The Iceman cometh

Just so you know, this post has nothing to do with the famous play by Eugene O’Neill by the same name. Some of the subject matter in the play may have a role in what will follow here, though. But this isn’t theater. With the recent shootings of American citizens by ICE officers in Minneapolis, that city has become yet another bellwether for the testing of the American soul. ICE is America on the rocks. In this post we look at the origins and astrology of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known by its acronym ICE. We have seen the ICE men, and they are here. But first, a song…

The political references in that song from 40 years ago could just as easily apply today. In 1918, famous American political commentator HL Mencken wrote: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed and hence clamorous to be led to safety by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”^[1] Remember the terms ‘hobgoblins’ and ‘imaginary’ as we parse this icy story. Practical politics, as Mencken called it, has brought us to our current state of affairs in the US, most recently demonstrated by ICE officers. That is only a result, though, and only the tip of a very large iceberg. Even 24 years ago we were hearing the following in the immediate post-9/11 era:

“Is America’s Director of Homeland Security a terrorist? Tom Ridge has terrorized Americans on three occasions since the 9-11 attacks by warning that terrorists would strike very soon [like he said this time]. He was never sure of who, what, where, or exactly when the attack could occur, but warned Americans to worry.”

Hmmm…We will get to the astrology of ICE shortly, but a little background is in order first. The United States currently finds itself in a pickle. This is not sweet pickle, but instead a dill pickle – probably more along the lines of one of Aunt Bea’s ‘kerosene cucumbers’ for those readers old enough to remember the Andy Griffith show. The nation is facing an extreme level of debt, approaching $39 trillion, all the while the neoliberal economic financialization system is clearly cracking and breaking. And the American public is largely unaware of what is taking place, except for sensing that all is not well with the country. So, Washington desperately needs a distraction from its woes, or two or three. They also need a testing ground for what might follow from a major national crisis. Immigrants, the quest for territories and Iran would all appear to fit the bill. And a big bill it is, coming due. That brings us to Minneapolis.

Why is ICE in Minneapolis anyway? Minneapolis ranks somewhere around 26^th in the US states among the largest concentrations of immigrants. And it may surprise you to know that just over 15% of the US population is composed of the latest immigrants, the vast majority of them hard-working, responsible people, with a little over half of them from Latin America. The reason for ICE being deployed to Minneapolis would thereby appear to be out of proportion with immigration statistics.

The deployment of ICE forces to Minneapolis is part of an ongoing metropolitan operation called “Operation Metro Surge.” The Trump administration’s stated purpose for it is the apprehending of undocumented immigrants and deporting them, in fulfillment of one of his campaign pledges in the 2024 election. Basically, ICE has been moved inland in attempt to fulfill Trump’s quota of one million deportations in the first year in office. So, it is about campaign promises and keeping his voter base happy.

Starting in December, the operation targeted the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, later to extend across the whole of Minnesota. Just so you know, Trump says he would have won the 2020 election were it not for Minnesota (never mind the rest of the nation). The Governor of Minnesota is Tim Walz (Remember him?) who was Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 election. The Minnesota AG has called the deployment of ICE to Minnesota an act of political and personal retribution by Trump.

The actions of ICE officers in Minneapolis in particular have been heavy-handed and in many cases illegal under federal law. The Wikipedia page on the operation has the following on Operation Metro Surge:

“The Department of Homeland Security called it “the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out”. The surge has reportedly been characterized by an escalation in the severity and brutality of ICE tactics, harassment, and threats against observers [citizen journalism]. It has involved the detention of US citizens and the arrest of 3,000 people [archived].

In the links in that quote there are numerous references to the threatening behavior of ICE officers and their reckless, unprofessional behavior. What has happened in Minneapolis has caused a loss of morale even within ICE itself, especially after the shooting of Alex Pretti. The ICE officer who killed Renee Good has disappeared, while the shooters of Alex Pretti have been placed on administrative leave. The border Czar Tom Homan, now overseeing Minneapolis after the dismissal of Greg Bovino is now drawing up plans for a drawdown of ICE in Minnesota as a result of public outcry over events there. The Trump administration is in damage control, but the imprinting on the American psyche, even among ICE officers has been done. As several federal agents described the situation from their side to Ken Klippenstein (must read):

“Lots of people are freaking out,” one ICE agent told me. “Agents are getting seriously paranoid, afraid of being targeted by ‘retaliators.’” Several agents described receiving briefings about retaliatory threats to ICE inspired by the Minneapolis shooting. “Guys take it really serious, like we are fighting insurgents,” as if Minneapolis is Baghdad, an ICE officer said. Though all of the federal agents I’ve spoken to this weekend support immigration enforcement, they indeed see the Minneapolis operation as something else entirely — an open-ended counterinsurgency in a faraway land and under an out-of-touch leadership in Washington more concerned with optics than immigration.”

