(RNS) — The closest analogue in American history to the current protests against the Department of Homeland Security’s mass deportation tactics is what happened after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. Back then, it was not undocumented immigrants that the government was taking into custody to the dismay of protesters, but those fleeing bondage in the South. The act, part of a compromise package of measures intended to keep the United States intact, suspended habeas corpus (meaning the government didn’t have to justify imprisoning individuals); denied a jury trial to “runaways”; provided higher fees to officials finding in favor of enslavers; and ordered all citizens, at risk of fine and even imprisonment, to assist in catching fugitives. The act provoked resistance across the North, not only from citizens Black and white, but also from state legislatures. Vermont’s led the way with a law requiring its judicial and law enforcement officials to assist captured slaves. Northern juries refused to convict people charged with violating the law. The Underground Railroad went into high gear. Among …