The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more commonly known as ICE, has been around since the year 2003. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and formed new agencies including that of ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The enforcement of our country’s immigration laws which guided ICE and other agencies were guided historically by policies that emphasized prioritization. However, under the guidance of President Donald Trump, these services are now operating in a severely socially destructive manner that is tearing apart the society of our country.
ICE now follows a get-tough philosophy guided by Trump that has resulted in a 75% to 84% increase of people being in detention, holding over 68,000- 73,000 people by mid-December 2025, and surpassing the previous peak in August 2019. 2025 marked ICE’s deadliest year in over 20 years with 30- 32 deaths. By the end of 2025, over more than 100 facilities were being utilized by ICE, a 91% increase in facility usage. 86% of detainees are being held in for-profit, privately-runfacilities. With funding provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, there is enough funding to lead to 135,000 detention beds through the end of the year 2029. ICE activities are currently being funded with a $45 billion budget from the same bill. ICE’s impact goes beyond the detaining of people, with a 1,347% increase in assaults including 66 vehicular attacks. 2026 has just begun and over 70,000 people have already been detained, marking a record high.
It is reported that of the detainees, 74.2% have no criminal convictions while only 5% of these individuals have violent criminal convictions. Overall, with the changes in arrest practices there has been a 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record. Of the people detained, 3,800 children were booked into family detention centers between January and October 2025 with an average daily population of 170 children in ICE detention centers. At least 20 infantswere among the children detained in 2025. As of 2025, 170 U.S. citizens have been detained.
America is being ripped apart by these forces that are targeting these large masses of people, many of which have no criminal record. ICE is going into our communities and taking people who should be protected by the Fifth and 14th Amendments of our Constitution which have been put in place to protect any “person” (not just U.S. citizens) within the borders of our country from deprivation of life, liberty or property. While it can be argued that those in ICE detention centers have access to legal proceedings, it is a very difficult and complex process that often requires expert legal representation to secure a bond or prove eligibility for release. This is something many who are in detention centers don’t have access to. Resultingly, discretionary releases from detention fell by 87% by the end of November 2025.
To put an end to this, we need to continue to come together as a community and continue to speak up. It is crucial to have more events like the vigil held last Wednesday and honor the victims of ICE and stand up for what “We the people”need as a country. We acknowledge that our country is headed in the wrong direction; only 4% of Democrats, 33% of Republicans and 7% of Independents say America is heading in the right direction, according to a study conducted by the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics on 18- 29-year-olds.
Yet we distrust those who have opposing political views from us, with only 35% believing that someone with an opposing political view still wants what’s best for the country. Furthermore, it was found that only 11% of college studentswould consider themselves highly politically active. while 62% to 71% of students and young adults believe that colleges and universities should remain neutral on political issues.
What’s even more alarming is that many simply don’t know the basic structure of how our national government was found, according to a survey by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni which determined that few know how our current government even functions. As people of the United States, it is our civic duty to understand what is going on in our country and ensure that our government is protecting the very first words of the Constitution. That “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure Tranquility, provide for the common defence” continue to uphold this standard that our Founding Fathers knew was paramount in maintaining a safe country.
To ensure this is upheld, we all as the American people must be paying attention. Acknowledge the facts, get upset, keep talking about it. We can’t just expect that someone else is going to start or go to the demonstrations, events and protests for us. In not being political, we remain complicit in the violence that is occurring against the American people. We continue to fail what our Founding Fathers stood for and what they fought for with their lives. We fail our country.