[Authoritarian Trope] Casually being questioned/threatened by an imposing authority figure out of nowhere

[u/TheWalkingBag]

One way to really set the oppressive atmosphere of a setting is by having our characters get randomly questioned or interrogated by a soldier/cop out of nowhere, often for very minor reasons

1. "Pick up that can." (Half-Life 2)

When Gordon first arrives to City 17, a Combine Civil Protection officer he's passing by suddenly drops a soda can in front of him and orders him to pick it up. If you comply here and throw the can in the bin he'll amusedly let you pass, but if you don't then he'll proceed to whip out his stunstick and attack you on the spot

1. "I'm just a tourist." (Andor)

In the episode "Announcement" of Season 1, a random shoretrooper on Niamos questions and threatens Cassian (using the fake alias "Keef Girgo") for nervously looking around too much while they're conducting a crackdown. The trooper asks if he's "a part of it" to which Cassian repeatedly protests that he isn't and that he's just a perfectly normal tourist; he's then violently arrested by him anyway and sentenced to hard labor in Narkina 5 without a fair trial

1. "Now, you. Show me your identification papers, please." (Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus)

A Nazi commandant randomly sits down at Papa Joe's Diner, orders a strawberry milkshake for himself and then very casually asks Blazkowicz to show his ID papers to him. Here you can show him your fake IDs (where you use the alias "John Smith") which seems to fool the commandant for a bit before he looks at a wanted poster on the wall and immediately recognizes your true identity, frantically pulling out his pistol before being shot by the diner's owner

[u/Oldbuddyx]

ICE agents questioning black people that speak with an accent on the streets of US. Real life

[u/ToonMasterRace → u/Oldbuddyx]

ICE deportations are way lower than they were under Obama/Biden so seems like they're less active now if anything

[u/BlueHero45 → u/ToonMasterRace]

Ice arrests are up dramatically under Trump but Deportations are down. Meaning the number of people being held has increased. Which makes sense when you look at the new and expanded detention centers built. A rather massive amount of money was moved to these projects.

[u/Tmannermann → u/ToonMasterRace]

yeah cus they are putting them in concentration camps not deporting them.

[u/ToonMasterRace → u/Tmannermann]

detainment facilities to process illegal migrants before deportation existed in prior administrations and they were more filled then due to more deportations taking place.

[u/BlueHero45 → u/ToonMasterRace]

Is that why Trump had to build new one and expand current ones?