ICE under fire: How a post-9/11 agency became flashpoint of nationwide protests in US

By Ali Zeraatpisheh

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been in the news in recent weeks following a series of deeply disturbing developments in the United States, including the cold-blooded killing of two American citizens in the city of Minneapolis.

Massive protests have erupted against both the Donald Trump administration and ICE itself, with public officials and residents in Minneapolis demanding accountability and calling for the agency’s expulsion from the city.

Public opposition to ICE and its brutal enforcement practices has intensified during Trump’s second term in office, culminating in some of the largest and most sustained protests seen in years.

While Trump has openly defended the ICE officers involved in the killings, Minneapolis officials have vowed to expel the tainted and aggressive anti-immigration police force, as residents continue to pledge sustained resistance and protest.

How did ICE come into existence?

ICE was formed in March 2003, less than two years after the September 11 attacks, as part of a sweeping government overhaul under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The agency combined the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) with the US Customs Service, concentrating immigration enforcement and customs investigations under one roof.

Officially, the mission was national security and law enforcement. In practice, ICE has evolved into a vast system of detention, deportation, and surveillance, expanded dramatically during the Trump years and never meaningfully rolled back.

By 2025, ICE was holding more than 68,400 people across 436 detention facilities nationwide. Government data showed that 71 percent of detainees had no criminal convictions, directly contradicting claims that the agency targets serious offenders.

Hundreds of thousands more were swept up through workplace raids and targeted operations. The same year, at least 32 people died in ICE custody. Federal audits documented prolonged detention, chronic overcrowding, and conditions that violated basic human rights standards.

Families were torn apart, children separated from parents, and immigrant communities left in a constant state of fear. What was marketed as a security agency now operates as a powerful enforcement system with minimal accountability.

What are the origins and structural mandate of ICE?

ICE was conceived by the George W. Bush administration in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, framed as a national security necessity. Behind that framing was a broader political push to expand domestic surveillance and enforcement powers. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 merged the INS with the US Customs Service, creating an agency with unprecedented reach inside the country.

From the outset, ICE was designed as a nationwide enforcement machine. It was built to detain, arrest, and deport with broad discretion and limited oversight.

At launch, the agency absorbed more than 17,000 employees, giving it one of the largest enforcement footprints in the federal government. Its authority extended to indefinite detention, workplace raids, and wide-scale community surveillance.

ICE’s internal structure reinforced this mandate. Enforcement and Removal Operations oversaw arrests and deportations, while Homeland Security Investigations handled domestic and cross-border cases. Together, the two divisions blurred the boundary between civil immigration enforcement and criminal policing, folding immigration violations into a punitive law-enforcement model.

The agency began with a $3.1 billion budget, overwhelmingly weighted toward enforcement rather than oversight or humane treatment. Early critics warned that this structure would generate fear, destabilize communities, and tear families apart while operating largely beyond public scrutiny.

Those warnings were largely ignored, resulting in large-scale abuses.

How is ICE enforcement by the numbers?

By 2025, ICE had grown into a vast enforcement operation embedded deep within American life. On any given day, more than 68,400 people were held in custody across 436 facilities, many operating well beyond their intended capacity. Some sites exceeded 140 percent occupancy. That year, ICE carried out more than 400,000 arrests nationwide, the highest annual total in the agency’s history.

Deportations rose alongside arrests. In 2025, more than 240,000 people were forcibly removed from the United States. Interior enforcement expanded sharply, with workplaces, private homes, and courthouses increasingly targeted.

More than 60,000 arrests occurred during interior raids—four times the level recorded five years earlier. These operations often involved heavily armed officers, night-time raids, and surprise tactics that left families and entire neighborhoods shaken.

The human cost of detention was severe. At least 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025, many linked to untreated medical conditions, inadequate monitoring, or prolonged confinement. Average detention periods stretched from weeks into months, frequently without access to legal counsel. Chronic overcrowding compounded neglect and steadily worsened conditions inside facilities.

