Weekend Hot Takes - When the Border War Comes Home

We’re in strange terrain now: the federal government is treating cities like Portland and Chicago as frontline zones in a migration war. ICE, Border Patrol, tactical units, tear gas, mass arrests - this is no longer about border states. It’s urban invasion. And in a twist that surprises no one who works with criminalized communities, even police forces in those cities aren’t fully signing on.

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Invasion by Design

In Chicago, the Trump administration launched Operation Midway Blitz, sending ICE into neighborhoods, deploying federal agents in full tactical armor on downtown streets, raiding apartment buildings, and escalating confrontations at ICE facilities. In Portland, similar scenes: protests at ICE facilities, federal officers firing tear gas, arrests, and a push to deploy the National Guard - only for a judge to block it.

These moves are framed as “protecting federal assets,” cracking down on “criminal illegal aliens,” or preserving order. But make no mistake: they’re public shows of force. They’re a test of how far the state can assert itself on local soil, bypassing elected leaders, ignoring local resistance, and normalizing violence.

The Surprise Resistance: Local Police Pushing Back

Here’s a thing we don’t always expect to hear: city police pushing back. In Portland, the local police bureau recently made public that they do not engage in immigration enforcement (Directive 810.10), even as they manage protests near ICE facilities. The chief has rejected claims that PPB is siding with protesters against federal interests. But the truth is that police forces are caught in between  -  pressured by federal forces, by public scrutiny, by political overreach.

In Chicago, while federal agents roam the streets in paramilitary gear, local officials (mayors, governors) have publicly condemned the moves, sometimes refusing to cooperate or accept them as legitimate. Some segments of city policing feel the uproar of legitimacy and push their own boundaries.

That friction matters. It reveals cracks in the united carceral front. If even police departments - traditionally the mouthpiece of state order - are pushing back or trying to distance themselves, that’s a sign: the show of force is as much about signaling dominance as it is enforcement.

What This Means for Sex Workers, Migrants & the Criminalized

We already inhabit worlds where state violence is the default. When migration becomes militarized on city streets, our communities get swept up: profiling, raids, interrogations, mass arrests. The line between “immigrant enforcement” and “targeting survival economies” blurs fast.

When local police resist federal control, that could buy time, space, or cracks of protection - for now. But it’s fragile. It doesn’t erase the harm. It’s not immunity. In many cases, it just rearranges how the violence is meted out.

Also, notice who’s silent: many in charge of policing our neighborhoods won’t say a word. Those tasked with enforcing “law and order” often amplify federal intrusion, while local forces, under pressure from protests or political leadership, try to reassert boundaries. That tension is tactical leverage - use it when you can, watch it shift fast.

Our Hot Takes

This isn’t a crackdown. It’s a spectacle.  The federal government wants to normalize the invasive presence of border-based tactics in city cores. The optics - armored agents, night raids, tear gas - are as strategic as any arrest.

Local police pushback is tactical, not altruistic.  They may resist federal tools when it feels like their power or legitimacy is undermined - but that doesn’t make them our protectors. Their first role is control, not care.

Power is being contested in plain sight.  The fight isn’t just at 1,000 miles from the border. The fight is here - in our cities, in our streets, in who gets to police whom.

Our survival strategies matter more than ever.  When state violence floods city centers, mutual aid, community networks, legal supports, “Know Your Rights” work, and radical refusal become essential tools.

We can’t trust new cops or new uniforms:  Whether local, state, or federal, policing always carries risk. Our demands should not be about better policing but about less policing and more autonomy.

What We Can Demand Right Now!

• Respect municipal sovereignty  -  cities should not be overridden by federal show-of-force deployments without local consent or strict legal limits.

• Transparency in tactics  -  what operations are happening, where, under what authority, with what oversight.

• Demilitarize enforcement  -  rollback SWAT-like tactics, tear gas, flashbangs, and federal troops in civilian spaces.

• Protect civil and human rights  -  no forced cooperation, detention of journalists, suppression of protest.

• Fund community infrastructure  -  as the state floods city streets with force, we need stronger social infrastructure: housing, healthcare, legal aid, translation, shelters, safe spaces.

  
  

Bottom Line

Immigration enforcement is no longer a distant issue. It’s here. In Portland, in Chicago, in neighborhoods where people live, work, struggle. This moment is not just about federal overreach - it’s about who gets to walk in our streets with guns, who gets the right to resistance, and who gets silenced.

If local police are pushing back, that opens a crack. But cracks don’t guarantee safety. They offer opportunity. We must use it. We must keep building from the margins, defending our bodies, defending our neighbors, pushing for a world where no one is invaded, policed, or expelled.

This is a call to arms - not with weapons, but with care, clarity, and resistance. The border has come home.