Opinion: Trump Picks Up Where Hitler Left Off

Every day that Trump is in power, is a step back for civil rights

I was in middle school when I walked out of class for the first time to protest gun violence. It was around this time I also participated in my first sit-in. Since then, I have written several papers on issues that matter to me such as abortion rights, cultural appropriation, and police brutality. As I look back, my activism really began around Trump’s first run for President. In a way it is almost poetic that on Oct.18, 2025, I attended my first protest against the authoritarian actions of Donald Trump and his cronies. 

Every day that Trump is in power, is a step back for civil rights. As more time passes Trump’s America looks more and more like Hitler’s rule and ICE is just one example of this. During the Night of Broken Glass in 1938 hundreds of synagogues were burned, thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed, and multiple people were murdered in a state-sponsored attack. Now in 2026, ICE is carrying out large, coordinated attacks, killing innocent civilians and holding people in detention facilities for long periods of time. 

It is no secret that Trump wants to be responsible for the largest deportation operation in United States history. He claims this is the path to a safer America. When he speaks, he emphasizes the importance of deporting dangerous illegal immigrants ―killers, rapists, gang members and traffickers. In reality less than 15% of the immigrants detained by ICE have a violent criminal history. 

So, who is ICE detaining under Trump’s rule? Military veterans, individuals with valid visas, and innocent minors to name a few. These Nazi wannabes are responsible for a 6-month-old being sprayed with tear gas while strapped in her car seat. These are the same people using schools as a hunting ground to terrorize innocent children and their families. These officers have been caught on video killing innocent U.S. citizens. How is any of this the answer to a safer America?  

In January ICE detained a 5-year-old boy named Liam Conejo Ramos as he was coming home from school. His photo, which was captured by a bystander, quickly went viral. In the image Liam can be seen in his bright blue bunny hat, eyes wide in terror as he stares into a black vehicle while an ICE Nazi holds him by his Spider-Man bookbag. Onlookers begged these officers to release this innocent child to no avail. Liam would go on to be detained by ICE for nearly two weeks. Today, he continues to have nightmares and wakes up in tears over his experience with ICE.

Under Hitler’s rule, people were afraid to leave their homes and lived in a constant state of fear wondering if today would be the day they’d be taken by Nazis. Today the same thing is happening, and not enough people are seeing the connections. Trump is not just after violent criminals and even signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States if their parents are here illegally or temporarily. This is the move of a dictator abusing his power. He is actively expanding the criteria for what makes a person eligible for detainment and deportation by ICE. He has been successful in his attempts thus far, so what is preventing him from targeting all minorities in the future? 

Trump is a convicted felon on a power trip who is too concerned with covering his own crimes— 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, to actually do something that will better this country. ICE agents are his mindless trigger-happy minions who would rather allow AI altered images to circulate online than to take accountability for shooting unarmed Americans. We need to start calling these people out on the atrocities they commit. 

Millions of innocent people were murdered before Hitler’s 12-year reign of terror ended and his Nazis were forced to answer for their crimes. The scars of these events can still be felt today. Trump along with ICE need to be stopped before history can repeat itself any further. Anyone who is continuing to stay silent or is choosing to live in ignorance is just as guilty as these examples of human scum. Racism and mass deportations will never make America great, but ending Trump’s reign of terror is a step in the right direction to make America safer.