Last week, we paused to honor the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Dallas-Fort Worth community received a gut-punch reminder of how far we still have to go.
James Rodden — an Immigration and Customs Enforcement prosecutor the Texas Observer linked last year as the person behind a white supremacist, racist and neo-Nazi social media account — quietly returned to a Dallas federal immigration court to represent the United States of America. That is not just unacceptable. It is an obscenity.
Last year, the Observer uncovered a social media account that it traced to Rodden based on biographical details and other information. The account owner declared, without shame, “America is a White nation. …Our country should favor us,” “All blacks are foreign to my people,” and “‘Migrants’ are all criminals.” The author fantasized that the country might one day consider “feeding migrants into tree shredders.” The account posted a photo and quote of Adolf Hitler alongside the Nazi military slogan “Gott Mit Uns.” And as if any ambiguity remained, the owner of the account proudly announced, “I’m a fascist.”
According to the Observer, Rodden didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Opinion
This was not a teenager’s long-deleted post. A reporter observed Rodden physically present in an immigration courthouse this month, representing the federal government, a job that furnishes a salary borne by taxpayers.
In his federal role, Rodden is entrusted with decisions that determine whether families are torn apart, whether asylum-seekers are returned to danger, whether people are allowed to stay in the country they call home.
When this came to light, I demanded answers and an investigation from ICE. The agency assured me it understood the seriousness of the situation. And then officials went silent. For months, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE stonewalled repeated requests for clarity about Rodden’s employment status, the scope of any investigation or whether consequences would follow. Accountability never came. Transparency never came.
The Constitution is clear: Congress has both the duty and the right to conduct oversight of ICE in order to ensure the safety of our citizens and equal treatment under the law.
But James Rodden is back in court under the Trump administration, acting once again as the face of the United States. ICE didn’t disclose the results of its investigation, if there was one.
We can disagree about immigration policy. We can debate enforcement, border security and asylum law. But there is no legitimate debate over whether a suspected fascist and neo-Nazi is fit to represent our country in a courtroom. Anyone who thinks otherwise has forfeited any claim to moral authority.
When Congress was considering appropriations for ICE, I introduced an amendment to ensure taxpayer dollars are never used to fund white supremacy. Period.
Rodden’s continued employment and the lack of answers about the social media account the Observer traced to him are not an isolated failure. They are part of a broader and deeply disturbing pattern.
White House nominee Paul Ingrassia withdrew his nomination to a senior ethics role after his racist text messages were exposed. But instead of consequences, President Donald Trump personally rewarded him in the Oval Office with a new position conveniently shielded from Senate confirmation.
When a group chat among Young Republican leaders leaked — filled with the same kind of racist, dehumanizing language — Vice President JD Vance waved it away as a “college group chat.” Never mind that many participants were well into their 30s and 40s, including a sitting state senator. This is just not youthful stupidity. It is ideological rot.
And this rot is not confined to rhetoric. It is metastasizing into policy. DHS recently posted on X promoting the idea of deporting 100 million people. Let that number sink in. That would necessarily include people with lawful status, naturalized citizens born abroad, and the U.S.-citizen children of immigrants. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, that would have amounted to roughly 1 in 3 residents. What once sounded like a neo-Nazi fever dream is being floated as federal policy.
Meanwhile, ICE’s conduct on the ground — from the targeting of law-abiding immigrants to the tragic shooting of a young mother — has already eroded public trust. Staffing immigration courts and federal agencies with people who openly embrace fascism will not restore that trust. It will destroy what little remains.
I do not harbor any illusions that King’s vision will resonate with men like Rodden or Ingrassia. But honoring that vision requires more than speeches and ceremonies. It requires confrontation. It requires accountability. And it requires refusing to normalize hatred, especially when it is wrapped in the authority of government.
The question before us is simple: Will we tolerate neo-Nazis acting in our name, or will we finally draw a line? History will remember what choice we make.
Marc Veasey represents Texas’ 33rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.