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Why do Latinos work for ICE? (www.theguardian.com)

Half of border agents are Latino, and they are part of a long history of Hispanic support for – and enforcement of – harsh immigration policies

Why? Latinos have often occupied an uneasy middle ground in American society – subject to discrimination and exclusion, yet also susceptible to appeals that promise belonging, security and status. Like every other group, they can embrace political movements that harm others and sometimes even themselves.

This precarity is why Latinos join immigration enforcement agencies in such large numbers. For years, scholars and historians have tried to find other explanations, including economics and stable employment, a desire to serve their communities and seeking proximity to whiteness. But these capture only part of the story.

The phenomenon began as early as the 1950s, when prominent Latino leaders and organizations supported deportation campaigns such as Operation Wetback, which sought to remove hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants (and their citizen family members) from the country. Their support was often rooted in not entirely unfounded fears of labor competition; US employers routinely used migrant labor to undermine unions, suppress wages and break strikes.

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[-] jaschen306@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 minutes ago

I asked my Mexican coworker why he supports Trump. Even tho he was an illegal alien that finally got his citizenship. I asked him about the others that had to struggle like him. His answer. "I got mine. They gotta hustle to get theirs"

[-] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 minutes ago* (last edited 8 minutes ago)

The Republican motto almost verbatim: "I got mine. Fuck you."

[-] zd9@lemmy.world 12 points 2 hours ago

Uncle Tomás

[-] swordgeek@lemmy.ca 32 points 2 hours ago

Look up the very real group, 'Jews for Hitler."

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 39 minutes ago* (last edited 38 minutes ago)

Or the IDF.

They don't discriminate between Palestinian Jews, Christians, Muslims, or other.

[-] santa@sh.itjust.works 1 points 53 minutes ago

Wow. As Jew, this is terrifying. Is Miller the President?

[-] FullPenguin@lemmy.world 56 points 3 hours ago

Because your race doesn't exclude you from being a scumbag.

[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

Because bootlickers who value money over morality can come in any color.

[-] Blackfeathr@lemmy.world 1 points 39 minutes ago

Because they think they'll be spared when all the "illegals" are gone. Nope, the guns will be turned on them eventually.

[-] N0t_5ure@lemmy.world 8 points 2 hours ago

The age-old mentality of "fuck you, I got mine."

[-] thethrilloftime69@feddit.online 16 points 2 hours ago

The answer as always is capitalism. They force workers to fight each other because otherwise they'd fight the real problem.

[-] AWistfulNihilist@lemmy.world 3 points 57 minutes ago

It's crazy this is like the first time I'm seeing this really talked about. Families don't talk about it, or lie. If you need a job, the best paying one might be for ice, a lot of people are gonna be taking that job. Just like they work in civil service, or corrections, or go to the military. Those masks are for plausible deniability at a family gathering.

Ice didn't just successfully recruit every piece of shit who needed a job, it netted a lot of struggling people who felt forced to compromise their morals because they're offering real money and will hire anyone.

It's horrible, these people are tainted, they may pay a price, but the choices aren't real in this oligar-chic hellscape. I bet if you look at recruitment stats for ice, they'll be the highest where the poverty line is the lowest.

[-] nomnomdeplume@lemmy.world 13 points 2 hours ago

Wait til you find out the kinds of things the cartels do to other latinos

[-] shweddy@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

They think that since they "did it right" they'll be free from persecution when they run out of immigrants

[-] BassTurd@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Nobody hates Latinos quite like Latinos.

this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2026
56 points (100.0% liked)

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