The agency with most of the enforcement power, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is under fire like never before. Its actions under the current administration have raised alarms across the nation. While ICE has conducted raids in the past, the recent campaign has incited measurable fear among communities, positioning the agency as a rogue entity perceived to operate at the behest of President Trump. Opponents argue that ICE has already implemented scary practices. These actions push the boundaries of the law and ethics, triggering community uprising and political firestorm.
During the Trump administration, individuals viewed ICE as an extension of the president’s agenda. Retroactively, the agency often prioritized political whims over best practice and even legal requirements. The agency’s reputation has shifted dramatically in public consciousness, with many describing it as a personal tool for Trump’s agenda. This shift has been punctuated by the agency’s use of plainclothes officers for arrests in various urban settings, a tactic that has drawn comparisons to authoritarian regimes.
In response to this public outcry, ICE recently launched their own social media campaign complete with a caricature of Uncle Sam. In doing so, they urged citizens to report any sightings or activity of “illegal aliens.” By taking this step, she seriously undermined transparency and accountability. This deployment of uniformed, masked agents primarily tasked with making arrests themselves invoked further discomfort.
Reports of ICE’s controversial actions further illustrate this shift. In one case, agents arrested a four-year-old child with cancer and sent them back to Honduras with their family. The aftermath of such a disturbing act sent shockwaves through affected communities, sparking vital inquiries into ICE’s focus and tactics. Additionally, agents have conducted operations targeting workers at taco trucks and have arrested individuals, including a Brooklyn resident, in front of their neighbors and community members.
The agency’s tactics have been described as dystopian by various watchdogs and civil libertarians. In one high-profile arrest, New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was taken into custody outside an immigration court, prompting widespread condemnation. These state actions have raised concerns about state overreach. In response, massive protests followed in dozens of cities, especially in Los Angeles, where protests against ICE eventually forced President Trump to send 4,000 National Guard troops.
These tactics have drawn sharp rebuke from critics, who claim the agency’s style of operations harkens back to those of authoritarian governments. Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, noted that “the fact that they won’t identify themselves in many cases that have been reported on makes this all the more ominous.” She added that this approach is part of “Trump’s authoritarian playbook to have people arrested by agents who don’t give their names or their agencies and just swoop people off the street into unmarked vehicles.”
ICE’s reckless tactics have not only sparked widespread public outrage from everyday Americans but earned the condemnation of political leaders. California Senator Alex Padilla being arrested. He was simply attempting to grill the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary during a congressional hearing on the agency’s heavy-handed tactics.
“Clearly, ICE and DHS have become much more ominous and clouded in mystery, and clearly weapons for the Trump regime to violate rights and literally disappear people,” – Heidi Beirich
What I believe might be their bigger fear is that these actions by ICE have caused increased awareness in communities. Social media group chats and Nextdoor and other local forums are flooded with advance warning of potential ICE raids. This increase in conversation is a sign that thousands of residents are interested in keeping their communities safe. Political opponents are using this as an opportunity to demonstrate their opposition to what they see as overreach by federal agencies.
Jeffrey Fagan, a law professor at Columbia University, emphasized the importance of distinguishing between local policing and federal immigration enforcement. He stated, “So long as ICE, DHS, and other federal agencies define their missions narrowly on immigration matters, local police can and should remain separate.” He cautioned that “these boundaries become blurry when civilians gather to protest and raise issues that spill over to the public safety mission of local police.”
These controversies involving ICE are even worse when you listen to the top officials trying to corner the market on justifying its indefensible actions. ICE Tom Homan, former acting director of ICE, weighed in on an unconscionable problem. He laid out what this means for U.S. citizen children whose parents may live here illegally. He stated, “When you enter the country illegally and you know you’re here illegally and you choose to have a U.S. citizen child, that’s on you, that’s not on this administration.”