With the recent deaths by shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE officers, the American public has exploded in outrage, with demonstrations erupting across the nation. This is a good sign because it means people are not afraid of the ICE forces or the administration. A growing number of commenters liken ICE to the Gestapo now, which is certainly not a favorable image for the Trump administration. The response to the shootings by the Trump administration has been pathetic, calling both of the victims ‘terrorists’ (hobgoblins). They were nothing of the sort, and the videos of their deaths at the hands of ICE more or less tell the story. They were average Americans. The use of the word ‘terrorist’ harkens back to something else…

ICE was formed under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which became operative on 1 March 2003 at midnight. 19 days later the invasion of Iraq was launched. Those two events are not coincidental. The chart for the operational phase of the organization is below (bigger):

We will come back to the chart presently. The Department of Homeland Security itself was part and parcel of the global war on terror (GWOT), a global military campaign initiated by the US in response to 9/11. Americans who remember 9/11, mostly meaning people over 50, have very clear memories of what evolved out of all that. And presently, most Americans do not believe the official 9/11 story, with more and more believing that 9/11 was partly a Mossad operation, also involving the CIA, and was in effect an inside job. We will not go into all that here.

Suffice it to say, 9/11 was used to justify wars and military actions in the Middle East and North Africa – precisely, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, and ending with Iran. These were the infamous ‘seven countries in five years plan’. And who would have benefited most from those wars? If you guessed a certain tiny nation currently committing genocide, you would not be far off the mark. But the story goes back even further.

The formation of the DHS was part of a narrative demonizing people of the Muslim faith. ‘Radical Islamic terrorism’ became the catchphrase in American political discourse as a result of 9/11. “W” Bush famously stated in an address to Congress that “You are either with us or you are with the terrorists”, in an effort to justify American policy in the wake of 9/11, thus framing the American discourse. American politicians do not believe in nuance. The entire GWOT, as it turns out was fake, a scam. More importantly, it was used to justify sharp increases in military spending. There is a short video with supporting links that explains this. Mencken’s quote at the start here was purloined from that video. Even Trump, during his first campaign run commonly referred to ‘radical Islamic terrorists’ in his campaign speeches. He barely mentions the term now. Instead, the new hobgoblins are ‘narco-traffickers’ and the ‘criminal elements in the immigrants flooding across our borders.’

Immigration was the major issue upon which Trump won the election for his second term. Most people agree that immigration needs to be enforced, but that Trump is going about it the wrong way. His approval rating has tanked as a result. That same issue has been a dog whistle in Western politics for many years. Blame ‘the others’ instead of tending to matters at home. And there are plenty of those others to scapegoat. The 2011 Arab Spring uprisings along with the destruction of Libya by NATO caused the massive influx of Muslim refugees into Europe, while financial hardship and political unrest (diddled by none other than the CIA) in Central and South America has driven a large number of immigrants into the United States. Immigration is a big issue in Europe, too.

Upon assuming office a year ago the Trump administration sharply increased the activity and budget for ICE and has increased the deportations of undocumented migrants. But the methods used have also resulted in a 2,500% increase in the deportation of people with no criminal record. Hence, we have our present dramas unfolding in Minneapolis and detention centers dotted across the country.

The performance of the some of the officers of ICE has aroused strong controversy and political unrest in the United States. Some of this is by design, meant to provoke a certain amount of chaos. Part of it is due to poor training and screening (see Klippenstein article), part of it is meant to divide the voter base in the run up to the midterm elections. And there are other factors to be considered, like Trump’s mental state at the moment and his desire for vengeance. But with this aside, in truth, the story of ICE goes back to the aftermath of 9/11, a defining moment in American history and the American Empire.

Most comments I have seen about Minneapolis show that the majority of Americans are appalled (‘disapprove’) at the behavior of ICE in Minneapolis, whereas more reactionary comment is to the effect that ‘Trump needs to put the boot down’ and that the administration needs to increase such efforts. The schism is all so pointless and counterproductive – and it is yet another iteration of the hobgoblins mentioned in the Mencken quote at the start here.

