When the State Becomes the Occupied: A Warning from American History

By Joseph Carvalko | 28 January 2026
Church and State

(Credit: YouTube / screengrab)

Consider whether America has before been through anything like the terror that ICE and CBP are leveling across this nation at this moment.

Before the Revolutionary War erupted in April 1775, only a handful of colonial civilians—six in total—had been killed by British forces, all in Massachusetts. Yet those deaths, especially the five men shot down in the Boston Massacre, carried a weight far beyond their number. They became a spark. Not because the violence was large‑scale, but because it revealed something far more dangerous: a government willing to rule by force, to militarize civilian life, to trample due process, to enter homes without warrants, and to treat its own subjects as enemies. In those moments, trust between the colonists and the Crown did not merely fray—it collapsed.

And here we stand today. We are not colonists, and we are not revolutionaries, but the analogy is impossible to ignore. States relate to the federal government much as the colonies once related to the British Empire. Minnesota, for all practical purposes, is now occupied by a federal paramilitary force—whatever polite acronym they choose to wear—made up of ICE and CBP. But this is where the comparison between the King’s men and Trump’s men ends, because the scale and intent of federal force today is something the 18th century never saw.

Precise numbers are hard to come by—federal agencies do not rush to publish them—but the available evidence is chilling. Over the past year (Jan. 25, 2025 to Jan. 25, 2026), at least ten people have been killed in ICE and CBP shootings, with dozens more dying in custody. Serious injuries are even harder to track, but the pattern is unmistakable.

In just the last four months, at least ten shootings have been documented: five dead, five wounded—some critically.

Among the dead: Renee Good (Jan 2026, Minneapolis), Alex Pretti (Minneapolis), Silverio Villegas González (Sept 2025, Illinois), Isai Sanchez Barza (Dec 2025, Texas), Tiago Sousains (Dec 2025, Maryland).

Among the injured: Marimar Martinez (shot multiple times in Chicago), Carlitos Ricardo Parias (Los Angeles), and others harmed in vehicle confrontations and raids.

In 2025 alone, at least 30 people died in ICE custody—the highest number in more than two decades. Many deaths were attributed to “medical issues,” but the line between neglect and violence is thin when a person is entirely under government control. And already, in January 2026, six more people have died in custody—though the government rarely classifies these as deaths “caused by” agents.

The truth is simple: people are dying at the hands of ICE and CBP because these forces have been repurposed. What should be a narrow, legitimate function—removing individuals who are unlawfully present and have committed serious crimes—has been twisted into a political weapon. It is being used to punish states where Trump lost, to rule through fear, and to impose federal will by force. His fixation on cruelty is not new; we saw it in the child‑separation policies of his previous administration. Now he gets two goals at once: terrorize immigrant communities and pressure states he seeks to control.

The pretext is deportation. The reality is coercion. Today, DHS Secretary Noem announced that ICE and CBP would withdraw from Minnesota only if the state dismantled its sanctuary‑city protections and handed over its voter rolls. That is not immigration enforcement. That is political extortion by armed federal agents.

There is nothing in our history to compare this to.

Joseph Carvalko is an American lawyer, who for over four decades has represented numerous organizations and individuals, from billionaires to indigents. He has been actively engaged in organizations such as Amnesty International, as its Legislative Coordinator for the State of New Mexico; the Sioux City American Indian Center, board member/activist; and Chairman, Technology and Ethics Working Research Group, Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, Yale University, and Adjunct Professor of Law at Quinnipiac University, School of Law, teaching Law, Science and Technology. He has also worked as a technologist, where he’s been awarded 18 patents in various fields. Carvalko has authored over twelve books which include novels, poetry, law, science and the humanities. His articles appear regularly in a variety of publications and blogs. He lives on the U.S. east coast and in the New Mexico mountains.

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