Trump and his sycophants, Lauren Boebert, border czar, Tom Homan, and Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem perpetuate the myth that ICE is targeting drug traffickers and other criminals. But only a small fraction fit this description.
The reality is that they’re detaining and deporting US citizens and others here legally, most of whom have no criminal records, including children as young as 2 years old, without warrants. This makes their pretext of enforcing “law and order” horseshit.
In March of last year, Maryland resident, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was illegally deported to El Salvador and sentenced to the notorious CECOT megaprison, which the Trump administration claimed was an “administrative error.”
On April 25th of last year, two-year-old U.S. citizen, identified as VML, was deported to Honduras with her mother and sister after attending a routine check-in with the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP).i That same day, four-year-old US citizen and resident of Louisiana, Romeo, was detained at a routine ICE check-in with his mother. Romeo has stage 4 kidney cancer and was deported to Honduras without medication or the ability to reach family doctors.ii
These cases of ICE targeting children are not isolated. On January 20th of this year, 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was arrested walking home from school in Minneapolis with his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, despite having open asylum cases and no deportation orders. Two days later, Elvis Tipan-Echeverria of Ecuador was detained with his two-year-old daughter in Minneapolis and flown to a detention center in Texas, despite also having a open asylum case and a court order calling for the daughter’s release. iii
Liam Conejo Ramos being detained by ICE
On the same day, Maria Velasco Hurtado, a documented asylum seeker from Ecuador who is also a resident of Minnesota, was stopped by ICE on her way to work. Despite showing her papers to agents proving she has permission to be in the US, she was removed her from the car, driven to her home in Hopkins, and used her as “bait” to detain the rest of the family, including two children. The family was given a choice to stay safely inside and have their mother taken away or be taken as well if they wanted to see their mother again. Again, the entire family was flown to a Texas detention facility, despite a federal judge ruling that the family must be kept in Minnesota.
Immigrants are not the only targets of ICE. Many who stand up for them have been targeted as well. On October 4th 2025, US citizen and school teacher, Marimar Martinez, was shot in her car five times by U.S. Border Patrol Agent, Charles Exum, who then bragged about the shooting in texts to other agents, writing, he was “up for another round of fuck around and find out”. He also boasted, “I fired 5 shots and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys..” Exum claimed Martinez rammed their vehicle but on his body cam footage, Exum states he’s going to make contact and rams her vehicle. Martinez was charged with “assaulting federal officers” but these charges were thrown out after the footage and text messages were released.
Another example with a more tragic resolution occurred on January 7th when Renee Good, a writer, poet, and mother of 3, was on her way home after dropping her son off at school when she stopped her car in the road to observe ICE agents who were thought to be conducting an operation. Agents approached her vehicle and gave her conflicting orders. An eyewitness told MPR news that one agent told her to drive away and another told her to “get out of the fucking car”iv. She attempted to comply with the order to drive away turning her car away from ICE agent, Johathon Ross, who claims the vehicle made contact with him as it turned away. Ross then proceeded to fire four shots, hitting Good in the chest, forearm, and head. It is clear this was an execution as the vehicle had already passed Ross as he continued shooting.
ICE agents prevented Good from receiving immediate medical aid from a physician who witnessed the killing. It wasn’t until EMS arrived 6 minutes later that she received medical care. Trump claimed Ross was “run over” by Good, yet it is clear in the recording Ross remained on his feet the entire time. Trump even claimed it was “hard to believe [the agent] is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital”. DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, called Good pulling her car away “an act of domestic terrorism” as did Kristi Noem.
Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, however, stated, “Kristi Noem watched the videos and doesn’t want an impartial investigation because she knows her narrative about domestic terrorism is bullshit…. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed. … To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here.” He also stated the only injury Ross incurred was to his hip that he “might as well have gotten from closing the refrigerator door”
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division declined to investigate and pressured prosecutors to investigate Good’s wife instead of the murdering agent. Four federal prosecutors from the Division and 6 other Minnesota prosecutors resigned in protest.v After the murder, Vice President J.D. Vance claimed that Ross had “absolute immunity.” The FBI then revoked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension access to evidence from the shooting. On January 7th, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley motioned to subpoena records and footage related to the murder, which Lauren Boebert and 19 others voted against it, resulting in the motion failing.
Minnesota Public Radio reporter Jon Collins told the Intercept, “They know they’re not going to be disciplined. They’re clear with a message from the administration — from the top down — that anything they do, including, the shooting of a mother of three in the face, is going to be defended by the administration” He also stated “The City Council president told me there’s an officer just running around, putting his Taser to people’s chests or to people’s arms, threatening them. Not for any security reason, not from what we can tell, any reason connected to their job. But because there is no accountability for these ICE agents.”vi
It’s worth noting that Good and Pretti were both white and middle class. Targets of ICE and other “law enforcement” are disproportionately black and brown but the message is clear that any one who opposes ICE or the Trump regime is fair game, regardless of class or race.
After the murder, Trump deployed 1000 more ICE agents to Minneapolis on top of the 2000 already sent as part of “Operation Metro Surge”. On January 15, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy military troops on the streets of Minneapolis, despite the objections of the Minnesota attorney general. On the 23rd , mass protests and work stoppages were held, in which 50,000-100,000 participated in subzero temperatures. One in four Minnesota voters either participated directly or had a close family member who did.
