So this is exactly the kinda thing I talked about here how ICE does have potential to expand its scope

BECAUSE they play to anti-MS-13/etc. sentiment to accumulate enough political capital to legitimate themselves and BECAUSE gang membership was an exemption to the Obama-era exemptions on deportation, ICE might now represent the biggest federal intervention into street gangs

just when blue/left/Democratic coalitions dominating major cities are going the other way, dismantling gang units, ending gang injunctions, cutting sentences and bail and generally easing off the ’80s-‘90s ramp-up

I think you see where this is going

Or wait, let’s elaborate, because counter to my opening line in that last post I suddenly do see how ICE could develop into a multi-pronged enforcer of Trumpist reaction. It would expand its mission step by step, as one does.

(The Branch Davidian fuckup at Waco was BATF trying to expand its remit to cults, which seems weird now but there was plenty of anti-cult energy in the ’80s backlash to the New Age. The “satanic ritual abuse” theme tapped into it to power a backlash against mothers in the workforce.)

It would go like

• First, continue on the current route another year or two
• As cities pull back from anti-gang repression, on the not-wrong basis that it’s anti-minority repression, step into the gap. Go heavy on the vibe that the federal (Republican) force is stepping in to protect the innocent (, white, homeowning) citizens that the city Democrats are abandoning.
• In response to leftist pushback - “abolish ICE”, etc, admit that the door-kicking vibe, necessary for the bad dudes, is counterproductive in dealing with Juan Landscaper. Push to spin the high-end capabilities off onto a new agency - Department of Gang Enforcement, say - under DHS

(Anti-gang work was how the FBI really made its name, against the newly auto-mobile bandit bank-robbers of the ‘30s and later the Mafia [and the remnants of the urban political machines] in the ‘60s. The anti-bootlegging Untouchables of the ‘20s were the distinct Bureau of Prohibition, which survives today as the BATF)

• Build DGE out with a few trusted figures and fluff out with new recruitment so everyone’s there for the mission
  
• From there, pivot to prostitution. The growing dreadfully rich/dreadfully poor bifurcation of urban economies suggests a booming future for the Oldest Profession, and the recent SESTA/FOSTA legislation is gutting the ecology of online services sex workers depended on for critical protection and middleman functions, which should prompt a turn to the more traditional provider of those services… organized crime! Meanwhile, all this “anti-trafficking” energy is bouncing around just waiting for something to coalesce around, and what better place than an agency with tight links to our migration-control infrastructure?
• Once the DGA’s established prostitution as its territory, FROM THERE pivot to trans stuff. “Here are resources for subverting your parents and running away across state lines” and “here’s best practices for supporting yourself doing sex work” are close enough in online communities to whip up some Mann Act stuff, plus there must be something still on the books from the ‘80s anti-cult and anti-porn moments, plus whatever else we get out of THIS white slavery panic. Follow up on callout posts to find some really grievous cases to splash on the news and get the ball rolling, then let momentum roll up or scare off even the earnest community figures. Scare corporations and other institutional actors off from linking with activist groups for fear they’ll get popped.

Boom, Bob’s your uncle. Grind that down a decade or so until the ashes are cold.

And honestly, what else was Jeff Sessions born to do?