ICE conflict; What our “leaders” are doing/ saying about it all.

Written by: Dakotta Hargrave

(Opinionated Article)

ICE has been a big topic in towns and the news. Our president and our vice president haven't been very helpful in discussing these issues. ICE has murdered 32 people as of 2025, and that's only while they were in custody. Our government has been pushing it all under the rug, saying things like “I pray for the family” and “I want to investigate it further” but no investigation has been made into the ICE agents who have shot innocent human beings.

ICE is a federal law enforcement agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws and investigating transitional crime. ICE was created in 2003, they focused on identifying, detaining, and removing undocumented people, while also fighting illegal smuggling. They get $8 billion dollars annually as their budget to pay for their detention centers, enforcement, and removal operations. They had reached roughly $75 billion in 2026.

ICE pointing a firearm as people stand around to remember Renee Good.

The detention centers they take immigrants to are very, very similar to a jail or a prison. They have similar tables outside of the cells. The cells are diabolical, bare, and tan. Some of the centers have rows of beds, different levels/ floors, and some are just inhuman. The number of human beings who have been in detention centers and have died in them is crazy. Since 2003, approximately 273 people have died in the custody of ICE. Some of the people taken in custody were there from childhood, had criminal convictions/ charges, were seeking asylum, or were picked up from ICE raids. A Immigration Detention 101 article stated “Under Trump, ICE is operating with unprecedented funding, now the largest federal law enforcement agency in the US, running the largest immigrant detention system in the world.”

PBS.org has stated “Six in 10 Americans disapprove of the job ICE is doing, while about 3 in 10 approve. Opinions about the agency and its actions are sharply divided along political lines, with 91% of Democrats and 66% of independents registering their disapproval. Republicans, however, remain supportive, with 73% approving of the agency's work.” This should show enough to people and our government that the way ICE is dealing with the immigrants is completely inappropriate and entirely morally wrong. The way they become defensive so fast and the amount of casualties says so much on how our government is running the country.

Our president and his administration has stated they are going to de-escalate in Minnesota, only a little bit though. Our government has called any citizen that is murdered by an ICE agent either a “terrorist” or a “domestic terrorist”. Donald Trump has yet to fully talk and communicate about the ICE shootings and attacks. Our vice president, JD Vance, has stated they have never intended to harm any US citizens, they are primarily targeting the “criminal illegal aliens”, though nearly 3/4 of the immigrants have little to no criminal convictions.