Is This Really What You Want ICE Doing With Your Tax Dollars?

The following is from an article by Philip Bump in The Washington Post. It highlights some of the actions by ICE agents - actions I think most Americans would not approve.

Jermaine Thomas, born to a U.S. Army soldier on a military base in Germany, was deported by ICE to Jamaica — a country he’d never been to before — after being arrested for “suspected trespassing” in Texas.

A former member of the Afghan National Army who’d aided the U.S. during the war in that country and who was seeking asylum was arrested by ICE at his home in Texas. Brought to the U.S. after the military withdrawal in 2021, he now has two children who are U.S. citizens.

Several immigrants from Iran have recently been detained. Madonna Kashanian, 64, was seized while gardening outside her house in New Orleans. An Iranian man who came to the U.S. on a fiancé visa was arrested and separated from his pregnant wife. A Christian church in Los Angeles has seen a number of Iranian immigrant congregants arrested, including in the wake of the recent hostilities.

Christianity Today has documented several other religious leaders who were detained by immigration officers, including a pastor and a deacon from separate Florida congregations.

Kerlin Moreno-Orellana was arrested for illegal dumping (at the behest of his employer, according to an advocacy organization) and sent to a detention camp, leaving two children ages 8 and 10 behind.

A man who sold ice cream in California was arrested by masked agents who left his cart unattended on the sidewalk.

A woman from El Salvador who called police in Houston to allege abuse by her ex-husband was taken into custody after the police reported her to ICE.

ICE agents in Massachusetts smashed the window of a car with people inside of it as they sought an alleged fugitive. The occupant of the car was arrested — and then later released from custody.

Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre’s wife was “ripped … away from me and her children, from her breastfeeding … newborn daughter” by ICE, he told CBS News. As she was being handcuffed, she handed her wedding ring to her husband. Another Marine veteran (and staunch Trump supporter) experienced a similar disruption.

So did a firefighter in Arizona, after his wife was instructed by ICE to bring her children to an upcoming hearing. (This tactic is increasingly common.) The children now face deportation hearings of their own.

A 6-year-old with leukemia was among those arrested at an immigration court in California. (In New York, children as young as 4 have been forced to serve as their own legal representatives during immigration hearings.)

A newly married woman who has lived in the U.S. since she was 8 was arrested as she tried to reenter the country after her honeymoon and is now in ICE detention.

A pregnant woman arrested by ICE in Tennessee lost the baby she was expecting with her American partner while in detention and was later deported.

The arrest of a long-standing member of a Missouri community sparked national outcry in May. Carol Mayorga was later released. ICE has also detained citizens (including a pregnant woman), green-card holders and people attending citizenship hearings.