You are reasonable so I think its worthwhile to tell you this: As someone with brown skin and a US citizen I still fear ICE. And it isn't because I'm paranoid.
This is first thing I've agreed with you on in a long time. Democrats need to do a better job at balancing empathy and the perception of lawlessness.
Well last election cycle Democrats chose "We are the real tough on illegals party because GOP didn't vote for our draconian bill" route. And the response was " So you called us racist this whole time for this concern of ours that you now agree is a concern". They could have gone the route of "Illegal immigrants aren't your landlord hiking up your rent or your former CEO who did mass layoffs for quarterly return numbers" but they can't because they can't turn a class of people that are their friends into an enemy( executives, property investors etc) so they are fine with the most powerless people as scapegoats like MAGA "When you believe in nothing, you fall for everything" is very apt in describing Democrat leadership.
When the American liberal is frustrated and out of arguments they call one of three plays: 1) YOU ARE RACIST 2) YOU ARE HITLER 3) YOU ARE A RUSSIAN ASSET And they think they are persuasive! LMAOOOOOO GOOD DAY
