“Power is not a means; it is an end.”
George Orewell, 1984

The three-letter abbreviation is nothing but the name of the federal agency in our country, and in my opinion it is very symbolic. This is a tip of a much larger “ICE-berg” in our society — its policies and practices, mentality and attitudes. 

It may also mean our country, America the Beautiful, is on a slippery slope toward a “frozen” state, much like the period of Earth history of the same name driving many life forms out of existence, followed by long and slow recovery. While the Earth phenomenon was caused by natural forces (I don’t believe in gods, sorry), what we live through in our day and age is clearly a human creation. We owe it to ourselves, and no one else.

Prehistory

The US history is minuscule compared to the Old World — China, India, Persia or “more recent” England, France, Spain, etc. Nevertheless, it’s been the land of immigrants from the ground up, made by immigrants and for immigrants. And that’s the beauty of it!

From the very beginning, American history wasn’t rosy at all. It was violent and at times cruel, just like the history of any other country in the world. In short, it was real. It’s pointless to judge it by the standards, norms and attitudes of the XXI century. 

The famous slogan “We the people”, opening words of the Declaration of Independence in reality of the time rather meant “We the people with property”. Many immigrants did not have such a luxury. Natives did not understand what property was and Africans were a property. 

Nonetheless, the brightest and the most capable organized the society without external force, kings, popes and with tolerance to any religion or no religion at all. It’s only later when the “One nation” slogan was added with “Under god” to distance the “pious” Homo-Americans from the “godless” Homo-Sovieticus.

Why here? 

What’s so special about this particular piece of land “from sea to shining sea”, even in the New World of the Two Americas? Why not, say, Brazil or Mexico? I don’t want to dive deep into history or slide into philosophy. I’d rather refer you to a book by Howard Zinn titled “A People’s History of the United States”, and highly recommend you start reading it (and if you promise to do so, I’ll give you a digital copy). Personally I think that Protestantism, a relatively new branch of Christianity, played a big role. 

The progress our country made in late XIX and throughout the XX century is largely, if not solely due to immigrants from foreign lands, mostly Europe, and their descendants in 2-3 generations. Many left behind everything — possessions, status, comfort zone of their own culture, friends. People paid large sums to cross the Atlantic just to get to the Land of Opportunities. Shining house on the hill!

And it’s not just the top-notch scientists, inventors, artists, writers — Tesla, Einstein, Sikorsky, Rakhmaninov, Dali — you name it. It’s ordinary down-to-Earth people looking for better life and opportunities, not at all for a free lunch for there was none provided. I am one of these, and my children are US-born second-generation. The symbiosis of talent and hardworking folk brought extraordinary results — Ford, Boeing, Hollywood, television, computers, Microsoft, Google, SpaceX just to name a few. The Internet you read this message on. 

The path wasn’t a “Yellow Brick Road”. Not at all. Great Depression. My way or the highway. Work for food. “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”. But time and again — this nation was able to recover, self-organize, learn from its own mistakes, bypass stagnation and move forward. It’s in its DNA, and that’s the beauty of it.

Even in such a short stretch of history, we see the emergence of American identity. Independent, self-reliant, free among free, personality above all, no authority but thou (some still call it god). And that’s how we roll into the XXI century, but …

What’s changed?

Immigrants of the past pursued their dreams, the “Shiny House on the Hills”, real or just imaginary. But something has changed. What exactly and when? 

Disclaimer: Throughout my little essay I will often refer to Nazi Germany, its supreme leader and even his book (yes, I read it). I know many of you, my friends, are of Jewish origins, ancestry, nationality, culture and/or religion. My words may sound harsh and inappropriate for you but I find it necessary. Please take my sincere apology. You deserve it. Read it at your own risk, or skip it all together. 

As we all know, and as it was vividly depicted by one of my favorite German writers Erich Maria Remarque, his country underwent quite a turbulent shift from all that law-abiding schnitzel-eating beer-drinking citizens into a mob howling “Heil Hitler!”, bowing to Nazi-swastika, burning books, killing the innocent. You know the rest. 

Are we there? 

Not yet, but we’re well on the track. Please find some time and read Mein Kampf! I am not at all an advocate for Nazi ideology. Quite the contrary. But, books and knowledge don’t bite. With it, you’d have a chance to understand the world and America of today. I am not trying to scare you. Just to give you the sense of reality.

