Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, was created in 2002 by Congress as part of the new Department of Homeland Security. Both were formed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed over 3000 Americans.
ICE’s mission was “to protect America through criminal investigation and enforcing immigration laws.” It was meant to stop criminal networks that threatened the American people. By 2025 ICE employed 20,000 employees with an $8 billion budget. The officers we see wearing masks belong to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
Past presidents used ICE mostly to remove immigrants who committed serious crimes. President Obama deported 2.4 million undocumented immigrants during his two terms in office. When Trump first took office, he added 10,000 new ICE agents and gave them more power. By Trump’s second term, ICE’s focus changed. They didn’t just go after serious criminals. They began targeting anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.
Legal supervision over ICE decreased after many leaders were fired or replaced. 900 arrests were made daily by ICE. But Trump’s chief of staff, Steven Miller, pushed ICE leaders to arrest 3000 people per day. He screamed at ICE directors and threatened to fire those who didn’t meet his goals. Under this pressure, ICE began more random raids and arrests in neighborhoods, churches, factories and schools. Agents, who were already considered by many to be loose cannons, now often arrest people based on how they look or what language they speak, not because of criminal activity.
Most people held by ICE have no criminal record now. Many are working people, parents or asylum seekers — not the worst of the worst — not the rapists and murderers Trump claimed. In some cases, US citizens have been detained for weeks without being able to call their lawyers or families before being released without charges.
New recruits are offered $50,000 sign-on bonuses and loan forgiveness. To recruit more agents, ICE lowered its age limit to 18, cut training time in half and skipped full background checks.
Now you can be detained and held with no legal recourse by an untrained, armed teenager.
The Big Beautiful Bill raised ICE’s budget to $100 billion, making it the most heavily funded law enforcement agency in this country. ICE now has a larger military budget than countries like Turkey and Spain. ICE operates with little legal control and answers mostly to the President. How safe are the rest of us when power like that goes unchecked?
[Published in local newspapers in Nov 2025 by Ben Boardmen and friends; shared on this website with permission. Email info@clarkdemocrats.org for more info about how to support BARN OWL in your local paper.]
