Written from a Mexican American lens, “Ice Must Melt Before Me” confronts the violence and systemic oppression produced by ICE raids and detention centers along the Mexico-United States border. Bearing witness to the human cost of severe immigration enforcement and the dehumanization of immigrant communities, the poem serves as a reminder that we, as individuals and as a collective, can come together in the face of injustice. “Aquí reconocemos las pérdidas que personas en todo el país han sufrido a manos de ICE: hogares separados, detenciones violentas, injusticias, fallas del gobierno estadounidense y la deshumanización de los inmigrantes,” said the author, Gema Villafan. “Somos más fuertes juntos. Viva la Raza.” Translation: Here, we acknowledge the losses people across the country have endured at the hands of ICE: separated homes, violent detentions, injustices, failures of the U.S. government, and the dehumanization of immigrants. We are stronger together. Long live the people. ...