Star Trek Crew Beats Up ICE Agents, Frees Bus of Illegal Immigrants

A couple recent episodes of the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Picard featured Starfleet crew members traveling back in time to present day to beat up U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, free a busload of illegal immigrants on their way to be deported, and lecture that racism just “took off a hood and put on a suit” in the early 21st Century.

Traveling back to 2024 Earth to help save the future of humanity in season two, episode four of the show, titled The Watcher, the crew specifically heads to downtown Los Angeles to achieve their mission. After Captain Cristobal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) becomes injured, the Hispanic character finds himself at a medical clinic that specializes in treating illegal immigrants and others, like him, who lack identification.

Caught up in an ICE raid on the clinic, Rios is detained and brought to a detention facility to await processing and deportation. When fellow crew mates Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) show up at the medical facility looking for Rios, a nurse tells them: “Yeah, he was here. The doctor patched him up before ICE officers raided us….You know those assholes.” {snip}

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When the fellow detainee, Pedro, is told by one of the ICE agents that he will be placed on a bus for deportation, Rios angrily confronts the officer: “What the hell is wrong with you guys? Slap on a badge, put on a uniform, you think you can treat people this way?” The agent then tases Rios in response.

Leaving the LAPD station, Raffi declares: “We need to find out where they’re disappearing people like him, so we follow the trail of suffering like bread crumbs.” Her and seven proceed to steal a police car to continue their search for Rios. While being chased by the cops, Raffi uses the LAPD vehicle’s computer system to discover: “Shit, Rios’s file just updated, he’s being moved….To a sanctuary district on the border.” Seven frets: “He’s being disappeared. {snip}” {snip}

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In the following episode, Fly Me To the Moon, Seven and Raffi manage to track down the Homeland Security bus that Rios has been placed on. They disable it, prompting Rios, with the help of fellow detainee Pedro, to beat up the ICE agents on board. Raffi, Seven, and Rios then proceed to free the whole bus of illegal immigrants, of course without any knowledge of whether any of them were guilty of violent crimes. {snip}

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