Germany in the late 1930s, after the initial boom, had its own problems. Isolation from the world. unsustainable deficit, shortage of raw materials and labor (especially skilled). The list is long. There were two ways out:

— Resolve the problems (difficult, but real)
— Pretend the problems are caused by an enemy, from inside or out (easy)

Nazi’s, as we know, chose the latter. Jews were to blame for all the ills in the society, economy, even health issues. Did it solve the problem? Hell, no! What it did was convince Germans they are on the right course, cleansing their society of the “primordial evil». Most, but not all, as we know accepted it. People were given a choice of:

• Being a true German (supporting Nazis)
• Being less German (but perhaps more human)

Masses chose the former. This is depicted in great detail in the book by Stefan Zweig “The World of Yesterday” (1942) and I highly recommend reading it if you trust my taste.

Zwei Führer

In this short chapter loosely translated as “Two Leaders” I deliberately mixed some of their quotes leaving it up to you to figure out the authorship.

Black and White

Joseph Goebbels infamously said “The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it”. The devotees, once accepting such a lie are more likely to the following one, and so on. The «confirmation bias” effect is well-studied and proven in the field of psychology: people tend to confirm something, matching their earlier beliefs, rather than questioning it no matter how absurd it is. 

Looking at the past, we see this very clearly not just in Nazi Germany and Soviet Union — very similar societies and power hierarchies in many ways — but in modern Russia among many other countries, including our own. 

Say, there’s black as in the painting by Kazimir Malevich, and there’s white as in the background of the page you’re reading this from. If someone, an authority, argues against this and for an unrelated but “good” cause, at first it sounds absurd. Then, slowly but steadily one may feel that the black is not so black, and it’s all just shades of gray.

At some point, the colors may even reverse and one would start convincing others in this “truth”. It’s pointless to convince devotees and believers otherwise. After a while the propositions of black not being black and so on would even contradict themselves! Not only do you create the “alternative reality” but you also need to sustain it. And as time goes by, it becomes more and more difficult. Reset is needed!

A decade or so later (in 1948) when Nazis were “Kaputt”, George Orewell wrote “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command” in his iconic book titled “1984”. I think the phrase and the book reflect pretty much what we witness today.

Gestapo

The very word sounds disgusting for most of us now. They committed horrible acts of unimaginable cruelty. But let’s not forget Gestapo was founded in 1933 absolutely legally by initiative of Hermann Göring as a Prussian police unit, then expanded nationally — still within legal limits of the time, integrated into the SS security apparatus led by Heinrich Himmler as a force to fight enemies within including Jews, socialists, political dissidents, journalists and the like. 

Not long after, in 1936 Germany declared Gestapo Law, again perfectly legally in their time, stating that “The orders and affairs of the Gestapo are not subject to review by the administrative courts”. This made the Gestapo legally untouchable. Majority

 of the people in Germany not only accepted it but cheered it out loud thinking it’s for their own good. Sounds familiar?

I am not alluding to “defund the police” and similar slogans in the USA in the times of BLM madness. Any civilized society needs some form of policing, at least until John Lennon’s “Imagine” does not become a reality. 

In a modern democratic society, the function of the police is to protect people, including those who think and act contrary to the ruling ideology or elite. It must act in the framework of a commonly accepted law, which it, by its nature, is to enforce. 

Any crime is against the law by the very definition of both terms. So, the Law Enforcement, in theory, must:

1) Stop crime
2) Follow the law

The emerging structure known as ICE grossly violates both those principles. Instead, de-facto, and maybe even de jure — who knows these days — ICE has its own rules with very questionable legality. But the courts don’t stop bullets. 

At the time of writing this the society silently accepted the internal memo allowing ICE agents to break into someone’s home — yeah, that very American “home sweet home” — without a warrant. Just because they feel so. Even the Gestapo, with all the horrors of their actions, with German accuracy followed the law of their time and place.  

Why do these structures, adding the Soviet KGB to the pack, always go above the law? Simple! They are supported by the rulers to enforce their policies and claims — ideological, political, often plain absurd and emotional (and largely faulty in retrospect). The rule of law is just not enough for it. 

For better or worse, in a modern democratic society the law represents the majority of the people, reflects acceptable rules of societal order and rejects unacceptable. But who sets the rules for ICE in today’s America? I am not a lawyer, but I hardly doubt there’s a solid legal basis, not to mention the social contract for ICE agents actions of today. 