ICE’s reach extended beyond detention and deportation. Homeland Security Investigations opened thousands of criminal cases each year, targeting alleged smuggling, labor violations, and fraud.

In practice, these investigations routinely swept up asylum seekers and undocumented workers, pushing them into detention, deportation proceedings, or years of legal limbo.

What are the human costs of deaths, conditions, and rights violations?

Behind the brutal enforcement statistics lies a deep human crisis. Government audits have repeatedly found that medical care inside detention centers is chronically inadequate, with detainees waiting weeks for treatment and reporting that requests for help are ignored.

Overcrowding is routine. Facilities built for hundreds often hold far more, with detainees confined to poorly ventilated spaces, denied basic hygiene, and subjected to constant artificial lighting.

Movement is restricted and recreation is minimal, producing widespread psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. Legal protections are largely inaccessible.

More than 80 percent of detainees lack adequate legal representation, forcing them to navigate complex immigration courts alone. Errors in ICE databases have resulted in the wrongful detention of US citizens, exposing serious failures in verification and oversight.

Family separation remains a defining feature of the system. Detainees are frequently transferred between facilities without notice, leaving families without information. Children are among the most vulnerable, often held in facilities that fail to meet basic care standards, while parents endure months or years of separation with no clear timeline for reunification.

How ICE enforcement turned uglier under Trump?

The first Trump administration marked a decisive escalation in ICE’s power and visibility. From 2017 to 2021, the agency was transformed into a central tool of mass enforcement, deployed to intimidate immigrant communities and advance a hardline political agenda.

In 2018, the administration implemented its “zero-tolerance” policy at the US-Mexico border, criminally prosecuting all unauthorized crossings. The policy resulted in the forced separation of more than 5,500 children from their parents in a single year.

These separations were not administrative failures but deliberate policy outcomes designed to deter migration through trauma. Many families were never fully reunited.

Interior enforcement expanded aggressively. Workplace raids, night-time home arrests, and courthouse operations became routine. Large numbers of those arrested had no criminal records, reflecting a shift away from targeting serious offenses toward mass removal. Fear spread through immigrant neighborhoods, discouraging people from reporting crimes or appearing in court.

Detention capacity ballooned alongside arrests. Facilities intended to hold around 40,000 people routinely confined far more, including asylum seekers and families. Government reports during this period documented overcrowding, inadequate medical care, and barriers to legal access.

Deaths in custody increased, pointing to systemic neglect rather than isolated failures.

Trump administration officials repeatedly labeled undocumented immigrants as “criminals” and “invaders,” despite data showing otherwise.

Funding followed. ICE’s budget rose sharply, with resources channeled toward enforcement while oversight and accountability lagged. The transformation reshaped ICE into a punitive apparatus built to intimidate and destabilize—effects that did not end with Trump’s departure from office.

How did recent protests against ICE trigger?

On January 20, 2026, the first anniversary of Trump’s return to office, thousands demonstrated across the country, condemning the administration’s immigration crackdown and calling for an end to what they described as state-sanctioned violence. Many demanded the abolition of ICE itself.

Anger deepened as reports emerged of increased use of lethal force during enforcement actions. Fatal shootings sparked outrage among civil rights groups and local officials.

Renée Nicole Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother, was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026, in a brazen violation of ICE mandate.

Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident and US citizen who worked as an intensive-care nurse, was fatally shot by federal immigration agents on January 24, 2026.

These shootings led to clashes between protesters and federal agents, raising urgent questions about militarized policing, federal overreach, and the absence of accountability.

A nationwide “Free America Walkout” has urged workers and students to leave jobs and classrooms in protest of ICE raids, National Guard deployments, and what organizers described as a broader erosion of civil liberties. Tens of thousands were expected to participate across major cities.

In several states, demonstrations have gathered directly outside ICE facilities following spikes in arrests. Legal challenges have followed.

In Minnesota, federal judges are reviewing whether large-scale enforcement operations involving ICE and DHS agents violate constitutional protections and exceed federal authority.

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