With all this in mind, what do we see in the chart for the DHS, above? The chart shows the Sun in Pisces (a fluid and changeable temperament), the Moon in Aquarius, with Scorpio rising. The immediate stand out in the chart is a Great Cross formed by the Horizon axis, which is squared by Orcus in the ninth house (foreign influence) and Mercury in the third house (public discourse). Orcus is the disciplinarian of the zodiac, the punisher of broken oaths in its mythology.

With the combination just described we get the sense of the entirety of the Department of Homeland Security, encompassing a number of departments including ICE, as being an enforcement arm of Washington, extensively focusing upon foreign influence but also in terms of controlling and especially policing public discourse. ‘Homeland security’ can mean enforcing public compliance as much as it can be about public safety. The national security state exploded in the aftermath of 9/11.

The next standout is the Meridian axis squaring the nodal axis. This can point to the placing of the administration’s interests (the Midheaven) above those of the community, the public (fourth house, or IC).

The next standout, which goes in concert with the previous two, is the combination of Saturn opposing Mars and Pluto. It is not a midpoint per se, but Saturn does oppose both planets. If we read it as a midpoint we have the following interpretation:

• • Saturn=Mars/Pluto: a person unafraid of hard work leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of our particular task, the desire to overcome difficulties and obstacles at all cost forcibly.

It is worth noting that Mars was approaching its conjunction with transiting Pluto on 7 January when Renee Good was killed by an ICE officer. Likewise, with the killing of Alex Pretti Mars was conjunct Pluto with just about a 2 ½° orb. The Sun had just passed Pluto by transit then. Mars/Pluto combinations often result in violent and destructive acts. The latter shooting caused the American public to erupt in condemnation of the actions of the ICE officers. The shootings were a reflection of the Homeland Security chart.

The symbolism in the names of the people involved is interesting as well. The surname Pretti is Italian, meaning ‘of or connected to the priesthood’, while the surname Good needs little explanation. The director of ICE operations in Minneapolis at the time of the shootings was Greg Bovino, his surname also Italian in origin and named after a hilltop village in Puglia. However, his surname is also sometimes used as slang in Italian, meaning ‘one who is obtuse’. He has since been fired because of the killings.

As an aside, my interest in the Pretti shooting was piqued when I learned his ancestors originated in the region where I live – Trentino/Alto Adige. Pretti’s great-grandparents were born and lived in Val di Non before immigrating to the US, most likely to escape fascist Italy during the reign of Mussolini. History often rhymes. Val di Non is God’s country, as we Americans like to say. But so is the region of Puglia, where the village of Bovino is located. You should come and visit. But I digress. So, we have the good and the priestly, killed under the obtuse one’s watch. The symbolism in events that change the course of a nation are important, and always present, because they subjectively underscore the public consciousness.

Alex Pretti has been almost elevated to the status of a saint in a few comments I have seen. He was an intensive care nurse at a VA facility, and was seen as an all-around good guy and very caring. It is also known he objected to ICE tactics in Minneapolis. Comments I have seen on Renee Good were mixed, with more ignorant comments to the effect that ‘she had it coming’ – a very foolish and heartless thing to say about the death of a mother of three and a practicing Christian. She was neither violent nor a terrorist. A number of so-called conservatives were noted calling her a ‘radical leftist’. But her killing highlighted what amounts to a schism in the US between those so-called conservatives and so-called liberals.

The final standouts in the DHS chart are two midpoints formed by Uranus, as follows:

• • Uranus=Mercury/MC: emotional and mental irritability, ambition – directing the thoughts suddenly into a different channel, getting excited or upset, the state of being impelled to sudden action.
  • Uranus=Moon/Sun: the urge for freedom, the urge to act independently, lack of adaptability, inner rebellion – sudden events in friendship, marriage, parental home, since shared upsets, sudden conflicts, separation of the partners

At the time of Renee Good’s killing transiting Saturn was approaching its exact square with Mars in the DHS chart, pointing to frustrations within the agency, the inclination to see itself above the law, and the tendency toward making poor decisions. The progressed Moon had just passed its conjunction with the DHS Pluto which was exact on New Year’s Eve this year. Self-sabotage was indicated in that progression. The directions to the DHS chart are equally as interesting. The chart with transits and directions is below (bigger):

At New Year’s Eve this year the directed Midheaven for the DHS was squared to Mars, showing a more violent, volatile and perhaps militant attitude from the organization. The directed Uranus at that time was squared to Saturn, showing anupset in the status quo for the organization. Directed Neptune was at the DHS IC, showing confusion in the foundational principles of the organization and producing instability within the organization’s management by reflex. Recalling that Uranus is also the natal Sun/Moon midpoint, the directed Uranus square to Saturn shows a decided upset for the organization. Then there were the directions and transits to the US chart at the time of the DHS launch, shown below (bigger):

