City of Stooped Shoulders

The masked, thuggish man grabbed

for the 30-something woman. Her

nine-year-old squealed with fright as

her bag was ripped from her hands

and her sandwich and apple tumbled

from the torn sack and landed with a

splat on the pavement.

The man, oblivious to the little girl,

wrestled the 120-lb. woman to the

sidewalk and bound her wrists with

a plastic tie. When she struggled,

he placed his knee on her neck and

applied his weight. She grew still.

He snarled into his radio and seconds

later, a second man appeared on

scene and similarly bound the now

screaming child. “Say good-bye to

your mamacita,” the first thug

told the little girl, and grinned

wolfishly.

“She’ll be on a bus to Gary, Indiana,

if she’s lucky.” He turned to the girl.

“An’ we got a nice cage waitin’ for

you” Turning back to the woman he

said importantly, “We work for the

government, you little puta.”

“I am not a prostituta,” she

protested. “Then you’d better

learn, and quick,” he retorted.

‘I don’t even know who you are,”

said the woman breathlessly.

“We’re ICE,” he boasted. “U.S.

tax dollars at work.”