Dear FO° Reader,
Our last report on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) covered the removal of Kristi Noem from her role as the secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) in March. She was the first cabinet member fired in US President Donald Trump’s second term, and some see her as one of the administration’s first high-ranking dominoes to fall. She did not fall far, however, as she now enjoys a position as a special envoy to the international cartel-targeting coalition, the Shield of the Americas.
Regardless of who is in charge, ICE holds conflicted confidence in the US, where half of Americans believe Trump’s immigration control is too aggressive. We will pick up where we left off, largely to cover the uptick in deportations since the precipitous drop in ICE activity in March.
Sources:
Kristi Noem, DHS Shutdown and Democrat Eyes Toward November Elections | Fair Observer
How Trump’s deportation campaign has changed tack after deep unpopularity | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) | The Guardian
Trump tries to quiet his mass deportation campaign. Voters aren’t moving. | POLITICO
ICE is still arresting people in Minnesota – but the tactics have changed | The Sacramento Bee
Murders, arrests and protests
ICE continues to amass harsh critiques and hostility from the American public, but mass protests have died down since the beginning of the year. Local protests still appear in areas of high federal immigration activity, which leads to more volatile and deadly altercations.
Though ICE activity slowed in March — partially because of the budget pause during the government shutdown — federal records show that, between March and August, they arrested 900 immigrants in Minnesota alone. Aggressive enforcement from ICE clearly did not disappear when mass protests stopped.
ICE arrests surged close to previous highs, detaining around 43,000 people in June. By July, the count increased by 15%, totaling nearly 50,000 people. The new DHS head, Secretary Markwayne Mullin, reversed plans to turn warehouses into massive detention facilities and attempted to pause ICE traffic stops last month. This may signal that leadership within DHS also hopes to reduce the risk of harm and curb the exponentially increasing arrests. Despite this, Trump reversed the order to pause these vehicle checks.
Via Shutterstock
Sources:
Immigration Detention Quick Facts | TRAC
ICE arrests jump to nearly 50,000 in July, highest monthly total of Trump’s crackdown | PBS News
ICE is still arresting people in Minnesota – but the tactics have changed | The Sacramento Bee
The most disturbing outcome of the ever-increasing ICE activity has been the unending killing of unrelated civilians. ICE agents killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old asylum-seeker with a permit to work in the US, in Maine on July 13. Another victim, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, faced a similar death on July 7 in Texas. Immigration agents killed both men on their way to work, and DHS claims they weaponized their vehicles but has not released evidence to that point. Both victims were not the intended target of the agents, and there are no reports of whether a federal investigation will clarify the incidents in the future.
The attorney of Guerrero’s family expressed the view that the actions of ICE are not unintended and that the government treated the killings as “acceptable collateral damage to a political agenda.” Data shows that ICE has not only killed numerous innocent people, but that they contributed to deaths in detention centers and have forced away document-holding immigrants to war zones and countries they have never been to. The administration’s actions range from human rights concerns to decreasing immigrant populations by exhausting and stigmatizing individuals previously following immigration laws.
Sources:
ICE killed Johan Durán Guerrero. His family is still waiting for answers, justice. | Maine Beacon
Latest update on the fatal shootings of 2 men by federal immigration agents | NPR
In Ohio, Haitians’ American dream shatters as ICE prepares to deport them | The Guardian
Deaths at Adult Detention Centers | AILA
A constant cycle of deportations
The method of deportation has also changed significantly, as the agency conducts deportations more quietly than before. Furthermore, the number of potential deportation destinations has increased and has now grown to include Guatemala, Haiti and, notably, the war-torn Central African Republic (CAR).
Where the latter country is concerned, the case of Cuban immigrant Yasmany Moreno de Armas is especially notable. ICE stranded him in the Central African Republic along with Ecuadorian, Honduran, Serbian, Russian and Vietnamese nationals with no recourse to return home. When the deportations to CAR started on June 11, authorities handcuffed, shackled and drove migrants to Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana. This comes despite the fact that many of these migrants had previously won US court protection orders in order to prevent deportation.
Sources:
Men from Cuba and other countries describe being deported by the U.S. to a dangerous African nation: “We cannot leave” | CBS News
US Deporting Asylum Seekers To War-Torn Central African Republic | WKOW
Haitians, in particular, have also been dealing with social stigma and drastically increasing rates of ICE deportation. These deportations are occurring despite Haitians also having been under temporary protected status since the earthquake of 2010 in Port-au-Prince (the US stripped these rights in June 2026).
