<i>America's secret police</i>

This guest editorial examines the emergence of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) as a secret police force in the United States, drawing parallels to authoritarian regimes of the past. Through a personal narrative about explaining ICE raids to young children in Oakland, it analyzes how AI‐powered surveillance technologies developed by venture capital‐funded startups enable mass deportation operations. Companies such as Clearview AI, Palantir Technologies and Flock Safety provide facial recognition, data integration and licence plate tracking tools that facilitate pre‐emptive repression. The editorial traces connections between Silicon Valley investors, including Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen and Elon Musk, and neo‐reactionary ideologies that reject democratic governance. It concludes by asking what roles anthropologists might play in response to the erosion of democracy, ranging from advocacy and civil disobedience to more drastic forms of resistance.