Jonathan P. Baird

Anyone who is waiting for a credible federal investigation into the Minneapolis murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti is going to be disappointed. The rule of law we previously took for granted is gone. There will be no federal investigation into these crimes. The whitewash narrative was already written by Stephen Miller. It is “blame and smear the victims”.

We all saw the videos of the outrageous and entirely unjustified murders of Good and Pretti. Both were murdered by federal agents and it would appear lifesaving medical care was delayed or denied. Now there is a cover-up by the federal government. They are not allowing state investigators access to evidence as would have normally been the case in the past. They pretend the videos we all have seen don’t exist.

It is time to recognize new realities. The Department of Justice haas been replaced by the Donald J. Trump Department for the Protection of Criminality and Corruption. Things change and the old Department fo Justice is gone. It has been replaced by an entity that covers up crimes, protects criminals and pursues political enemies of the regime.

There should obviously be a prosecution of the Good and Pretti murders and I do believe Minnesota will pursue it whatever the legal difficulties. It is telling that Trump’s first move since the murders was to replace Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino with Tom Homan. Homan is the “border czar” who was caught taking $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents. The Trump Department of Justice declined to pursue that case against their political ally even though he was caught red-handed on tape. Homan has received no discipline. He got promoted.

Because the scope of the criminality is so vast and reaches so many parts of the Trump regime, I wanted to highlight an aspect that has received insufficient attention. That is, the state of those captured and disappeared by the regime as well as the living conditions in the network of concentration camps the regime has created. Trump officials have blocked the public from gaining information about these conditions. They don’t give reporters access to the concentration camps nor do they allow video coverage. What happens in detention facilities behind locked doors and barbed wire is invisible to the public.

The ACLU described conditions at the California City ICE detention facility where they have filed suit over the conditions:

“The facility holds people in small concrete cells the size of a parking space for hours on end without adequate clothing, food or water. They deny people basic medical care, disability accommodation and access to their lawyers and loved ones. Sewage bubbles up from the shower drains, and insects crawl up and down the walls of the cells in the decrepit facility. Officers threaten people who speak out against the abusive conditions with violence and solitary confinement which they use excessively. Temperatures are frigid. Some wear socks on their arms as sleeves to stay warm.”

People land in these hellholes because a dictatorial president has unleashed a secret army of masked and unidentified thugs into the streets of American cities. They shoot, beat, gas, detain and kidnap U.S. citizens and non-citizens. They focus on blue states that did not vote for Trump.

Many have been detained without charges. Others get disappeared into the concentration camps with zero transparency. The regime first talked about going after “the worst of the worst” but their actions have been indiscriminate, often going after those with no criminal record. ICE strives to meet Stephen Milller’s quotas for arresting the maximum number. Bypassing courts and denying due process so they can speed up deportations is their way.

Federal immigration officials have shot 13 people since last September. Four have died. In many of the shootings, officers fired into cars, an extremely reckless and dangerous practice. Officers have said they shot because a car was moving and they believed it posed a threat. That is what they said about Renee Good.

In 2025, 32 people died in ICE custody. It was the agency’s deadliest year since 2004. Among other medical conditions, those incarcerated died of heart failure, stroke, respiratory failure and suicide. The great majority of those who have died were under 50. It certainly raises questions of medical neglect. Their families and lawyers have alleged they died after repeatedly trying and failing to get medical care. Since the start of 2026, another six have died in ICE detention. There are hundreds of reports of human rights violations, including physical and sexual abuse, in U.S. immigration detention facilities.

One 55 year old Cuban national, Geraldo Lunas Campos, who died on January 3 while in ICE custody at a facility in El Paso Texas had his death officially ruled a homicide by the Medical Examiner. Cause of death was asphyxia due to neck and torso compression. A witness told the Associated Press that five guards held Lunas Campos down and one put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious. Campos was handcuffed.

ICE sent 600 immigrant children into the detention system in 2025. This was more than in the previous four years combined. It would appear a new family separation policy is going on. Earlier litigation addressed separations at the border. These are occurring inside the U.S. after encounters with ICE. The agency is oblivious to the category “childhood”. They are hellbent on inflicting trauma that will last a lifetime.

I believe someday there will be accountability for all these depraved and unconstitutional actions by the federal government. When rationality returns, we will look hard at the massive destruction done to so many lives in pursuit of a racist agenda. How many lives have been ruined by federal agents and for what? The harm is almost unfathomable to contemplate. How many are languishing in concentration camps right now?

The regime wants Americans to be good Germans – uncaring, unthinking collaborators. The concentration camps need to be deconstructed. The absurd amount of money ICE has been allocated needs to be clawed back by Congress. Efforts toward rectification of the harm inflicted must be made.

A truth commission is needed so that we can all learn what has happened in the name of the federal government. They hide their crimes. Along with that, the Trump regime leaders will need their own Nuremberg trials for their crimes against humanity.