Column: When this is over, we will need another Nuremberg – The Daily Tar Heel

Column: When this is over, we will need another Nuremberg
By Nakai Moore, January 19, 2026

There comes a point when euphemism becomes collaboration. What Immigration Customs Enforcement is doing in Minneapolis is not immigration enforcement, domestic security or a policy disagreement between parties. This is an actual federally sanctioned paramilitary organization. We often ask with the power of hindsight how democratic societies sleepwalk into fascism. We imagine sudden coups and suspension of elections. History is far less theatrical. It happens when opportunities for prosecution are deferred, when leaders like Merrick Garland and Jack Smith treat extraordinary abuses as legally delicate rather than existentially dangerous, and when the state refuses to punish those who violate the Constitution and normalize terror.

That is why accountability must now be uncompromising: this is how fascism is confronted, the way it always has been — through prosecution, dismantlement and the unambiguous assertion that state terror will be met with law, not indulgence.

They need to be Nuremberg ’d.

For the past couple of months, there has been a constant stream of videos coming from across the country of ICE harassing people — detaining people for their accents, wearing masks concealing their faces, demanding proof of citizenship, driving unmarked vehicles, beating people, all culminating with the extrajudicial killing of Renee Good. In Minneapolis, citizens are openly carrying and defending their neighborhoods. Riots and protests have proceeded daily for the past week.

ICE has continuously assaulted Fourth Amendment rights and is backed by the Department of Justice, which would rather probe and investigate Democratic politicians than those who abused power and enabled this machinery. Figures such as Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi must be confronted by the full, relentless authority of the law with the next Department of Justice. Not symbolically, not cautiously and not years too late, but through aggressive, evidence‑driven prosecutions that treat complicity in constitutional violations as the grave offense that it is.

After Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Counsel Jack Smith approached open insurrection with caution and deference. Their soft, timid handling of the insurrection — plagued by delay, restraint and an institutional fear of appearing political — sent a message that power could act with impunity. This message did not evaporate; it metastasized, now amplified in Minneapolis and across the country as federal immigration agents operate with overwhelming force and unchecked authority. What we are reaping today — militarized deployments of DHS agents, legal challenges accusing the federal operation of racism and the fatal shooting of a civilian in broad daylight — is the consequence of a Justice Department too hesitant to halt abuses at the source.

For examples on how to conduct this, one must look no further than historical precedent. After the Second World War, the Nuremberg Trials established a bedrock principle: leaders who use the machinery of the state to terrify, suppress and ignore basic rights are not exempt from prosecution simply because they held office. That unprecedented tribunal did not debate ideology or excuse political intent — it demanded accountability for crimes against humanity, cutting off the head of fascism so the body could not regrow.

More recently, Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced former president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for his role in plotting a coup and attempting to overthrow constitutional order, demonstrating that even powerful national figures can be held accountable for their attempts to undermine democracy. Our Supreme Court has ruled contrarily, granting presumptive presidential immunity to sitting and past presidents for all official acts.

Regardless, we need to establish a fundamental value: no grace for fascism, no tolerance for state terror. By cutting off the head of the snake, dismantling the agencies that enabled abuse and affirming that such violations carry consequence and punishment, we not only prosecute wrongdoing but also inoculate society against the normalization of fascism. If we fail again, history will not forgive our hesitation.

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Editor’s Note: The column points to the future, and yes, we should have another Nuremberg Trial, Trump Version, after we take back the House and Senate, impeach Trump, and then, begin the trials in World Courts. I believe we must, to save American and World Democracy. I recommend viewing the YouTube videos about the first Nuremberg Trial. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_and_the_Nazis:_Evil_on_Trial (via Wikipedia), and the documentary from 2024 on Netflix, if you can: https://www.netflix.com/title/81561941
— DrWeb

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