On August 21, 2026, the first deportation flight to Haiti landed in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second-largest city, carrying 160 Haitian nationals. The administration carried out the expulsions despite attorneys suing the administration in order to preserve Haitians’ Temporary Protected Status (TPS) status. Ironically, the State Department warned against flying to Haiti due to widespread violence.
The Haitian community’s contributions to healthcare, food services and retail in the US are jobs considered essential to the American economy and significant generators of financial aid to families in Haiti through remittances. More importantly, Haiti has also suffered near-complete government collapse in recent years, with gangs running rampant. Some severely criticize the deportations on human rights grounds, partially due to the instability in Haiti.
Lastly, in the wake of America’s war with Iran, it has emerged that ICE allegedly maintains a back channel with the Iranian regime in order to facilitate deportations to the country. In December 2025, this back channel partnership between ICE, the government of Iran and the government of Qatar resulted in the deportation of 100 Iranian nationals, including activists. This cycle of deportations points to the administration’s fundamental neglect for the well-being of asylum-seekers.
Sources:
US supreme court allows Trump administration to strip Haitians and Syrians of protected status | The Guardian
First deportation flight lands in Haiti after TPS suspension | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) | The Guardian
‘I’m Haitian, and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Is Personal’ | Sarasota Magazine
Haitian crisis (2018–present) | Wikipedia
ICE Deported Over 100 People to Iran in Lead-Up to War, Including Activists and Minorities at Risk of Persecution: Report | People
A house divided
Due to these incidents and many more high-profile actions, a majority of Americans are not happy with ICE. In the aftermath of ICE agents killing Guerrero and Araujo in July, polls say that a majority of Americans had little (11%) or no (42%) confidence in the organization.
Further breakdowns showed that party lines heavily divide the polls, with Democrats largely against ICE and Republicans largely for it, though the Independent vote may be telling. 54% of Americans say they have little or no confidence in ICE, with a staggering 42% falling in the hard “no” camp. This tracks with similar polls taken after the protests in Minnesota fuelled by ICE agents killing American citizens, with roughly 60% of respondents saying ICE had gone too far.
All of this seemed to hardly faze Trump. As always, the president has been combative and more than happy to help his own supporters, no matter how many attacks he receives from his enemies. In May, Trump allegedly suggested that he would deploy ICE officers around polling stations in the upcoming November elections, though department heads have said they currently have no plans to do so.
Such actions would further antagonize a population already frustrated with the DHS sub-agency and discourage certain demographics from voting, intimidated by fears of authorities mistaking them for non-citizens. Concerned individuals horrified with the current administration look to the Democrats for solutions, though results may be scarce.
Sources:
A majority of Americans have little or no confidence in ICE | YouGov
Poll: Nearly two-thirds of Americans say ICE has gone too far in immigration crackdown | PBS News
What Trump Has Said About ICE at Polls as Maine GOP Candidate Audio Leaks | Newsweek
Sending ICE to Polling Places Is Illegal | Brennan Center for Justice
Democrats in disorder
The Democratic Party has been having trouble finding a message. While the party more or less uniformly condemns ICE’s recent actions, they could not unify on how to respond. Some candidates are calling for ICE’s total abolition after the repeated scandals and high-profile violence committed by officers. Others are more conservative, pushing only for reform.
While a majority of the Democratic base supports abolishing ICE — 51% of moderate Democrats and 67% of progressive Democrats — detractors point to the question’s abysmal polling with undecided voters, with 21% saying they would support the abolition.
Many Democrats, including a number in party leadership, point to this as a reason for a softer stance, but the debate still rages within the party. Nonetheless, the Democratic National Committee voted to call for the abolition of the agency, while also backing a separate proposal merely calling for reforms.
Sources:
Democrats found their border message. ICE is another story. | POLITICO
Democrats disagree over abolishing or reforming ICE at DNC meeting | The Associated Press
DNC Votes to Back Eliminating ICE as Trump Expands Deportations | Newsweek
No end in sight
ICE positions itself to continue deportations at an unprecedented rate. While many Americans are quite willing to protest the department, this has not seemed to slow down ICE’s operations. Aside from the public killings committed by officers on the street, there are numerous deaths reported from within detention centers on a monthly basis. Trump is happy to let things continue as they are. The only hope of stopping this during the presidential term is the upcoming November midterm, though Democrats can’t seem to decide what they are going to do.
But as ICE continues to operate, the human cost continues to escalate. Given their track record, it seems that it will only be a matter of time before the next public tragedy involving the department occurs.
Casey Herrmann, Aliyah A. Omar and Alexandros Ouzounis
Assistant Editors
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