I’m old enough to remember the frenzy the Patriot Act caused back when award winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore put the spotlight on a federal government that was totally out of control. We had just gone through one of the worst terrorist attacks in our history. It was one of the most heinous attacks on a civilian population ever seen before – anywhere. We The People were furious and we wanted answers. We wanted security. And many of us wanted revenge.

This anger gave our government license to do a great many things in our name that they otherwise would have been unable to. It allowed for the invasion of Afghanistan after that country’s ruling government failed to deliver Osama Bin Laden. Ironically, the Taliban didn’t control much of the country and even areas it did supposedly control, that was more wishful thinking than anything else. They could barely keep running water and electricity going so the odds they could hand over the world’s most wanted terrorist in a matter of days was a tall, tall ask. In fact, it took the most powerful country in the world more than a decade to take him out. Nonetheless, the anger of 911 allowed President George W. Bush to invade Afghanistan, invade Iraq on the bunk theory of WMD’s, and force the Patriot Act down our throats. It was a time when Americans were indifferent to torture at Abu Gharib and not so eager to see hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims prosecuted. Much of the population signed off on trading civil liberties for whatever fell under the auspices of national defense. And one aspect of that approach that lives on today, is a wide net concept of security. This concept is kept going both in the public and private sector by agencies and companies keeping tabs on us all. And who better to monitor than those who study the law?

In many ways, the United States has taken a page from East Germany. While we don’t have any one single alphabet agency that lives up to the hype of the Stasi, the sum of them aren’t far behind. The East Germans were considered to be among the best record-keepers (of largely useless information) of the Warsaw Pact nations. Cuba has also given them a run for their money, utilizing the CDR’s (Comités de Defensa de la Revolución). The Cuban regime has a neighborhood snitch on every block who reports directly to the [Communist] Party. These CDR’s are a key element of the repression that has allowed the Caribbean nation’s communist model to outlast the Soviet bloc by 35 years and counting. And just 90 miles from “the Empire.” Not a leaf moves in Cuba without the government knowing about it. Even if there’s nothing illegal or immoral about a leaf moving. It’s all about knowing everything at all times.

Back in the Michael Moore days of Fahrenheit 9/11, the alphabet agencies were monitoring everyone. They kept tabs on anti-war groups, environmentalists, Catholic associations and even vegans. Vegans are a very dangerous group. Some have been known to stockpile soy products and only wear hemp-based clothing. The really extremist vegans have also been known to listen to The Mamas And The Papas.

Since the rise of Donald Trump, the United States has experienced a tremendous spike in anti-immigrant fervor. Far-right groups like The Proud Boys became emboldened by his election, as did what would later become the January 6 insurrectionists. But it doesn’t stop there.

The vast umbrella of white supremacy answered the call, as well. From the Creationists (their religious front) to the National Alliance (the dimwit skinheads) to the better-dressed and smoother-talking bigots like David Duke (who was actually elected in 1988 as an open white supremacist to the Louisiana House of Representatives), they all lined up to support Trump. And before anyone dismisses the undeniable racist movement in America as nothing but a bunch of illiterate inbreds masquerading in bedsheets, don’t write them off just yet. Racism in America is alive and well. And it’s booming with Donald Trump. There’s more at play than the riff between legal and undocumented immigration. There’s an undeniable hatred at play, and the more that brave attorneys step up to protect the scapegoated and the voiceless, the more we’ll get monitored. The same with brave judges – which Trump has gone on the warpath against.

When Donald Trump wants something, he get it. When he said he wanted his Big, Beautiful Bill by the 4th of July, he got it a day early. Trump’s MAGA movement has a voracious appetite for popcorn headlines. It relies heavily on mass deportations and sowing terror in Hispanic Latino communities. They celebrated when the National Guard took to the streets in California and when the President squandered $45 million on a military parade for his birthday. Anytime Mr. Trump falls short – it’s the undocumented immigrants’ fault. If there’s inflation – it’s their fault. If unemployment is high, guess who’s to blame? If crime rates are high, it’s they’re fault. In their purview, life will be so much better once the immigrants are forced out, the southern border is militarized, and walls obstruct the path of the tired, poor, huddled masses seeking sanctuary from some of the most repressive governments and living conditions, imaginable.

