If I Met an ICE Agent

Poem by Mar Oestes

Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to meet an ICE agent. Not to be arrested or detained by one, but simply to meet one. If I sat next to a man on a plane or found myself waiting in a long line behind a woman at the bank and didn't know they were ICE agents, would I still be afraid?

Would our differences still be the first thing I see? Would I see myself, an immigrant worried for her safety and the well-being of the thousands of people that currently sit in detention centers, and them, a part of an organization that employs harmful rhetoric and tactics towards people of color? Would I see the vast gap between their beliefs and mine? If there were no uniform, no mask, and no gun, would I still think it impossible to look this person in the eye and smile?

Or would I simply see a stranger, perhaps even a stranger whose acquaintance I'd like to make? Would I ask about their day and tell them about mine? Would I laugh when they made a joke and complain about the weather with them? Would I quietly wonder if they, too, love a good comedy, especially with a bucket of ice cream nearby? Would I watch their eyes as they talked, looking for the glimmers of kindness I find in most strangers? Would I wish them a great rest of their day as we said goodbye and secretly hope something wonderful happened to them later that day?

I like to imagine that I could, I like to imagine that I would.

I like to imagine that I would leave a little space for them and that they would do the same for me. In that little space, I might be able to set aside all the condemnation and indignation sitting in my heart. In that little space, I might be able to realize that despite all the efforts to keep me from seeing it, I still see the wonderful, beautiful, messy humanity we all hold, even in people so different from me. 

It may be just wishful thinking and naive ideology to think that this could be.

Yet, this hope is what allows me to believe that one day the systems and organizations that exploit and oppress people will burn, and in the ashes we will have the opportunity to build something new. Something built with forgiveness and understanding. Something built with trust and respect. Something that can only be built when we choose to look through the old narratives of division and distraction to find that even an ICE agent and I are more alike than we are different, and that a bridge between us isn't only possible- it's the only way forward.