Sure enough, rules won’t last long without enforcement. And it’s not only by “soft power” — media blockade, cancelling opponents and the like. At times the enforcement is very physical, with brute force and guns. The latter mean nothing unless in the hands of men (and women). 

Where are we going with all this? Well …

Germans past 1945 had gone through painful and humiliating de-nazification, a necessary healing of their society to move forward past the madness they created a decade earlier. There were people serving in SS and Gestapo, and they had to adapt and be accepted in the new social order, even after serving prison time. Will we see the “deicing” (to use airplane analogy) process in America in the future?

Back to America. 

The country, just like any other, has a host of problems — inside and outside. Just like in its early history, nothing is rosy but real. Healthcare, education, distorted job markets, corruption (often called “lobbying”) and many more. I am not a “political scientist” or economist. But these and other problems are evident when you live in the country long enough, and more so when you move from Kansas to California to Florida.  

One of the problems is indeed immigration. Those of us who have gone through the entire process from H1B visa or asylum to passport know first hand the absurdity and the process, to say nothing about time, cost and uncertainty.

But when there’s a demand and opportunities, people usually find ways around. Long and difficult, and for many impossible, legal immigration turns into immigration illegal. Much like in the Prohibition era in the US in the 1920’s and its echoes in the USSR of 1980’s. Same result: black market, mafia, and in the end, larger consumption, at least in the latter example.

But just like Jews in 1930’s Germany, immigrants were pointed to as the culprit of all the ills in the country. In the country of immigrants, I must remind myself. In his book “Mein Kampf” Adolf Hitler is portraying Jews as “a disease», the root cause of virtually every major problem Germany faced at the time.

Our current president has written (or at least been credited as the author of) many books. One of them is titled “Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again”, quite on-par with his predecessor. In it, there’s direct blame on [illegal] immigrants as an economic and security issue. When you read each of these books, you gradually start to agree with the author! At least this is my personal experience. 

German Führer was the man of action. Not only did he speak and write horrible things, he fulfilled most of them. Let him burn in hell for eternity. In spite of his image, our dude is a man of talk. He used immigration as his campaign slogan. 

“We’ll build a walk with Mexico” and all that. If you have a chance, drive along I-10 / I-8 from Florida to California, the roads right on the US-Mexico border (I did this several times) and look to the South where the wall is supposed to be. Where is it? Something isn’t right with my vision? At the same time, legal immigration has become an order of magnitude more difficult.

Icy-cold Numbers

In spite of all the talks about fiscal responsibility, the current budget of ICE as of 2026 is more than $10,000,000 — yes, the 10 billion dollars, with the “B” as in “boy”. That’s more than the budgets of many national armies. 

With almost no requirements for education or experience, salaries of ICE agents hover around $150K — $200 range, $50,000 sign up bonus, plus perks and benefits and so on. Not bad, not bad at all!

For a comparison, the enlisted men in the US armed forces earn in the neighborhood of $30K — $45K per year, with higher ranks making slightly south of a 6-figure number (up to $90,000 or so) — still less than entry level ICE. Indeed, they too have good perks and benefits in addition to rigorous training and far more dangerous job descriptions.

Average salaries of blue collar workers is $25K- $40K per year, so-so benefits and no signup bonus, with top-skilled professionals barely reaching entry level ICE agents. Do the math. Think for yourself.

And who pays the bill? I’m sure you know the answer. We, The People, as stated in the first words of the Declaration of Independence. Ironically, ICE is indirectly financed by many immigrants, including the so-called “illegals”. What do they get in return? In return they are afraid to walk on the street, to visit a bank or a post office, or to just be.

Who are they?

Who are these guys, the so-called illegal immigrants — undocumented, improperly documented, with documents expired? It’s a very large, amorphous and diverse group of people with no or questionable current legal status in the United States. 

They are mostly just hard-working people mending strawberry fields in California’s central valley — you see them while driving on I-5 from San Francisco to Los Angeles — mowing lawns in Kansas, helping farmers on potato fields in Idaho, fixing roofs in suburban Chicago, cleaning rooms in countless Holiday Inns across all the 50 states.

And if you think of them as just unskilled day laborers working for cash under the table, think again. I mean them as highly skilled IT contractors working remotely for companies worldwide or even locally for Silicon Valley startups. Among them high-end car and aviation mechanics, private music teachers with degrees from prestigious schools, countless warm-hearted nannies and homemakers. And so on, and so on.

