Historian Kyle Dekker: “It’s Not Nazi Ideology We Are Fighting. It’s American”

So as a historian/student of history I’m honestly really done with the “ICE=Gestapo and Nazi Germany” comparisons [relating to what] the Trump administration [is doing]. We don’t need to look to another country for this kind of evil. I’m also done with the “this is unprecedented in the USA.”

No, you are wrong. It’s very precedented. ICE is much more like the fugitive slave patrols of the 19th century. Packs of law enforcement whose sole job was to hunt down black folks, ask them (sometimes) for their papers proving they were free (or legal if you); breaking into the homes of black folks, separating families, abducting them.

And just like now, our government (not even state or local) is not going to stop/save them. Community resistance did. And that resistance led the slave owners to conclude the environment for their inhumanity was changing and their only option was to secede.

This community resistance included the well known Underground Railroad. But there were also court cases where people who fought these slave patrons were indicted for obstruction (sound familiar) but juries would be split trying to convict them (sometimes by just one just member holding their ground).

My point is, this isn’t Trump and company trying to make us Nazi Germany, that’s the “feel better about America” comparison. Trump and company want to return us to Antebellum America. With a white, male ruling class that has all the rights of the constitution, and anyone they deem not that description is less than and not subject to its protections.

This has always been America, for every progress we’ve made, this form of oppression is built into the very fabric of our country. And now we have a regime aiming to return America to our blood roots. Yes be angry but this isn’t a foreign, Nazi ideology we are fighting. It’s American.

– Kyle Dekker
via social media
January 14, 2026

Related Off-site Links:
How Does ICE Compare to the Slave Patrols Back When America Was “Great”? – William Spivey (Level, January 9, 2026).
Slave Patrols by Another Name: Making America White Again – Rashaad Thomas (Amsterdam News, November 20, 2025).

UPDATE: Lawmaker Criticizes Trump’s ICE Tactics, Compares Them to Nazi Raids and Slave Patrols – Elaine Mallon (The National News Desk, January 16, 2026).