In the United States, there has been an increase in controversy regarding border control and immigration. This response is due to the mistreatment of migrants by ICE. Political tensions are on the rise as immigrants are in fear of their citizenship status and future.
During Donald Trump’s presidency, America has increased restrictions regarding immigration and enforcement of immigration and illegal migration to the U.S. The Big Beautiful Bill has allocated more funding to ICE, which has facilitated the increase of ICE’s presence in America. Trump hopes to reduce the number of immigrants entering the U.S., and, with the implementation of ICE, fears regarding immigration have been on the rise. The concerns and outrage stem from the violence seen by ICE agents.
President Trump has pushed for stricter border laws with ICE agents as the enforcers. After Trump’s influence regarding ICE, the weekly arrests have reached around 6,000 people, while in 2017, ICE’s weekly arrest rate was around 1,000. This increase in detainment has allowed for an increase in violence and utilized the dubbed “raid strategy.” Former Director of ICE John Sandweg highlighted new ICE techniques, explaining that ICE has increased the demographics of arrests. Sandweg noted the shift of ICE making arrests mainly of immigrants with a criminal past, to immigrants in general. Utilizing the raid technique, ICE agents have been found to specifically go into neighborhoods and workplaces with large Hispanic populations. They also receive tips where many citizens tell ICE they see illegal immigrants in their neighborhood.
ICE’s presence in America has been filled with violence, including online video footage showcasing agents in Chinatown tackling people while others desperately flee the area. These arrested people were mostly West African immigrants who were vendors to tourists. DHS, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, defended this by saying the vendors had previous criminal charges, such as robbery, burglary, domestic violence, and assaulting law enforcement, but no proof of these proposed charges was provided. But still DHS claimed that it was “an intelligence-driven operation focused on criminal activity.”
Another incident reported was that of Illinois State Representative Hoan Huynh, a Democrat and Vietnamese American candidate for Congress, who was surrounded by border patrol and armed agents when he attempted to view ICE activity in the city’s Albany Park neighborhood. During this encounter, one officer pointed his gun at the representative while threatening to break the window of his vehicle. DHS defended this incident by stating that Huynh tried to “disrupt operations,” but Huynh contested by saying the incident was “violent federal bullying meant to silence public oversight.”
People have also been frightened and outraged due to an ICE raid in Wilder, Idaho, where 105 undocumented people were arrested in an operation aimed at destroying what DHS called an “illegal horse‑racing and gambling enterprise.” Witnesses reported that ICE was accompanied by drones and helicopters, people were being shot with rubber bullets, arrested, handcuffed, and even saw children being zip-tied. The DHS later stated that it was necessary “to dismantle criminal networks.”
In terms of “Military force,” ICE sometimes utilizes armoured vehicles at protests and during raids. These vehicles are likely variants of the M1126 Stryker infantry carrier vehicle, and it is worth noting that this vehicle is America’s version of the Russian BTR armoured personnel carrier vehicles. Russia utilized its BTRs during many protests that took place during Boris Yeltsin’s presidency, and especially during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis. While those protests were sometimes much more violent than the ones currently happening in the United States, they are some of the only ones to utilize these specific types of armored vehicles during protests or public outrage.
Small arms are things like armor, explosives, chemical weapons, pistols, and rifles, while ordnance and ordnance accessories manufacturing refer to things like artillery, barrels, extractors, and mounts. One reporter even stated that ICE had also purchased “guided missile warheads and explosive components.”
Recently, immigration agents have been spotted wearing Halloween costumes in the Los Angeles area. Images posted online show agents in unmarked vehicles wearing Chucky and Momo Halloween masks. The vehicle with the Momo mask-wearing driver was spotted at an immigration raid on Tuesday. When news sources asked a DHS spokeswoman about the sightings, all she had to say was “Happy Halloween!” The spokeswoman refused to say if the masks were being worn by ICE officers or Border Patrol agents.
The behavior of ICE agents has prompted much criticism. Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz stated, “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz continued, “They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons, no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.”
Assistant Secretary of the DHS Tricia McLaughlin defended against claims, stating, “Following the evil act of political violence in the country this week and two brutal assaults on our brave ICE law enforcement last week, we are once again calling on the media and the far left to stop the hateful rhetoric directed at President Trump.”
“What we don’t want is for people to get racially profiled. That’s what’s happening right now.” And while Pritzker doesn’t expect a second Holocaust, he expressed, “It’s the beginning of something very bad for a country, especially a constitutional republic.”
