Earlier this year, a friend of mine was driving back from a weekend in the Florida Keys with his girlfriend and his sister when they were unexpectedly pulled over by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. According to his account, the armed agent demanded identification from everyone in the car and asked each of them to confirm their citizenship.
After reviewing their IDs, the agent saw that two of the passengers were U.S. citizens. But he had checked on the status of the third passenger, a legal Russian immigrant, and reminded her of an upcoming immigration court date. Finally, he claimed my friend’s license plate was expired, a claim my friend insists was false.
“It was very scary, and I won’t be returning to the Keys any time soon,” he told me.
The stop occurred in Monroe County, where local officials have reported a rise in ICE activity over the past year. For my friend, the encounter was unsettling. For the passenger with legal immigration status, it was terrifying. Her fear reflects a growing anxiety among immigrants and U.S. citizens alike following a series of controversial ICE encounters nationwide.
This incident made me question the scope of ICE’s authority. Federal law limits ICE to immigration enforcement, not traffic policing. ICE’s authority comes from House code 8 U.S.C. §1357, stemming from Title 8 Aliens and Nationality. This code details the powers of immigration officers and employees and allows them to question people about immigration status and make arrests for immigration violations, but does not authorize routine traffic stops. Reporting from the Washington Post also reinforced that ICE agents “are not authorized to conduct routine traffic stops.” Yet these stops continue to occur.
The concern doesn’t end there. According to reporting from The New York Times, ICE agents received internal guidance stating they could enter homes and make arrests without a judicial warrant. This stretches far beyond the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches.
And in a recent emergency ruling, the Supreme Court allowed federal agents to question individuals about immigration status based solely on factors such as race, ethnicity, or accented English. Take the case of Jose Escobar, who is in the United States on a temporary visa from El Salvador. His case is a disturbing one. He was walking to his work truck outside his apartment when he was confronted by ICE. They didn’t ask him for any ID or about his immigration status. They just handcuffed him and sent him to a holding facility where he had to spend the night. Why? What crime did he commit? Being and appearing Hispanic? Escobar is currently suing ICE. By upholding this policy, the Supreme Court has effectively broadened ICE’s overreach in ways that weaken traditional checks and balances on federal enforcement power. Which could lead to further, more infringing violations if it continues.
This raises a larger question: What kind of immigration system are we building? And who is it targeting?
Historically, the United States maintained nearly open borders until the 1880s, when the first major federal restrictions were introduced. Since then, immigration policy has swung dramatically across administrations: the Bush administration expanded Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and attempted comprehensive reform; the Obama administration prioritized deporting individuals with criminal records while creating DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) which allows some people who meet strict requirements to receive a renewable deferral from deportation and be eligible for a work permit; Trump’s first term brought a “zero tolerance” approach. He reduced asylum access, and introduced record‑low refugee caps; the Biden administration attempted to reverse many of those restrictions while facing global migration surges due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Now, in his second term, Trump has reinstated and expanded aggressive enforcement measures nationwide.
Federal data shows that immigration was already declining before the current administration’s stricter policies took effect. According to USAFacts.org, a not-for-profit website created by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that compiles and publishes government data, after surges due to the COVID 19 state of emergency, illegal border crossings were steadily and rapidly declining. By August 2024, arrivals were just under 60,000, a low not seen since late 2019. Yet, the Trump administration created a poorly-trained, make-shift, Gestapo-like immigration police force. Some people may view this as an overcorrection. I think it’s an abuse of power and meant to intimidate not only illegal immigrants, but legal American citizens as well. If there are less immigrants to target, why the increased ICE budget? It’s a complete act of tyranny that’s wreaking havoc on our nation.
ICE’s reach has surged alongside the DHS expanding budget, which determines how many officers, detention beds, and operations the agency can sustain. ICE itself states that its enforcement capacity depends on “agency and department priorities, funding and capacity. ” If this is true, why are reports flooding in about inhumane holding conditions? As ICE’s authority has spun out of control, so have conditions inside detention facilities. PBS NewsHour reported that dozens of migrant girls in federal custody were found to be pregnant, and roughly half of those pregnancies resulted from rape, these findings raise serious questions about safety and human rights protections for people held in U.S. custody. As we know, their budget has tripled, so where is the money going?
Despite these crackdowns and infringements, immigrants provide a valuable contribution to strength of our country. Research from the National Academies of Sciences and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows that immigrants boost long‑term economic growth, fill critical labor shortages, contribute billions in taxes, and increase entrepreneurship and innovation. If we allow ICE to profile, intimidate, or use fear‑based enforcement to overshadow these contributions, we allow ICE to violate not only the civil rights of US citizens, like my friends who were just coming home from the beach, but the human rights of everyone in our country.
Simply put, dark times are ahead if ICE keeps going at this rate. It is up to us Americans to ring the alarm bell and protest on the scale similar to the ones that happened in Minnesota. Show up together, gather together, protest together. But, most importantly, show up at the ballot box. Nothing will change unless those who better serve your interests are elected. Our civil rights are being eviscerated. It’s time to wake up.
