An Open Letter to ICE Agents, from Lloyd Dobler
note: Lloyd Dobler pens an open letter each week as part of his podcast, The Tao of Lloyd—equal parts spiritual gut-check, anti-fascist satire, and mixtape manifesto. This open letter was taken from episode #1. You can listen to the full episode here.
This is going out to all the ICE agents, Proud Boys, and paper-pushing patriots lost in the sauce of “just following orders.”
“One ICE agent quitting may not make headlines.
But it makes a crack in the machine.
And cracks in the pillars that hold up the evil empire can spread like COVID in a group hug with RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan during a MAGA Harley ride intermission at a bar that still sells ivermectin on tap.”
Listen.
I know people are yelling at you in the streets.
I’ve seen the signs.
Heard the chants.
Maybe you’ve got family who stopped calling.
Friends who ghosted.
Maybe you think I’m just one more voice in the chorus of shame.
But I’m not here to yell at you.
I’m here to offer you a door.
Not a trap door.
Not a fire exit.
A real door. Out.
You can walk into work today, look around, and say:
“I’m not flipping switches in the Death Star anymore. I’m out.”
Because I believe part of you—maybe buried, maybe bruised—knows:
This isn’t what you signed up for.
There’s no way the bullshit Trump and company are asking you to do was ever your childhood dream.
And if it was your dream to be in law enforcement, ask yourself:
Whose dream was it, really?
The badge. The uniform. The mission.
Was that your dream—or something sold to you between Saturday morning cartoons and Pentagon-approved blockbusters?
Look around.
You’re not the hero in this story.
You think you’re fighting for order, country, security—
But you’re really fighting for optics, control, and campaign ads.
You’re not Luke blowing up the Death Star.
You’re the stormtrooper guarding the detention level.
Right now, you're enforcing policies written by people who treat suffering as a strategy and families as leverage.
You’re vanishing families so someone else can boost their poll numbers.
And maybe you tell yourself:
“I’m just doing my job.”
But “just doing your job” doesn’t protect you.
Not legally. Not morally.
Not in the eyes of history. Or your kid. Or your future self.
Ask Nuremberg.
Ask your gut.
And maybe you say:
“I don’t make the rules.”
But you carry them out.
You knock on the doors.
You take the parents away.
That’s anticipatory obedience.
But here’s the good news:
You can stop.
One ICE agent quitting may not make headlines.
But it makes a crack in the machine.
And cracks in the pillars that hold up the evil empire can spread like COVID in a group hug with RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan during a MAGA Harley ride intermission at a bar that still sells ivermectin on tap.
You’re not alone.
You are one person.
And that is enough.
Enough to say:
“Not today. Not me. No more.”
You don’t need to be perfect.
You don’t need another job lined up.
You just need to make one honest decision:
Step away.
Quit.
Let that be your legacy.
Not the raids.
Not the fear.
But the moment you said:
“I choose to stop.”
And I’m telling you:
There is a way out.
Take it.
- Lloyd Dobler | The Tao of Lloyd