These people, most of them, do good for all of us — with documents on hand or without. They contribute to our society as much as factory workers, bankers, computer programmers, school teachers, Starbucks baristas. Perhaps even more, because they work more hours for less compensation with no legal protection, insurance, 401k or 529 saving plans. They wish their children would accelerate and live better lives than their parents. This is very American, isn’t it?

Most of them even pay federal taxes, just like the rest of us do. They do it in the hopes, naïve or not, of joining the society with legal status at some point in the future. The IRS happily issues a TIN number for anyone willing to pay, no status checks. Do they take your job? Just ask yourself and answer honestly. 

Cosa Nostra

From the highest position in our government including the Supreme Leader (Germans have a better word in their language) we are told “they are all gangsters”. Indeed, there are bad guys among them too doing real bad things. But, is this the immigration problem? Many absolutely legal American-born citizens in South of Chicago and East of Los Angeles just to name a few places — oh, my fellow Kansans, how could I forget the “lovely” KCK — have deep roots in gang culture. 

WARNING: Although I mentioned these places on Google Maps (the link for information purposes only), I strongly discourage any of you to visit them, even if you are a lawful gun owner. Be safe. Live long.

Do we see a lot of ICE activity there? Hell, no! They are afraid of the inconvenient and unfriendly vibe. Dancing on the side of a Honda Pilot with a pistol in hand won’t last long in those quarters. Real bad guys do real bad things, «ya know». Unlike unharmed women they usually have little patience and without much consideration about legality. 

Don’t get me wrong. I am not justifying gangs and their dirty deeds in the slightest. I hope the state police, DEA and FBI and other 3-letter federals are on top of it. But I am strongly questioning the statement “they are all gangsters” when it comes to strawberry fields, roofs and hotels. 

What’s on the way?

Fighting organized crime? Oh, for God sake, no and no. Election and popularity! Current rulers, and I don’t mean just one dude in the White House in 2026 but the entire elite, are afraid the balance of power would shift and not in their favor. New citizens may not vote the same way the old ones do.

Both sides of the political landscape in the US are fighting their opponents with different means, tactics, slogans (the so-called “talking points”) but ironically preserving the current balance. The waves of Dems and GOP come ashore one after another with astonishing accuracy. 

It’s much easier to blame “the other side”, and with only two available, the opposite party for all the ills and problems in America. When arguments exhaust themselves, but the problems (surprise!) are still there, there’s a hunt for other targets. These can range from rogue regimes abroad, brutal injustice somewhere across the globe, internal policies of an emerging economic power or something closer to home — immigrants. Same old, same old. 

History repeats itself. In the not-so-distant past German Nazis did much of the same from blaming England and France, eventually sliding to the horrible rhetoric and actions toward Jews — their countrymen, German Jewish pollution, fully legal and documented.

“Imagine all the people living life in peace” sang John Lennon, one of my favorite dreamers of all time. I am far from imagining this in modern America, but why in the world the so-called “illegals” can’t be made legal?

What to wait for? Background checks. No criminal history? Good. Check. Taxes paid for the last 5 years? Even better. Check. Health okay, no danger to society? Well enough. Check.  You’re in! Welcome! The country will only benefit from your presence here.

And those seeking “free lunch” should be strongly reminded upfront: there’s no such a thing in America. Maybe there are “better” places in this regard, but here you need to find work, study and learn the language if needed. Many of us have done exactly that. 

Do something useful in support of yourself and your loved ones. You came to the country where “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness» has been a foundational phrase since the Declaration of Independence (1776). It’s our own ideals dreamed and followed by generations and generations ever since.

I am not trying to solve economic problems, inequalities or joblessness in one paragraph. But to me this is clearly not an immigration issue. There are many native-born citizens enjoying this free lunch, although not of a very good quality, through feed stamps, Medicaid, the «Section 8» program for housing and many others paid by the rest of us, ironically even by undocumented tax payers.

MAGA-MAGA

Lift off from the ground into an imaginary world and picture yourself in the center of a large blue sphere, the lights are on. Do you see the sphere? Of course not. You just see flat blue in all directions. it can be red, or you can choose your own color as you wish. The point is — from the inside it’s relatively easy to convince you how great the background is, how well it fits the lifestyle of those within. You wouldn’t even question this unless one day you have the outside perspective, when you actually see the sphere as such. This analogy came from the short book «Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions” (1884) by Edwin A. Abbott, highly recommended for reading. 