The formation of the DHS and its launch came at a time when transiting Saturn had just passed the US Mars and was squaring the US Neptune, with the natal US Mars/Neptune square representing the more warlike rhetoric that comes out of Washington, along with the American pronounced high idealism and the almost religious feeling Americans are encouraged to exhibit toward our military and policing forces. Transiting Mars at that time was squared to the US Midheaven, showing tensions within the nation. That was the period in the lead-up to the Iraq War, wherein there was widespread resistance in the US to that war. And in the invasion later on that month, the US squandered whatever international goodwill it had after the 9/11 event.

The Iraq War led to widespread instability in the Middle East and was especially damaging to the reputation of the US when it was discovered there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after the war was launched. In other words, the war was a scam and was launched on false pretenses. We might well ask if there were false pretenses involved in the formation of the Department of Homeland Security, given what we are seeing today and with another major war – and definitive debacle – looming over us with Iran. The actions of ICE are not enhancing a sense of security for Americans, and fear is not in any way equivalent to respect. Fear can temporarily impose compliance, but respect has to be earned.

The Scorpio Ascendant in the DHS chart is revealing. Looking at ICE agents they are masked, with no identification, as one might expect with a law enforcement body behaving in such a manner. ICE officers look more and more like an armed militia than a police force. And people are rightly asking – why the masks? Why are those officers trying to hide their identities? Why are they upset at being monitored on the publics’ phones? What are they trying to hide, and why? It all sounds and smacks of being ‘Scorpionic’, as astrologers would say. Well, in a revealing tweet we begin to get an answer:

“BREAKING: ICE officials are reportedly worried that, if Congress requires ICE agents to unmask and wear identification, 75% of the agents will quit rather than be ostracised for the rest of their lives by family, friends, employers, and society.”

Yes, well, if ICE officers behave according to the law and act respectfully to the American public, they would have no reason to fear being ostracized. But that kind of respectful behavior is not what is being blasted across legacy and social media about ICE officers. It is like the old rule: It is always the few idiots who spoil things for everyone else. Most Americans want to see ICE unmasked. And that may unmask a few more underhanded agendas at play.

We know that the DHS formation came on the heels of the Patriot Act, which included a provision for indefinite detention of immigrants, permission for law enforcement to search a home or business without the owner’s or the occupant’s consent or knowledge under certain circumstances, and the expanded use of national security letters, which allows the FBI to investigate and search telephones, emails and financial records without a court order. Some of those directives have since been dialed back.

It is of interest to note that the intention of the Patriot Act was to enhance the ability of domestic security services to prevent terrorism. There is that old hobgoblin again. And now we have this administration claiming that both Renée Good and Alex Pretti were domestic terrorists. No one is buying that old line this time. At the time of the creation of the DHS, there was this little nugget:

“In a 2002 presidential briefing justifying DHS’s creation, Bush said, “The changing nature of the threats facing America requires a new government structure to protect against invisible enemies [hobgoblins] that can strike with a wide variety of weapons.”

Even more revealing in the astrology of the formation of the DHS was the approaching transit of Pluto at the time of the launch of the DHS, opposite the US Mars, square the US Neptune, and sesquisquare the US North node. This transit of Pluto to the natal Mars/Neptune square is quite revealing, both in terms of what the organization meant for the American public, as well as what it caused overseas, because the formation of the organization came 19 days before the invasion of Iraq by the American-led coalition. It is useful to read what that combination actually represents:

• • Pluto=Mars/Neptune: the tendency to cause damage to others brutally or to suffer likewise. (Dissolution, death).

The Iraq War caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, a mass migration of refugees to Syria, Jordan and Europe, 4.4 million internally displaced Iraqis, led to the creation of ISIS/Daesh, poisoned that land with depleted uranium and basically upended the society – still ongoing after 23 years. Over 160,000 of those refugees eventually found homes in the US – a comparatively small number, compared to the ten million migrants from other nations, legal and otherwise who crossed the borders into the US under the Biden administration. Foreign adventures aside, we are talking about ‘invisible enemies’ in the US.

The truth about why so many illegal migrants cross the US border each year is shocking, recently recounted by RFK, Jr. They come across from Canada, too. He actually went to the border at Yuma and interviewed people who were crossing, as well as border patrol personnel and a local hospital. The Biden administration enabled a sharp increase in those illegal aliens, which was claimed to be about election-rigging (Non-citizen migrants are not allowed to vote in federal elections). But the problem has been ongoing across administrations.

