Ongoing ICE Raids: Who Exactly Are They Trying to Detain?
Esparza | CLMI
President Trump is not only starting his second term in office with a bang, but he’s definitely pushing the limits with his most explicit campaign promise during the 2024 presidential election: Deportations. So far it’s been in high gear. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) has arrested more than 33,000 individuals between throughout the first 50 days of the Trump administration - at least that’s according to the administration’s Department of Homeland Security In March, however, The Guardian reported that ICE detention centers were “filled to capacity” with 47,6000 detainees in February alone - the most ever in the past seven years.
Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reports at the moment nearly 48,000 detainees (as of April 6th), with nearly half not having any criminal record …
In the start of this ambitious ICE detention strategy, that wasn’t enough for the administration. Before reassigning Caleb Vitello from his position as acting head of ICE, there were some mistakes committed by the law enforcement agency that questioned both the credibility and operational tactics of the administration’s deportation plans - and who exactly they are targeting.
Arresting Those Who Were Here Before Anyone Else
Many ICE were not only questioning Indigenous people, but also detaining a few since the administration started in January 2025. This concern was addressed by Navajo Nation in an interview with CNN explaining how this is causing panic within those communities in Arizona and New Mexico …
At least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico have reported being stopped at their homes and workplaces, questioned or detained by federal law enforcement and asked to produce proof of citizenship during immigration raids since Wednesday, according to Navajo Nation officials.
The reports, which have caused panic amongst tribal communities in both states, come amid the Trump administration’s attempt to ramp up undocumented immigrant arrests nationwide and amass a larger force to carry out the president’s deportation pledge. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
The reported raids and the exact number of Diné/Navajo and other Indigenous tribal citizens who were apprehended are still under investigation …
One situation involved a Navajo woman complaining to Arizona state Senator Theresa Hatathlie (who is Diné/Navajo) that when her Scottsdale workplace was raided, ICE demanded proof of citizenship. Altogether, eight Indigenous citizens were lined up behind white vans and questioned for two hours without their cell phones or a way to contact their families, according to Hatathlie.
“Now is it ICE or some other entity, I don’t know,” said Hatathlie, who represents Legislative District 6, which encompasses the Navajo Nation. “I did work with some individuals to confirm whether or not ICE did do that work site raid, but the communication back to me was that it’s not a normal practice for ICE to confirm a raid or not.”
After multiple incidents similar to this, 23 federal tribes unified to write a letter to Trump administration calling for a stop to questioning, arrests and detentions of Native residents.
Who Is ICE After?
Incidents like these pose an uncomfortable question: Who exactly is the administration after with these raids? In the process, the lines between ICE, a federal agency, and local policing agencies are being blurred. ICE raids are already pushing the boundaries of legal and appropriate use of law enforcement to arrest and detain. Take the example of another raid without a warrant that took place at a seafood store where a Puerto Rican veteran - again, an actual resident born in a U.S. territory - was arrested in Newark, NJ. Even though he displayed his veteran identification, he was still ignored, detained and taken to an undisclosed detention center. Another incident happened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in January when ICE officers overheard three people speaking Spanish and detained a mother, her 3-year-old daughter, and her mother-in-law who are all Puerto Rican. They, too, were taken to an undisclosed detention center even after the family stated that they were Puerto Rican, and legally U.S. citizens. Congressmen Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Pramila Jaypal (D-WA), members of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement, submitted a letter to the administration searching for answers.
Recent Pew Research Center data show that immigration and deportations as prevalent issues (although the top issues for most Americans at the moment center on tariffs, pricing as a result of such and inflation). But a sizable portion of American voters are still very much in alignment with deportation plans, with slightly over half feeling that some deportation is acceptable …
ICE raids against the backdrop of ongoing administration plans to increase the size and scope of deportations are happening as ties between President Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bekele grow closer, with the latter refusing to return a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported and sent to an infamous maximum security prison. As Politico reported …
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said in the Oval Office on Monday he would not return Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a native Salvadoran who was living in Maryland until the U.S. illegally deported him last month — to the United States, as Trump administration officials vehemently argued they were in no position to force the decision.
“How can I return him to the United States? Am I going to smuggle him? Of course I’m not going to do it,” Bukele said while sitting beside President Donald Trump. “The question is preposterous.”
The Supreme Court last week said the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, while leaving in place much of U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ order that specifically required his “return” to the country.
Meanwhile, the judicial branch’s ability to rein in questionably legal deportations in being put to the test as federal U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia Judge James Boasberg recently ruled that there is "probable cause" finding the administration in criminal contempt of court after ignoring his order in March to put an immediate stop to deportations happening under the Alien Enemies Act.
But there was one statement from President Trump, experts argue, that particularly stood out …
“Home-growns are next. The home-growns,” Trump told Bukele. “You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough.”
Experts, as well as civil rights, criminal justice advocates and others are wondering what exactly “home-growns” means, what’s the definition and if the message is a signal directed at just immigrants or, perhaps, actual non-immigrant American citizens. As Axios reported …
President Trump has recently threatened to send Americans to a notorious El Salvador prison where several deported Venezuelans, who are alleged to be members of the MS-13 gang, and one erroneously deported Maryland man are being held.
Sending U.S. prisoners to foreign jails violates the Constitution's Eighth Amendment, which bars "cruel and unusual" punishments, according to criminal justice advocates.
Asked by a reporter if the White House believes it has the power to deport American citizens to Central America prisons or if it has to change the law to do so, Leavitt said: "It's another question that the president has raised." She added, "It's a legal question that the president is looking into."
Trump "would only consider this, if legal, for Americans who are the most violent, egregious, repeat offenders of crime who nobody in this room wants living in their communities," Leavitt said.
Asked to explain the legal basis for sending U.S. citizens to El Salvador prisons, Leavitt said: "We're looking at it."
Who would be considered “violent and egregious?” How broad would that definition be applied?
HERMINIA ESPARZA is a Fellow at the Civic Literacy and Media Influence Institute at Learn4Life