In December of 2025, 68,440 people were detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) according to The Guardian. Additionally, of those detained in December, 75% had no criminal convictions, and seven died, according to the same Guardian article. Since its creation in 2003 in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, ICE has been a controversial topic not only within discussions of politics but also in discussions of human rights. Legally, ICE is tasked with finding and deporting illegal immigrants. With President Donald Trump cracking down on illegal immigrants and enforcing stricter ICE policies, many people have been debating whether ICE’s methods of detaining people are humane or if they need change.
The way ICE treats both U.S. citizens and non-citizens is incredibly inhumane, and something needs to be done about it before more lives are unfairly taken or changed. ICE and the Trump Administration have completely lost sight of what is truly important, and irreversible harm is being done to our country. Whether it is just a redesign of the current organization or a complete restart into something new, action needs to be taken as soon as possible.
ICE racially profiles people based on looks and appearances, not actually on the status of their citizenship. This causes them to take actual U.S. citizens into custody without any true rhyme or reason. This should not be a possibility at all, and the fact that it has happened numerous times is extremely concerning. ICE should not be able to derail someone’s daily life just because they look a certain way.
Part of this group of U.S. citizens who are wrongly detained are children who are too young to know what is really going on. This creates the possibility of giving the children unneeded and fully preventable trauma that can carry into adulthood, and cause them to live their lives in fear just because they don’t look the way Trump thinks an American citizen should look. Last February, an 11-year-old girl even took her own life after her classmates taunted her with threats of ICE due to her family’s citizenship status, as reported by CNN. The effect of ICE stems further than just the point of deportation, and has caused an uprising of prejudice towards immigrants. No child should have to debate whether or not their life is more valuable than the concept of citizenship.
The United States’ culture has been cultivated from a blend of hundreds of different life styles from different parts of the world. Deporting the very people who make up the fabric of this country is counterintuitive and hypocritical. If someone is committing a serious crime that genuinely harms and negatively affects someone, they should be appropriately punished and held accountable, regardless of their citizenship. However, if someone’s only crime is trying to make a life for themselves and their families, they should not have to suffer for it. We shouldn’t just let people come and go into the U.S. as they please, but it would be extremely beneficial to, instead of detaining and deporting the innocent immigrants, present them with simpler ways to attain citizenship, so they aren’t unfairly ripped away from the life they worked hard for.
In a recent devastating event, Renee Good, a mother and wife living in Minneapolis, was shot three times and killed by an ICE agent after attempting to drive away from a group of ICE agents in the middle of the road in her neighborhood. Good was a U.S. citizen who showed zero aggression towards the agents. Many who are in support of ICE claim that Good attempted to run over the agent, but in the video, you can clearly see her turning away from them in order to drive away without hitting them.
Trump’s reaction to this situation was unprofessional and lacked any empathy after he called her violent and vicious, ignoring her devastating murder by the very person who is supposed to protect us, and saying that it was a part of the “Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate.” At no point in time in the video does Good state her political beliefs, and her last words to the ICE agent were even a peaceful “I’m not mad at you.” This is not the first injustice that ICE has caused, and it will not be the last, especially if our president is supporting it.
Many videos of ICE show them being extremely rough with people who aren’t attempting to harm them in any way or escape. If this is the way that ICE publicly treats U.S. citizens, then how do they treat non-citizens in private? This raises important questions about whether or not ICE will get progressively more violent if the Trump administration continues to give them the power to do so.
After being forcefully removed from their lives, those who are detained by ICE are taken to detention centers, which are typically neglectful and inhumane. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), many people who have experienced the detention centers said the ICE agents ignore health issues and deny treatment for conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and various heart issues. These are life-threatening conditions that require constant care, and it is despicable of ICE to ignore that.
Former detainees also expressed witnessing other detainees being put in solitary confinement for simple things, such as asking to shower. Furthermore, these detention centers are inaccessible for people with disabilities and incredibly unsanitary. The condition of ICE detention centers are described to be worse than that of a prison. As a reminder, children are brought here, in rare cases, without their guardians. Nobody deserves this type of treatment, especially when most of the time their only crime was attempting to create a better life for themselves.
Supporters of ICE justify this horrifying treatment by expressing that illegal immigrants simply should have taken the steps to become U.S. citizens. These supporters do not realize how arduous it is to actually attain citizenship. According to the Cato Institute, an immigrant from Mexico may have to wait between five and 25 years to become a U.S. citizen. This same Cato report highlighted how caps and blockages for employment based visas for Indian immigrants can have a projected wait of up to 150 years. Long waiting periods, and ridiculous and excessive blockages prevent a large portion of people will most likely never attain U.S. citizenship. The U.S. is lucky to be a developed country with many opportunities for work, and other countries do not always have the same luxury, causing many people to aspire to live here.
This horrifying reality being created by the growth of brutality from ICE needs to be ended as soon as possible. You can help by attending local protests, signing and creating petitions, and most importantly, looking out for your neighbors. Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you know is right, and don’t let others tell you that you are wrong. Even simple things, such as posting on social media, help spread awareness about the truth of what ICE is doing to our country and its people.
ICE has done nothing but spread fear and violence across the United States. They are doing the opposite of protecting citizens, and they need to be stopped immediately. As the Trump Administration continues to push stricter immigration laws, we need to speak up and show them that what they are doing is wrong.
