand is always an option, until it’s not.
It’s all relative. It’d be just as easy to argue the head in the sand argument at an American who thinks they’re just gonna pack up to a random city in Europe and avoid the consequences of what’s happening globally. I understand we’re all just trying to feel like we have agency over our own lives and don’t exist at the whim of a handful of billionaires, so to each their own.
Fascism is always a possibility anywhere in the world. The difference is that it’s here and now in the US. I sure as shit would be doing everything I could to not be there anymore if I were there. It’s fucking scary enough watching it from Canada and I won’t have any hesitation to flee if the tanks start rolling in this direction.