Created by Congress in 2003 as part of the domestic War on Terror, ICE linked civil immigration and national security for the first time, emboldening ICE to not just criminalize some groups of immigrants (as laws passed in 1996 had done), but to treat all migrants as potential threats. The agency had a mandate to target people based on where they work, what they look like, and the language they speak, destabilizing communities, separating families, and putting people’s lives at risk.
Throughout its brief history, advocates, government inspectors, members of Congress, and media have extensively and repeatedly documented ICE’s culture of violence and secrecy. ICE regularly lies, actively hides information from the public, and retaliates against those who speak out. It thwarts attempts at oversight, transparency, and accountability at every turn. In its growing detention system, ICE subjects people to medical neglect, verbal and physical abuse, overcrowding, moldy food, faulty plumbing, and rampant transfers that disappear people into the detention system, sowing confusion and cutting people off from their loved ones and support networks.
The grim reality of Trump’s mass detention and deportation agenda has fueled renewed disapproval of ICE, growing more widespread than ever before. Our tax dollars need to be used to strengthen our families and communities, not to target, detain and deport our immigrant friends and neighbors. Americans see the astronomical budget ICE operates with while people go without adequate investments in housing, food, education, and more. Now is the time to End the ICE Age once and for all.
