Innocent people being sent to immigrant detentions, families being torn apart, peaceful protestors facing attacks, constitutional rights being violated and even people being murdered: This is a list of events that ICE has caused since President Donald Trump’s recent election.
ICE stands for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is a law agency with the goal of enforcing immigration laws. According to ICE’s official history page, it originated in March of 2003 due to the Homeland Security Act.
Even though their job is to protect and support the people, they have just been causing harm to our country. Their unconstitutional and cruel strategies have been causing not only immigrants harm, but anyone that they think is an issue.
I discuss ICE all of the time with adults that I know. With all of the violence that is shown in the news, how could I not? I constantly see videos of people getting dragged into vehicles, pinned onto the ground and attacked with tear gas or pepper spray. According to an NPR article by Ximena Bustillo and Rahul Mukherjee, at least 20 people have died in ICE custody so far in 2025. This has been the most deaths caused by ICE since the early 2000s. Despite that fact, most adults in my life choose to ignore it.
Supporters of ICE see them as people who are “just doing their job.” They’re seen as people who are helping America be great again by disposing of these “illegal aliens,” as Trump has claimed. Ironically, the methods that ICE are using to get rid of these “illegals” are in fact illegal. They aren’t just doing their jobs; they’re breaking the law.
I’ve read about multiple cases in Chicago where ICE has entered people’s homes without a proper warrant. According to an article from ABC7, federal judges marked these ICE officials as unlawful, and I couldn’t agree more. Why is ICE allowed to enter people’s homes without a proper warrant? When they do have warrants, they’re signed by the agents themselves, not judges. It’s against the 4th Amendment. ICE will do anything to make sure that you will be taken away and sent to a deportation camp. The agents’ targets have no way of protecting themselves because the law does not apply to them.
People of Mexican ethnicity are being targeted the most, but many other minorities have been targeted as well. The United States is supposed to be the land of the free and include justice for all, not just white men. Minority families across the country are scared of losing family members to these raids. In Chicago, it’s especially threatening due to Trump’s recent aggression in October. An anonymous student at Kaneland High School is part of a family that is actively being affected by ICE.
“I have family in Chicago,” the source who asked to remain anonymous said. “They live a few blocks away from ICE’s base. They live in constant fear, too terrified to leave their home. My cousin is always afraid of getting kidnapped as he walks to school. It makes me feel disappointed in humanity.”
Students shouldn’t be afraid of getting kidnapped, let alone need to worry about people breaking through their doors due to the color of their skin. Many Republicans, including Trump, have said that these actions aren’t as aggressive as they should be. Since when was assault and kidnapping “not aggressive”?
In a 60 Minutes interview, Trump explained that “ICE haven’t gone far enough because we’ve been held back by the liberal judges. I’m okay with those tactics because you have to get the people out.”
Republicans claiming that ICE aren’t being violent (or violent enough) are spreading misinformation. During the initial ICE storm in Chicago earlier in the year, they were using pepper spray and tear gas to throw at protestors. These protestors have a constitutional right to protest as long as they don’t cause any physical harm. The only physical harm that was happening was from the agents pinning down and arresting protesters.
These deportation tactics are inhumane. If a child told you that troops illegally broke into their home, attacked their loved ones and took their parents away from them, why would you stop caring as soon as you learn that their parents were alleged immigrants? Why would you stop caring if you learn that child and their parents were people of color?
Children are having to watch their parents being stripped away from them. Families are being torn apart. People are being sent to detention facilities like Alligator Alcatraz, known for its terrible conditions. A surprising amount of adults that I know didn’t even know Alligator Alcatraz was an actual place until I mentioned it to them.
I’m constantly being told how I’m too immature and too young to understand politics, but this isn’t just politics. These are people’s lives. Lives that are being traumatized and ruined by ICE’s hateful propaganda. Their unconstitutional and sadistic actions should not be tolerated. Immigrants are not illegal aliens; they’re people and they should be treated as such. Please visit the National Immigration Justice Center website if you feel like you or your family is in danger or if you would like to help protect others from ICE. Remember, America is supposed to be the land of the free with justice for all.
