Stephen Mihm, Columnist

ICE Enforcement Is Echoing the Fugitive Slave Act

History is repeating itself.

Photographer: Kerem Yucel/AFP

The scenes playing out in Minneapolis in recent weeks offer an object lesson in the dangers of federal overreach. After the killings of two American citizens — to say nothing of the brutal treatment of immigrants, both legal and otherwise — the outrage is palpable and growing.

This is yet another moment when a little history might have helped Donald Trump. The president is apparently blissfully unaware that many attempts to deploy the federal government to impose unpopular policies on an unwilling populace don’t just fail — they end up destroying those foolish enough to wield that power in the first place.