- Title: EXPLAINER - What is ICE and what can they do?
- Date: 26th January 2026
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JANUARY 23, 2026) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) SENIOR FELLOW AT THE AMERICAN IMMIGRATION COUNCIL, AARON REICHLIN-MELNICK, SAYING: "My name is Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. I am Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council, and we're going to be talking about the history of ICE (United States Immigration a
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: DEPORTATION DONALD TRUMP IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IMMIGRATION POLICIES LATIN AMERICA TRUMP ADMINISTRATION UNITED STATES
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: US
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,North America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA003728016012026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is increasingly shaping the political landscape ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections, as public unease deepens over the conduct and reach of federal immigration officers.
The fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37‑year‑old mother of three, on January 7 in Minneapolis first ignited protests.
Just over two weeks later, a second U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, was shot and killed by federal immigration officers during a street confrontation captured by bystanders.
State and local authorities opened a criminal inquiry into Good’s shooting, and a judge ordered evidence preserved in the Pretti case. In both incidents, bystander video and local officials’ statements challenged initial federal accounts.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after Good’s death showed most Americans disapprove of ICE’s conduct, with notable division among Republican voters over whether officers should take greater precautions to avoid harming people.
The killings occurred as thousands of protesters, civil‑rights groups and migrant‑rights organisations rallied nationwide, calling for limits on what they described as unprecedented deployments of federal agents.
BUT WHO ARE ICE?
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is the United States’ primary interior‑immigration enforcement body. Created in 2003, ICE carries out arrest, detention and removal operations inside the country and conducts criminal investigations linked to cross‑border threats.
ICE consists of three main components:
1) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) – responsible for arrests, detention and deportations.
2) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – the investigative arm targeting smuggling networks, trafficking, financial crimes, cybercrime and other cross‑border criminal activity.
3) Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) – representing the government in administrative immigration proceedings.
ICE’s role has widened during Trump’s second term. The Trump administration is dramatically ramping up immigration enforcement with $170 billion budgeted for immigration agencies through September 2029, a historic sum.
A MONTH OF ESCALATING OPERATIONS
Minneapolis in January became the focus of the Republican president’s crackdown, with some 3,000 agents deployed, making it one of the largest domestic immigration operations in agency history.
The January 7 shooting of Good - who had been participating in “neighbourhood patrols” monitoring ICE activity, according to family and local activists - was followed by calls for over 1,000 protests nationwide, organised by civil‑rights and migrant‑rights groups.
They demanded an end to mass deployments ordered by the Trump administration, mostly to cities led by Democratic politicians.
Good’s killing came soon after some 2,000 federal officers were dispatched to Minneapolis in what ICE's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, called the "largest DHS operation ever."
State officials criticised the deployment as disproportionate and destabilising.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the federal action “reckless,” while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey argued that video evidence contradicted DHS’s account that Good had attempted to ram an agent.
Bystander footage showed officers approaching Good’s vehicle and an agent firing shots as the car moved past him. The officer, identified as Jonathan Ross, was filmed moments earlier telling Good, “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you,” before opening fire. The video did not clearly show the vehicle striking him, despite federal officials’ public statements.
Tensions grew further on January 25 when ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a legally armed nurse.
Verified video showed Pretti holding a phone as he filmed officers.
He was pepper‑sprayed, taken to the ground and shot at close range.
State officials said they had seen no evidence that he brandished a weapon.
CHILD DETENTIONS ADD TO CONCERN
In nearby Columbia Heights, local school officials reported that ICE detained at least four children, including a five‑year‑old Ecuadorean boy, Liam Conejo Ramos.
Liam, wearing a blue hat and a Spider-Man backpack, watched as masked agents took his father from the driveway of their home after the two returned from preschool on Tuesday, according to witnesses. Officers then attempted to use the boy as bait to lure his mother out of the house, at least two witnesses said.
Vice President J.D. Vance defended the agents’ actions, saying the father fled and left the child behind, a claim disputed by family members and school officials, who said the family was lawfully present as asylum applicants. The detentions heightened anxiety in the community, where school officials said ICE officers had been circling schools, following buses and entering parking lots.
A BROADER PATTERN OF FORCE
Outside Minnesota, similar incidents occurred during the same period. In Portland, Oregon, a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and wounded two people during a vehicle stop after DHS said the driver attempted to use the car as a weapon.
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