Years ago, my favorite television show, Game of Thrones, aired for the first time. In the first few minutes of the first season, viewers hear a prophecy that a great evil will freeze the world of Westeros. While the world in Game of Thrones rests in fiction, our world has faced a similar evil that threatened people across the globe. This evil rose in the 1930’s and fell in 1945, and decimated millions of people in its wake. This evil is fascism, an authoritarian far-right ideology characterized by dictatorial rule, extreme nationalism, and the suppression or removal of minority groups.

Many people in America are proud of the role our country played in World War II, the liberation and reconstruction of Europe after the war. Extremism was wiped out from western Europe and eliminated on an even larger scale when the Eastern Bloc collapsed around forty-five years later. What many people do not know is that fascism is an active threat that continues to haunt us even in the twenty-first century. Even now, ninety years after the Third Reich was created, the threat of fascism looms in the background of modern politics.

Our conception of politics as a scale from left-wing to right-wing ideas formed during the French Revolution. The left wingers of the General Assembly supported deposing the French monarch, while the right wingers attempted to hold onto tradition and resist change. The same sentiments exist today in America’s left and right regarding tradition and what America should be, but additional elements threaten us today. 

On the fringes of our two-party system, there are many individuals that identify as either far left or far right. These individuals, if they did not need the two-party system, would publicly make their own fascist or communist parties to advance their agendas. However, politics in the United States is driven by the two-party system orchestrated by Thomas Jefferson and our other founders after Washington left office. With that in mind, these people with more extreme ideals exist on the fringes and influence partisan leanings.

The extremism on the fringes of our political parties has only worsened over the years with the fact that our politicians engage in partisan gridlock, refusing to compromise or negotiate with one another for the purpose of serving their own party and platform, not the broader, diverse population. The lack of compromise has led to a lack of understanding and compassion in our government, endangering us in a state of division that disrupts our unity as a people. This problem has led our government and people to become vulnerable to fascism and extremism.

The threat of fascism was actualized in 2016 when Donald Trump descended that escalator in Trump Tower, claiming that he would run for President of the United States. He quickly became a far-right populist leader with his divisive rhetoric and catchy, chantable phrases such as “build the wall!” and “lock her up!” President Trump legitimized himself with the American people through charismatic legitimacy, a legitimacy forged from a collection of ideas and values embodied by an individual leader. Some critics have reflected that some of Trump’s actions seem to parallel parts of Hitler’s rise to power. Trump has risen to prominence with his personality and managed to get re-elected despite having lost one election, 34 felony counts on his record, and two impeachments from his first term.

Now, President Trump has set the United States in a crossroads with his recent actions with executive law-enforcement. One of his campaign promises was to rid the country of illegal criminals, a goal which no one would really disagree with. However, he has used his executive authority to invade cities without the local governor’s consent to terrorize and arrest American citizens and non-criminal immigrants. These invasions undermine the concept of states’ rights and local authority, and do not make Americans feel secure in their homeland. 

There are a couple of tactics that ICE officers use while they are on duty, the first of which is “reasonable suspicion,” which is the idea that law enforcement officers can automatically detain someone if an officer suspects that the person committed a crime. This practice, which is usually useful in domestic violence cases, has a new meaning under ICE. ICE can choose to suspect anyone as an undocumented immigrant for any reason and without a judicial warrant. While they are on the hunt for immigrants, they engage in “racial profiling” to make arrests. Any person who may have an accent or is not white is more susceptible to being taken away by ICE, which will use those characteristics to justify their reasonable suspicion. These and other tactics have dangerous consequences for the American public.

Throughout the past year, ICE officers have been conducting raids without getting warrants from judges, and many agents did not have proper training or show badge numbers. One such raid conducted by these federal agents was the September 30th raid on 7500 S. South Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois. These agents descended from helicopters and through the apartment building’s windows, broke down doors, and arrested many in the building in the first hours after midnight. The arrested residents, including American citizens, some of whom were reportedly naked according to the Meidas Touch Network, were zip-tied and escorted out of the building for detention. These officers did not have a required judicial warrant and illegally violated the property and privacy of these residents by forcing themselves into the building. These raids eerily resemble the Gestapo from World War II, which violated and ignored laws during its time in prominence. ICE’s actions seem to go back on Trump’s promise of a smaller government that does not interfere in private matters.

Since the start of 2026, America has witnessed a deeper descent into the realm of fascism. At the shooting of Renee Nicole Good, ICE responded with excessive force during an encounter with U.S. Citizens. The DHS claims that Good intended to run the ICE agent over. She did bump the officer with her car and refuse to get out of her vehicle, but her actions were not a threat that justified four gunshots, as the vehicle was already turning away from the officer as she approached him. In my perspective, she was shot merely because she was trying to leave the situation safely and prevent damage to the ICE officers’ car parked next to her vehicle. 

A few weeks later, Illinoisan resident Alex Pretti was killed for possessing a weapon at a protest and interfering with an arrest, according to the DHS. Pretti did possess a gun and said he wanted to defend the woman whom they were arresting, which likely made the ICE officers afraid that he might shoot. Pretti did not appear to reach for the gun, however. While the agents’ decision to grab and disarm him seem reasonable responses, the agents then also shot him. The Trump Administration denounced his possession of a firearm at a protest, even though the people at the January 6th insurrection carried guns. The fact that the government’s rhetoric surrounding the death of our own people does not reflect the videos of what took place, combined with a different application of rights depending on political leaning is very concerning for the freedoms that American citizens hold dear.

The United States has entered a long winter of its own with these ICE raids and conservative extremism at the helm. The turning point for our country may be the midterm elections of 2026, when American citizens will raise their voices and choose the direction of our country. These elections will decide whether we consent to these violent acts and give in to fascism or vote in officials that will hold ICE accountable. I hope that whatever happens, my peers and I can enjoy the warmth of safety and unity in America. My message to people of both parties is to think with compassion and remember to love thy neighbor.