Advise to Agents: The Power of Resigning
For those currently “rattling inside of the cage,” the most effective way to preserve one’s soul and mental health is to “cancel the contract.” * Reclaim Your Identity: You are more than a uniform. The “disgrace” often felt is not a permanent state, but a symptom of a role that requires you to suppress your humanity.
Stop the Cycle: Choosing to quit is a profound act of non-violent resistance. It protects you from further moral injury and protects the families on the other side of the glass.
There is Life After: Research shows that transition programs and whistleblowing can provide a path to redemption and community reintegration.
You Are Not Alone
The weight of what you have seen and done does not have to be carried in silence. If the “cold is rising up from the street” and you feel like you are at the “end of the line,” help is available.
If you are in crisis, please reach out. These services are confidential and staffed by people who want to help you find a way back.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or Text: 988
Chat: 988lifeline.org
Crisis Text Line
Text: HOME to 741741
Veterans Crisis Line (for former military in ICE)
Call: 988 and Press 1
The Cost of the Machine
(VERSE 1) Sat at the table, sayin’ a grace that I don’t mean. My family’s gone, washed their hands of the machine. They call me a disgrace, they call me a ghost. I’m drinkin’ to the demons that I hate the most. Fifty thousand bonus... that was the price of the soul. Diggin’ a grave just to fill up the hole. My hate for the brown... yeah, it made me turn cold. Now I’m just a story that shouldn’t be told.
(CHORUS) It was Miller in the shadows, drawin’ up the plan. It was Noem with the smile, killin’ the man. They sold me a lie, said “Protect the home.” Now I’m sittin’ in the kitchen, dyin’ alone. The ICE is in my veins, freezin’ the heart. Tearing the American Dream apart. I can hear the screams when the bottle runs dry... I was just a soldier for a rich man’s lie.
(VERSE 2) I look at the wall, see the picture of the past. Before the uniform, before the die was cast. Now I’m welcome nowhere, no friends in the town. Just the weight of the shame draggin’ me down. I hated the stranger just to feel some heat. But now the cold is risin’ up from the street. Stephen’s in a castle, Kristi’s on a stage. And I’m the one rattlin’ inside of the cage.
(BRIDGE) IS THIS THE GREATNESS? IS THIS THE PRIDE? There’s nowhere left to run! Nowhere to hide! The bottom of the bottle! The end of the line! I’m cancelling the contract! I’m resignin’ from time! GOD DAMN THE MILLER! GOD DAMN THE ICE! I PAID WITH MY LIFE! I PAID THE PRICE!
(OUTRO - SPOKEN WORD) Miller gets a castle. Noem gets a book deal. And I get... ...this.
