Federal Staff Took an Oath. Now We're Taking a Stand In opposition to ICE

[ad_1] Federal buildings are purported to be pillars of justice—locations the place the Structure is upheld and the general public is served. At this time, they're being changed into websites of humanitarian disaster, concern, and secrecy.

As federal staff, we took an oath—to not a celebration or a president, however to the Structure. That oath calls for we uphold the rule of regulation, defend human dignity, and defend the general public good.

The Trump administration is utilizing federal companies and public providers to focus on immigrants, union leaders, and full communities. We refuse to be silent. Federal staff in New York Metropolis, Chicago, and Seattle are taking daring motion on Wednesday, June 25, to say: Our workplaces will not be jails. We serve the general public—not political agendas. We all know our oath. Now we're taking a stand.

Federal buildings—meant to serve the general public, uphold justice, and safeguard rights—are being changed into lawless arenas the place immigrants are harmed, detained with out transparency, and stripped of their primary human rights. In Los Angeles this took the type of a three-year-old being held in a basement for 48 hours with solely a bag of chips, a field of animal crackers, and a mini carton of milk as rations for every day. As for water? One bottle, shared amongst a complete household of 5 every day in stifling warmth. Even members of Congress have been blocked from getting into the buildings to conduct oversight and tackle these atrocities. It's an offense to the values we swore to uphold. It's an offense to the individuals federal staff serve. And it's an offense to the Structure itself.

It's also a part of a broad and menacing development.

A demonstrator holds up an indication as they protest in entrance of the principle entrance of Dodger Stadium to name for a boycott of the crew, claiming the group helps federal immigration efforts, in Los... A demonstrator holds up an indication as they protest in entrance of the principle entrance of Dodger Stadium to name for a boycott of the crew, claiming the group helps federal immigration efforts, in Los Angeles, on June 19, 2025. Extra ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP/Getty Photos The arrest of labor chief David Huerta outdoors the Edward R. Roybal Federal Constructing in Los Angeles and the current arrest of mayoral candidate Brad Lander on the Jacob Ok. Javits Federal Constructing in New York Metropolis, the aggressive federal raids towards immigrant communities, the continued use of public services to detain households in inhumane situations—these will not be remoted incidents. They're signs of an administration weaponizing the federal authorities towards the very individuals it's meant to guard.

These acts of cruelty are a part of a coordinated agenda that began with the assaults on federal staff led by Trump allies like Russ Vought and billionaires like Elon Musk. These highly effective figures search to hole out the federal authorities, discredit its workforce, and change a democratic administrative state with a equipment of private loyalty, abuse, and personal enrichment.

The anti-immigrant agenda and the assault on federal staff are each designed to dehumanize, divide, and distract. Immigrants are scapegoated to justify authoritarian crackdowns. Federal staff who resist or blow the whistle are demonized as a part of a so-called "deep state." The result's a chilling suggestions loop during which the federal government is turned towards its personal individuals—each these it serves and people who serve inside it.

That is why federal staff are talking out. They're reclaiming their function as caretakers of the general public belief and know they need to take again their workplaces. They're saying: Not in our identify. Not in our buildings. Not with our labor.

We all know the value of silence. Historical past tells us that the erosion of democracy begins not with a bang, however with the quiet normalization of abuse—the place violence is rationalized as "process," the place rights are discarded resulting from "exceptions," the place cruelty is described as "needed enforcement." However federal staff will not be right here to normalize hurt. We're right here to lift the alarm.

Federal staff selected public service as a result of we consider in one thing larger than ourselves: a authorities that serves all individuals, not simply the rich, not simply the highly effective, not simply the politically linked. This administration has betrayed that mission.

As former federal staff we all know that our former co-workers will not be the "deep state." They're the true state—the individuals who maintain this nation working, who serve the individuals, who maintain the road when democracy is beneath siege. We're standing up as a result of we consider that public service continues to be noble. That authorities can nonetheless be simply. That our federal workplaces can nonetheless mirror our highest values.

We took an oath. Now we're taking a stand.

Alissa Tafti is a federal union chief, economist, and Co-Govt Director of the Federal Unionist Community, a worker-led effort to defend democracy and remodel the federal authorities from inside.

Chris Dols served as value engineer and worth officer with the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers in New York the place he was elected President of IFPTE Native 98. Chris is a founding organizer of the Federal Unionists Community, which has organized mass actions to defend federal staff' rights throughout the nation.