Put in simplest terms, Donald Trump is a bully. He will stop at nothing to make his quotas. His base would settle for nothing less. It’s never been about going after “the most dangerous criminals.” Otherwise ICE wouldn’t be lying in wait at McDonald’s parking lots across the country at 5AM on weekdays arresting undocumented workers getting a warm breakfast and coffee before working till sundown. Cartel bosses don’t wake up at 5AM to break their backs to put food on the table and send a little back home.

If one thing’s for certain, it’s that Trump is a liar – and a bad one. His hooded ICE stormtroopers are coming for everyone – and now, they can arrest based on looks. Basically, if you look Hispanic or Latino, you’re going to get stopped. They’re not looking for Arabs or Asians (right now). It seems 99.9% of everyone I’ve seen and heard of getting ICE’ed speak Spanish. Coincidence? How many undocumented Irish or German folks are getting hogtied in plastic restraints and made to do the perp walk for all to see, including the tv cameras?

The Trump White House will stop at nothing. They will deport millions. They’re after forcibly removing as many people as possible. If they can deny even those basic rights imaginable, including habeas corpus, they’ll at least try! And who’s going to stop them? Clarence Thomas and the others in the spineless majority of the land’s highest court? No one in the Republican party in either house of the Legislature would dare. Trump has already made it clear he’ll have all Republican opponents primaried. None of these career politicians want to lose their gigs. They’ll do as they’re told. And sadly, the Democrats lack the numbers – anywhere – to defy Mr. Trump. Therefore, it comes down to legal practitioners and the lower courts. We may not be able to defeat him, but we can slow down the process. After all, unless he decides to have his lackeys change the Constitution, he SHOULD only have one term.

In the meantime, attorneys and judges will continue to be monitored. Don’t believe me? Take a look at who’s watching you on LinkedIn. From security companies to “security consultants” to law enforcement agencies. And that’s just one platform. What about the platforms where you don’t know who’s watching? I’ve been politically active since the age of 10. TEN. They know who I am. I’m a law-abiding citizen with a lot to say and a lot to write. I became a lawyer to fight for what I believe in – not to hide.

Most lawyers probably have a file on them of some sort – especially Immigration Attorneys that do cancellation of removal and asylum work. Soon, they’ll try to come to our offices and take our files. That’s the direction we’re headed. But even if you don’t practice immigration law – if you went to a march, answered a poll, or publicly acknowledged voting on social media, you’ve probably had an entry or two added on you. But don’t worry, they had a file on Martin Luther King Jr., too, so you’re in good company.

Anyone watching me, stay tuned, because I’ll continue to use my legal knowledge to protect the voiceless. And I’ll never shut up or be discreet about what I stand for. I didn’t shut up to get a law degree, I didn’t shut up to get a law license, I didn’t shut up to get or keep a job, either. I’ll never shut up.

Every day after school, from ages 10-12, I’d sit outside with my next door neighbor Ms. Hershkovitz (or Mrs. Hershey post Ellis Island). I’d go inside to get “a couple cookies” (after I’d eat half a dozen lol) and we’d talk all afternoon. She’d tell me about growing up as a child in Austria-Hungary during WW1 subsisting on black bread, how she lost her entire family in Hitler’s concentration camps, and how she emigrated to the United States with nothing. She told me how she overcame adversity and every year her son, who we called Sonny, would come to visit from New York. Sonny enlisted in the U.S. Army and helped liberate the camps in WW2. These were the same camps where his entire family – both on his mother’s and father’s sides – had been murdered. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what he must have seen. I still can’t.

While kids my age played video games and rode bikes, I learned about a world that most adults were clueless about. From a very young age, I developed a sense of right and wrong. My ideals didn’t “evolve,” they only became stronger. I never sold out, and I never will. I became a lawyer to help the voiceless and to stand up to bullies using the law. Whether its a skinhead in red suspenders or a fascist in the White House.