Immigrants who have lived abroad or grown up with stories of political chaos know that the most violent days always start out in an eerie quiet, as January 6, 2021, did in Washington, DC. By 1:10 pm that day, after then-President Donald Trump issued his call for thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol, anyone who was paying attention knew that something dangerous was about to take place.
Within a matter of minutes, at the other end of the National Mall, a Capitol police officer banged on the door of Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA). “You need to evacuate immediately,” Lieu recalls the officer saying before urging him to remove the lapel pin that identified him as a member of Congress and directing him down five flights of stairs to a secure location.