The next day, intensive care nurse for Veterans Affairs, Alex Pretti, was shot and killed by ICE after attempting to defend two women being harassed by agents. Pretti was acting as a legal observer, filming agents and directing traffic. After ICE agents shoved a female EMT to the ground and Pretti helped her up, ICE agents proceeded to assault another woman. Pretti and the EMT then both tried to help the other woman, at which point Pretti was tased, beaten, and shot after the agent claimed he had a gun, yet Pretti was only holding a phone in his hand. She was then prevented from performing CPR after he was shot. She told the Intercept that Pritti may have saved her life that day.vii Following the same predictable, worn-out narrative, Kristi Noem called Pritti a “domestic terrorist”.
Minnesota has been targeted by ICE more than other states for a few reasons. Minneapolis was the site of an uprising in 2020 against police violence triggered by Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd. This culture of resistance is something Trump seeks to destroy.
Minnesota is also home to Tim Walz, former vice presidential candidate, who ran against Donald Trump, and some argue this focus on Minnesota is political retaliation against Walz. Minnesota is also one of the few states in the Midwest (along with Illinois) that consistently votes blue. By arresting and killing immigrants, refugees, and those who support them, the Trump administration hopes to turn Minnesota into a red state, and similar efforts have been made across the country with redistricting. In Missouri, for example, (which is already a red state) state Congressional maps were redrawn so that Kansas city’s fifth district, one of only two districts in the state with a primarily Black population represented by the city’s first Black mayor, would be divided and merged with areas that vote overwhelmingly for republicans.
Minnesota also has a large Somali American population, which has been demonized and accused by Trump of committing social service fraud. In November of last year, Trump claimed“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State.”viii Despite his rhetoric about undocumented Somalis, most are US citizens and incidents of social service fraud have been isolated.
The scale to which even politicians of different stripes are being targeted by the federal government for speaking out against Trump and ICE is unprecedented. In November of last year after six Democratic lawmakers with military backgrounds made a video reminding service members that they must refuse illegal orders that violate the Constitution, Trump threatened them with arrest, treason charges, and execution.ix
In a press conference on February 3rd, Rep. Delia Ramirez commented “The greatest threat to the homeland is called the Department of Homeland Security.” On January 7th, Congresswoman Robin Kelly introduced articles to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, writing “she wreaked havoc in the Chicagoland area and has brought her reign of terror to Minneapolis.” It is rare to see any politician acknowledging their own government commits terrorism but these sentiments echo those from everyday Americans. A YouGov/Economist poll taken between January 9–12, 2026, found that the majority of Americans (46% polled) support abolishing ICE, while 43% oppose it.
Some who oppose the abolition of ICE but oppose its more egregious violence claim the real problem is “rogue” agents who need “better training”. But this kind of rhetoric gives legitimacy to the institution that it doesn’t deserve. Who wants to join an institution that harasses, beats, deports, and kills immigrants? Of course, white supremacists, nationalists, and people who want an excuse to be violent.
No one joins border patrol or ICE because they care about immigrants. Better training won’t stop racist people in positions of authority from abusing their power to enforce their own ideas about racial purity. Enforcement of “law and order” has always been just a pretext. Even when they follow their own rules, which is rare and increasingly so lately, they’re still motivated by these same prejudices. ICE and border patrol are just fascists with badges and baseball caps.
Borders themselves are violent and racist because they keep people trapped. A refugee fleeing violence may not have the resources to apply for asylum. Legal immigration to the US is difficult and costly, and even immigrants who are here legally are targeted by border patrol because of the color of their skin.
One way to get ICE out of the states we live in would be to push for states to secede from the United States. This may be politically unrealistic right now, but with more local politicians resisting Trump, it is possible with enough support. This could be a stepping stone to smaller and smaller forms of government and eventual anarchism.
Mutual aid groups that support immigrants and alert their neighbors about ICE activity and do what they can to stop it are crucial. General strikes are also pivotal tools but require unions to abandon no-strike clauses. As always, implementing a diversity of tactics is what will prove to be most effective.
The DHS was forced to pullback 700 agents from Minneapolis on February 4th and border czar, Tom Homan, announced on February 12th, that Operation Metro Surge was over but very little changed. ICE remains present in Minneapolis and many major cities across the country. Kicking them out will require an intensified struggle.
ihttps://www.npr.org/2025/04/26/nx-s1-5378077/honduras-deported-girl-citizen
iihttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-deport-us-citizen-kids-stage-4-cancer-honduras-rcna224501
iiihttps://www.cnn.com/2026/01/24/us/elvis-tipan-echeverria-toddler-ice-arrest-minnesota
ivhttps://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/01/07/shooting-south-minneapolis-ice-agents-federal-operation
vhttps://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/doj-prosecutors-resign-in-protest-over-handling-of-ice-shooting-investigation
vihttps://theintercept.com/2026/01/16/trump-abolish-ice-renee-good-jonathan-ross/
viihttps://theintercept.com/2026/02/13/alex-pretti-first-aid-emt-federal-agents/
viiihttps://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minnesota-somali-community-trump-tps-post-reaction/
ixhttps://www.npr.org/2025/11/21/nx-s1-5615204/trump-sedition-death-threat
Tools of Control 
Leave a comment