Since US President Donald Trump took office in January, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become a considerably more visible and terrifying presence on American streets.
In the public eye, ICE has been portrayed as Trump’s own rogue organization. They have become a type of domestic enforcer for MAGA, gathering up “illegals” and deporting those they claim are criminals to El Salvador, where they will face justice without a trial.
While ICE is still subject to constitutional constraints, the way it has been working has the characteristics of a secret police force.
Secret police forces typically match the following criteria:
- They are a police force that targets political opponents and dissidents.
- They are not overseen by other security services and report directly to the country’s leader, typically a dictator.
- The members’ identities and operations are kept secret.
- They specialize in political intelligence and surveillance operations.
- They conduct arbitrary searches, arrests, interrogations, indefinite confinement, disappearances, and torture.
Let’s consider each of these requirements.
Detention of Political Opponents
ICE has used the false pretense of fighting antisemitism to persecute dissidents. A division of the agency that was previously employed to pursue narcotics smugglers and human traffickers has apparently been instructed to check social media for Hamas-supporting tweets.
On March 8, ICE arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a famous pro-Palestinian activist and legal resident. Rumeysa Ozturk, a university student detained on the street by ICE authorities on March 25, had a similar narrative.
Trump has used the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 as the legal basis for ICE’s activities in these and other situations. The statute empowers the United States government to remove anyone whose presence has “adverse foreign policy consequences” for the country.
Trump’s first month in office saw 20,000 arrests, according to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations.
📌 Based on ICE detainees at the end of February, some estimates also place this number as high as 23,000.
📌However, the new administration has also been seen to be… pic.twitter.com/JcCZDIGBpC
— FactRefuge (@FactRefuge) April 11, 2025
Direct Control
While ICE does not report directly to Trump, the agency is controlled by people who have shown intense loyalty to him.
ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security, which is overseen by longtime Trump supporter Kristi Noem. She is backed by Tom Homan, a former ICE director who Trump appointed as his “border czar” in November 2024.
Now, the question is whether Noem or Homan would refuse to follow a dictate from Trump in the face of a direct court order.
Secret Identities
ICE personnel are increasingly acting in secrecy. In a widely viewed video, the people who dragged Ozturk off the street claimed to be police officers, despite the fact that they were dressed plainly and wearing face masks.
Similarly, two individuals were apprehended by ICE agents dressed in civilian clothes during a raid on a courthouse in Charlottesville, Virginia, on April 22.
Surveillance Operations
ICE is divided into two independent law enforcement components, which allow it to gather political intelligence as well as conduct surveillance.
Its Homeland Security Investigations arm has an intelligence branch, and its Enforcement and Removal Operations arm employs third-party organizations such as Geo Group.
Worryingly, ICE is attempting to expand its intelligence and surveillance powers by asking proposals from private corporations to monitor dangers across the internet.
Torturing and Other Shady Operations
There have been several reports detailing how ICE conducts arbitrary searches, arrests, interrogations, and indefinite detentions.
These include false pretenses in the search for illegal students, collateral arrests, weeks-long detentions of tourists and visa holders for unknown reasons, and the disappearance of US residents without due process.
Since Trump’s inauguration, at least three people have died in ICE detention facilities.
Privatizing the Deportation Process
Meanwhile, a group of prominent military contractors, including former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, has pitched the Trump White House on a proposal to carry out mass deportations using a network of “processing camps” on military bases, a private fleet of 100 planes, and a “small army” of private citizens authorized to make arrests.
According to a document obtained by POLITICO, the plan has an estimated cost of $25 billion and advocates a variety of aggressive approaches to quickly deport 12 million individuals by the 2026 midterm elections.
“The idea that we could have a private cadre of bounty hunters going out on the streets and arresting migrants is frightening and would obviously be plainly unlawful,” former acting ICE director John Sandweg told CNN about the plan.
In the United States, there are stringent restrictions on privatizing specific law enforcement efforts from the government.