Basically, the Mexican cartels are at the root of the great majority of people who cross illegally (ca. 7 million), and most of those people come from across the world, not from Central and South America as we might suppose. The majority of the people from the Americas come for economic migration. They are vetted and are needed for American businesses. But many of those are now being rounded up and deported. The number of vetted migrants amounts to about three million people a year. The other seven million are illegal and many of them recount horrific stories as to why they are there, often at the hands of the cartels.

There are solutions to the problems at the southern border which would eliminate much of the need for ICE. American troops’ primary job per the Constitution is to defend the US instead of being involved in adventurism abroad. A few of the things that could be done are as follows, as recommended in a few of the videos linked in this post:

• • Complete the border wall down to a 12’ depth, but only around urban areas. An entirely walled border is unnecessary and a waste of money and time.
  • Deploy roughly 2% of current US troop levels as border patrols (US generals don’t like that one). Patrolling the Mexican border was the US Army’s primary mission until 1940.
  • Address American demand for drugs. It is demand that drives the drug trade, not the cartels.

None of those three points are politically popular, otherwise they would have been implemented. The mention of remote surveillance in the RFK, Jr. video is being restored under the Trump administration. And it costs much less to detain and vet migrants at the border than to hunt them down once they are in the country. Also, something needs to be done about the Mexican cartels, which would involve cooperation between the US and Mexico. Such cooperation is a vexed issue, though, made difficult because there is quite a lot of corruption on both sides of the border, along with the demand side in the US.

In looking at the history and astrology of the DHS (again which includes ICE) it would appear rather obvious that the agency was foisted upon the American public under false pretenses rather than being a necessity. The counterargument would be along the lines of, “Well, the agency has worked quite well, seeing as there is so little terrorism in the United States.” Without going into all the statistics, the latter is a false narrative. Instead, what we have now is a massive and intrusive surveillance state that has grown out of the agency.

None of the preceding is meant to stain the reputations of ICE officers who go about their jobs professionally and who leave the general public in peace. But it is the majority opinion of Americans that ICE officers need to be unmasked and to wear identification. There is currently a “no masks on ICE” bill, SB 5855, which is being debated in Congress. But even if it passes there is no guarantee the masking will stop. There will be a sense among some officers and officials that says “I don’t recognize your authority” in response to mandating unmasking. But that works both ways. If the measure passes and ICE officers refuse to conform to it then the public will feel quite justified in opposing them.

The bottom line is that the actions we are seeing by the minority of ICE agents is about politics and quotas rather than public safety. There also appears to be an agenda with that about stirring the public pot and gauging reactions, as in seeing what they can get away with. I have seen that sentiment expressed, too. Militarism abroad has come back to the US, at least in small measure now. Many of the ICE agents receive training in Israel. But unless it is stopped there are people in law enforcement in the DHS who will push this, like Bovino. It should be said, too, that probably most people in the DHS believe in what they are doing and want to see the Constitution upheld.

On another note, taking away all of the undocumented migrants will cause inflation in the costs for food and basic services, as undocumented migrants fill a significant portion of those jobs. Deporting all the undocumented migrants would cause a severe strain on the US economy. So, for all the people banging on about migrants taking American jobs – the sorts of jobs most Americans don’t want – consider what it will mean when food prices and services go up even higher when those low-skill jobs go unfilled because people aren’t lining up to clean toilets and pick fruit and veg. It is good, honest work, but these days the wages those jobs pay don’t even make ends meet.

In concluding, in the play The Iceman Cometh the characters were a bunch of dead-enders and alcoholics in a saloon set in the early years of the 20^th century. The play explored themes of illusion, despair and pipe dreams. It also features a charismatic salesman who in modern terms has stopped drinking the KoolAid and promises to help the characters out of their inertia, but who himself harbors a dark secret that brings his own story undone when he makes a shocking confession. The play doesn’t end on a happy note. Do we see any rhymes today?

The present ICE tactics that are all over the news will more likely than not turn out to be an own-goal – as will most likely the DHS over time. It is time to put the hobgoblins where they belong – as fantasies and unfounded fears – no more dangerous than monsters under the bed. If we can face the nation’s problems with clarity and sanity, we’ll be fine. The real monsters are the men behind the curtains. We never heard about them…until now.

Featured pic from LA Times

1. In Defense of Women (1918) Section 13: Women and the Emotions ↑