ICE is not simply enforcing immigration law – it is expanding the boundaries of state violence.
In the last year, we’ve seen disturbing evolution of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – specifically with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). At the start of President Trump’s second term, they used pro-Palestine protests to target and deport student activists. Then, the targeting quickly shifted to organizers involved in the pro-immigrant movement and a resurgence of neighborhood and workplace raids.
For the rest of 2025, we saw ICE and CBP agents push past the current policies and ethical standards. It’s important that we make it clear: ICE is not an outlier. Immigration enforcement is the legacy of the violent and ugly history of US slave patrols.
As communities across the country and in Puerto Rico resist ICE, we must get real about the past, present and future.
The Escalation We’re Facing Now
Right now, we are seeing federal immigration enforcement go from brutal to deadly. In January ICE/CBP agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in separate incidents, as they were providing community defense. But these were not isolated cases. Six others have already died in 2026 in ICE/CBP custody, setting an alarming pace for the new year and following a pattern of death from last year.
On New Year’s Eve, an off-duty ICE agent neighbor fatally shot and killed Keith Porter Jr in Los Angeles. In 2025 alone, at least 32 people died in ICE custody, making it the deadliest year on record since 2004. Last September, ICE agents near Chicago killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez after he attempted to flee arrest after being followed. And it was just reported this week that an ICE officer fatally shot Ruben Ray Martinez last May in Texas, despite initial reports concealing their involvement.
It is no wonder that our communities are outraged and hurt. We can all see this is not “law and order”, this is state-sponsored violence. Anything that opposes ICE and the Trump Administration (and by extension White Supremacy) is free game for their terror.
Notably, this week ICE and CBP’s actions are under scrutiny in Congress, leading to a pause in funding and government shutdown of the DHS on February 14th. As we look at what the next year of ICE and CBP will bring, it’s clear that the Trump Administration is leading with violence, suppression, and fear.
This Is Bigger Than ICE
ICE is a descendant of violent systems, like slave patrols, boarding schools, Jim Crow law enforcement, and political policing. Immigration enforcement is deeply embedded in the racist, white supremacist foundation of the United States. Like their slave catcher ancestors, ICE and CBP disregard human rights to uphold systems that benefit the rich and powerful.
Our motivation to get rid of ICE is only the first step: It is a critical one that exposes centuries of cruelty from the Trail of Tears to today. We must use the current moment to keep fighting and build momentum, but we must not lose focus.
The criminalization, the expanding budgets…it’s not just about immigration policy or border enforcement. Their violence and disregard for human dignity reveals the true nature of ICE. This is about the power to decide who is treated as fully human — and who is not, in this country and beyond. Because right now we are seeing two sides of the same coin.
ICE’s White Supremacy Toolbox
Last year, we shared how the Trump Administration use deportations as a tool against immigrants and dissent. Now, it’s obvious that enforcement is the smokescreen for MAGA’s vision of a white supremacist future. ICE’s main strategy is using repression, violence, and fear to achieve their goal.
Similar to 2020 police tactics, federal agents use tear gas, pepper spray, and deadly force at community defense gatherings and protests. They’re escalating intimidation against legal observers and even targeting elected officials who take actions against ICE arrests.
And when they don’t have the legal backing for all these actions, they mold the laws to fit what they want. For example, new laws are expanding federal control, criminalizing protest, and allowing ICE to suppress dissent even beyond federal property. In real time, we’re seeing the Trump Administration systematize control and eradicate our constitutional freedoms.
We’re not just witnessing violent enforcement, we’re watching the government deploy a racist, xenophobic political agenda through federal force.
Burnout and the Price of Showing Up
The shows of force and violence by DHS, ICE and CBP are exactly the point. They want to ensure that we’re constantly exposed to traumas that lead to PTSD and burnout. We’ve seen the toll that it’s taken on impacted communities, along with organizers and allies too. The state wants us tired and miserable. If we are afraid, complacent, and disconnected, it’s easier for them to continue terrorizing our neighborhoods.
But it’s also why our continued resistance is so critical. From documentation and training to storytelling and mutual care: we need each other to get through this. Now more than ever we have to keep our eyes on our ultimate goals of freedom and human dignity. We are here, in the struggle and in the trenches, to build el Buenvivir for our communities – and that includes immigrants regardless of their status.
We Still Have Power and We Need to Flex It
We’ve seen tremendous resistance efforts across the US and in Puerto Rico. Organizers and community members are fighting from every corner, every space possible – sin, contra, y desde el Estado.
Sin el Estado: We see communities creating safety nets, mutual aid, and trusted response systems.
Contra el Estado: organizers are exposing abuses, leading protests, and building public pressure.
Desde el Estado, elected officials, unions, and coalitions are pushing policies to limit ICE’s power and funding.
These actions also look like:
- Noise making protests at hotels where ICE agents are staying
- Representatives touring ICE detention facilities and exposing conditions
- Legal observers recording and documenting state violence
- Neighbors using whistles and car alarms to expose ICE presence
- Crowdfunding for impacted families needing support with rent, groceries, legal fees, etc
- Thousands of people shutting down roads and businesses to protest in the streets
Resistance is happening on many fronts, and every angle counts. It’s not one tactic, but a full spectrum response that will help us win.
Trump’s vision of a white supremist future means agencies like ICE acting with impunity and American imperialism and colonialism as foreign policy. It means continued stripping away of our constitutional rights to gather and protest without violence. More restrictions to our freedoms of speech, protest, press and more.
Everything is connected. So much so that Martin Niemöller’s “First They Came For…” poem could be re-written for today:
First they went after the “criminal immigrants”, and I did nothing because I wasn’t one of them. Then they went after the “terrorist students”, and I did nothing because I wasn’t one of them. Then they went after the activists and legal observers, and I did nothing because I wasn’t one of them. Then, they came for everyone, and I did nothing because there was no one left to resist.