Thread by @Noahpinion

1/OK, a quick thread about Aaron Schlossberg, the scumbag who threatened to call ICE on people for speaking in Spanish: news.vice.com/en_us/article/…

2/Schlossberg has rightfully sparked an outcry and backlash. He deserves what he's getting.

But I haven't yet seen people articulate exactly WHY Schlossberg was so outrageous, when so many seemingly similar incidents go unpunished and forgotten.

I will try to articulate.

3/This is a big country. There are 315 million people. That means there are going to be plenty of assholes.

There are plenty of instances of assholes yelling at Hispanic people for speaking Spanish: sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/the-co…

But Schlossberg is different.

4/Schlossberg is different because he didn't just yell at people for speaking Spanish.

HE THREATENED TO CALL ICE.

THAT is the difference. THAT is what makes him new and unique.

Because it wasn't an empty threat.

5/ICE was doing bad things during the Bush and Obama presidencies.

But under Trump, ICE has very publicly been trampling all over the rule of law, acting as it pleases. slate.com/news-and-polit…

6/Under Obama, ICE was ordered to go after undocumented immigrants who committed crimes other than being in the country illegally.

Under Trump, ICE has reversed that policy.

thehill.com/latino/388280-…

7/Even under Obama, ICE often acted arrested people just for being Hispanic: esquire.com/news-politics/…

But under Trump, everyone KNOWS that ICE racially targets Hispanic citizens.

It FEELS more like we have an anti-Hispanic racial gestapo force running around.

8/Right now, every American is aware that if ICE wants, it can detain you, separate you from your kids, and stick your kids in a warehouse: psmag.com/social-justice…

Even if you're a citizen.

9/And since most of the people in the U.S. live inside the Orwellian-named "border zone", ICE is free to racially profile people almost anywhere in the country: citylab.com/solutions/2018…

10/Under the ICE regime, Hispanic Americans have reason to fear being ratted on by anyone at any time.

If your neighbor gets mad at your barking dog, he might call ICE.

If you bump someone in a restaurant, she might call ICE.

It's a little bit Stalin-esque, no?

11/THIS is why Schlossberg's tirade is so offensive.

Not because he berated people for speaking Spanish.

But because he made a credible threat to call down the hammer of government power on people who annoyed him.

And he reminded us that this is possible to do in America.

12/Of course, ICE is obviously not the only police force you can call down on people for being a race you don't like:

apnews.com/45547c3ae5324b…

13/But ICE's rampant abuses, open flouting of the law, and blatant unapologetic racial profiling feels like something new, unique, and terrible.

14/We must NOT allow America to be a country where some races of people can call down the hammer of government power on people of other races whenever the whim takes them.

That must NOT be America.

And THAT is why Schlossberg was so abhorrent.

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