I was a cop for 20 years. I managed to not shoot any innocent people.

The spree of ICE shootings against unarmed civilians is a tell.

Credit: U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Before the January 6 attack and Trump’s deranged lies about it derailed my life, I was a cop in Washington, D.C. for 20 years. I worked undercover, investigated large-scale drug operations, and busted high-level distributors. I worked cases involving murder, assault, trafficking, you name it. That’s work I’ll always be proud of.

You know what I didn’t do during all my years in policing? Shoot innocent people sitting in their cars.

By now, anyone with a scrap of conscience left has seen the video of the ICE killing of Renee Good, and been horrified by it. And we’ve learned that Border Patrol agents shot two more people in Portland. While there’s no video yet, the agency says these were dangerous gang members who “attempted to run over the law enforcement agents.” But they said the same thing about Good, and anyone with eyes can see that it’s a lie.

Police shootings aren’t new. This country is armed to the teeth, and as a former career cop, I can tell you that we have to prepare for the worst when we step out our door everyday. But the wave of ICE and Border Patrol shootings we’re seeing right now isn’t just some unfortunate byproduct of America being a highly armed country. It’s the logical outcome of this administration’s policy of unleashing federal agents in cities across America.

Law enforcement trains you over and over again how to recognize a potentially life-threatening situation. There are very specific rules for when it’s appropriate to deploy lethal force, and we’ve spent decades introducing new safeguards at the federal, state, and local level aimed at trying to ensure that “bad shoots” become less common. When they do happen, there are policies in place to help ensure irresponsible cops are held accountable.

Compare that to the reality we are now witnessing: Trump has encouraged his federal agents to act like an occupying force. In the bluntest possible terms, he has encouraged them to use maximum force against citizens, and has promised they will be shielded from any consequences for doing so.

Back when I wore the uniform, my fellow officers and I were touchy about the kinds of people we saw as “anti-cop.” We did a dangerous job, and we felt like we were constantly being subjected to a barrage of hostility from ungrateful members of the public, whom we put ourselves at risk everyday to protect. That’s a big part of the psychological structure that undergirds the “thin blue line” mentality; circle ranks, protect your brother officers, anyone else is an enemy.

I lived that life. I get all that. So I know what I’m talking about when I say: What ICE and the Border Patrol are doing today is a tell. These cops feel like they’re free to do whatever they want, to whoever they want, without facing any meaningful accountability.

Why else do they show up to busts dressed in full tactical cosplay, looking like they’re about to storm Fallujah? Trump’s ICE recruitment drive specifically targeted alienated young men who feel like they need to assert their dominance, and that’s exactly who is now policing our streets.

I remember a different kind of cop. People who saw it as their job to protect the community, not terrorize it. People who knew this was a dangerous job, but did it anyway, guided by professional standards that treated lethal force as a last resort. Who saw protecting innocent life as a fundamental obligation of police work. Who didn’t fire shots at innocent, unarmed people in their cars for no reason.

It isn’t that hard.

Michael Fanone is a former police officer who defended the Capitol on January 6. He is an Advisory Board Member and Spokesman for Home of the Brave, an initiative dedicated to exposing this administration’s corruption, cruelty, and lawlessness. You can subscribe to his Substack here.