In our days the slogan “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) has been widely used during election cycles and political speeches of one of the living Fürhers and it continues to be a part of his rhetoric. To me, the slogan is not that bad at all. We want our country to be great, again or not. But wait .. aside from the populism in the eyes of lower intellectual layers of the society, what does it really mean?

Generally speaking, every country, big or small, is already «great» in the eyes of the majority of its people, with a few exceptions in time and space. The purpose of the state has always been to justify its own existence with brute force, slogans, or something in between. Hence convincing the subject nations of their own greatness — indeed, under the rule of that state and its leader (King, President, Tzar, etc.) — becomes the number one priority for the rulers.

Arguments and reasoning vary. It could be “special role in history”, “higher race”, “chosen people”, “one true religion” and so on. Convincing one’s own people is always easy, even when things don’t look that bright in the economy, healthcare, education, job market and even if all those things don’t exist. From this side The Republic of North Korea provides “the best” example for the rest of us.  

But on a wider scale considering there’s such a thing as the Wide World — how can we make OTHER PEOPLE feel that our country is great? This is a bit more difficult, but a great deal more noble. Success would not only elevate the image of our country, including leadership by the way, but would trigger an influx of bright minds and hardworking people from around this Wide World looking for better life opportunities. This would be truly great, not just as a slogan — you won’t even need to say it.

Excuse me for jumping back and forth in history — I briefly touched on this topic in the Why Here? —  but this is exactly how America was formed, accelerated and thrived leading the world in the XX century in many areas — science, aerospace, technology, medicine, you name it.

First, you become, or just continue to be an inseparable part of the world. Socially, culturally, economically. Global cooperation is beneficial for everyone. Computer chips designed in the US, manufactured in Taiwan on the machines from Japan and The Netherlands. Bicycles, forks, chairs, pens and the rest of the consumer items made in China, sold elsewhere in the world.

It feels like we’re going against the tide. And, as many of us know, the tide — with the mass of water much larger than any single human body — will win the game. Some understand this, and some do not. 

WWW Perspective

What makes a country great in the eyes of other nations is when people want to join in, become part of it, assimilate into its society and culture, while enriching it with the hues of their own traditions, mindsets and attitudes. Time and again, this is precisely how America was built and became great without much fanfare. 

In our new global world one may ask: can a country still be great in the eyes of millions from the outside? Is there a hill for the shining house that everyone wants to build, so to say, rephrasing popular American tales? I am optimistic on that one. 

Historically speaking, great countries have been great mostly in military might and not much else. We could talk about Greek philosophy and literature, Roman statues, etc. calling the countries of their origins great at the time. But that was a long, long time ago. Hey, Plato, I am really sorry for making it so simple 2400 years later. 

World dwellers may still call a country great just in very specific areas. Germans are good in accuracy, precision and making machinery. The French are good in literature, philosophy, cancan, and of course cuisine. The British are good in naval affairs, diplomacy and rational thought. Russians are good at riding bears and vodka 🙂 Stereotypes can go on and on. Don’t take them too seriously, notice the smiley. 

On this scale, and with a good dose of humor, where are we, the Americans? Ask your friends. Ask yourself. Oh, yeah – Coca-Cola, Hollywood, Route 66, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. I like cars and music too, but that’s not what we are. 

Our country welcomed the most talented people from around the world. Yes, a lot of them were immigrants, but — as Miles Davis framed it — “So What?” 

2024 — Future

Are we sliding into the dark, the Age of Ice? I am cautiously optimistic we are not. I think this, the whole “Trump thing” including ICE is a wake up call for all of us. It’s a test, and the real one. The crisis of the two-party system is evident to many, myself included. 

But what do you do to change it? What can you do? Not much, not much, one may say. Just stay safe, don’t argue with a gunman. Absorb the news. Starbucks coffee is nice in the morning, after all. 

“Hopelessly passing your time in the grassland away
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air”
(Pink Floyd, “Animals” 1977, The song titled “Sheep”)

Do you feel it? Maybe so, maybe not. After all, it’s not about you and me. It’s about millions. Do they feel it? Well, in the end it is about you and me, because we are among those millions. I am not at all advocating for “let’s hold our hands so they will shoot us at once”. 

My faint optimism is based on the premise that this country did not fall into the passive acceptance of the way things are, but rather change things for its own good. 

Be it! Beat it! Crack the ICE. You can do it, my lovely America the Beautiful …

***

Jan, 2026