ICE

History is repeating itself

Di Blido Arnela

In the United States, immigration has always been a central and controversial topic. One of the most discussed institutions is ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal agency created in 2003 after the 9/11 attacks, as part of the broader Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Its original purpose was to protect the nation from internal threats, particularly by controlling illegal immigration and the international trafficking of people, drugs, and dangerous goods.

ICE has played a crucial role in U.S. immigration policy, but at the same time, it has become a symbol of social and political division. Its operations, including arrests, detentions, and deportations of undocumented migrants, have drawn criticism for their impact on human rights, families, and communities.

Recently people have been paying a lot of attention to what ICE has been doing. This is because ICE has been carrying out some operations that are often very aggressive. These operations have caused a lot of problems. There have been protests and arguments between the government and local states. People are also questioning whether ICE is doing the right thing. ICE has been at the center of worldwide attention in 2025 and 2026. What is really bothering people is the way ICE is operating. The actions of ICE are causing a lot of tension internally in the country.

Immigration enforcement is a big deal in American politics. It has been this way for a long time. People have started talking about it more and more when Donald Trump was president from 2017 to 2021. The main reason for this is ICE. This group is in charge of making sure people follow the immigration laws. They also look into customs issues. When Donald Trump was president, ICE started to represent tough and unpopular immigration rules for a lot of people. ICE is still at the center of discussions about immigration enforcement.

Development of ICE:

Soon after Donald Trump took office, he signed an order to hire a lot of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, ten thousand to be exact and give them even more power. Before that, other presidents had ICE focused on sending back immigrants who had committed serious crimes. The Trump administration told ICE to go after anyone they thought was in the United States illegally, which is a big change.

The way things were being done resulted in many arrests, including some cases where United States citizens were arrested by mistake. ICE raided workplaces, schools and even churches, which made a lot of people in immigrant communities very scared. Many politicians and activists said that things need to change and that ICE should not exist at all. In 2018, ranking officials from Homeland Security Investigations asked to be separated from ICE. They argued that their criminal investigations were negatively affected by ICE focus on civil immigration enforcement. Despite their concerns, no institutional changes were made.

Here are the name of the people who have been killed by ICE or in ICE related operations last year and the start of this year:

– Renée Nicole Good, mother of three, shot 3 times while trying to move her car. She still had a pulse 8 minutes after being shot but ICE denied medical care, even when a doctor was at the scene to help. Her last words were “That’s fine dude, I’m not mad at you” and his words were “F*cking b*tch”.

– Silvero Villegas Gonzàlez, killed after dropping his 2 kids at school.

– Maksym Chernyak, Ismael Ayala-Uribe, Brayan Garzòn-Rayo, Marie Ange Blaise, Serawit Gezahegn Dejene, Gabriel Garcia Aviles, Genry Ruiz Guillén, Abelardo Avellanede-Delgado.

And many others.

And talking about killing people: ICE killed Alex Pretti, a nurse, who tried to protect two women. He was pepper-sprayed, beaten and shot. Just because he protested and tried to help.

In the ICE facilities 41 people have been sexually assaulted by ICE agents, 18 of them being children, and an ICE agent’s camera shut off right as he told a child to “open their mouth”.

America isn’t great again as Trump said it would become, and all the things that are happening there are only telling us that America is going backwards to 1930s Germany.