This is an opinion cartoon.

Who are these masked aggressors who are making people of color disappear from construction sites, schools, farms and the service industry? ICE, ICE … maybe?

This isn’t just about immigration. It’s about the death of due process. The destruction of America as we know it, and it’s happening right in front of our eyes. The democracy death march is in progress.

Today’s cartoon was inspired by Alabama author Frye Gaillard, who posted this passage on his Facebook page:

“Back when I was younger and the Ku Klux Klan intermittently roamed through the South on missions of racial intimidation, they most often covered their faces with hoods. I always assumed they did this out of shame; why else would they fear being recognized?

“I wonder if the same thing is true of ICE. Yes, I know they profess a fear of being doxxed, which is, at its heart an admission of cowardice not present among most law enforcement professionals. But however deeply it may be buried within the anonymity and the bluster, I bet there is also shame. These are human beings, no matter how much they try not to act like it.

“I want to be clear. I’m not equating ICE with the Klan. ICE is much worse. The Kluxers, for all the deadly harm they caused, never operated under direct orders from a U.S. President. That’s a big difference. A difference so vast, in fact, that it’s sometimes hard to comprehend.”

Thanks for letting me borrow your words and stuff, Frye.

Frye Gaillard is author of A Hard Rain and co-author with Cynthia Tucker of The Southernization of America. His latest book is titled Heroes and Other Mortals; Stories of Our Better Angels.

Related:

• John Archibald: Psych! ICE bait and switch detentions show immigrants a thing or two about America
• Roy S. Johnson: Yo, Trump, there’s no prize for gaining peace (maybe) overseas while disturbing it at home

JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix. Give him a holler @[email protected].