Madison Moore

May 8, 2026

Across the United States of America, following Donald Trump’s reelection as the President, there have been rising numbers of immigrants being detained by ICE. One thing on many people’s minds is the legality of ICE’s actions. From videos of people being shot and killed by officers acting under the orders of Trump, families being separated across country lines, and protests being held throughout the United States, it is hard to believe that these actions are legal. The reason why that is so hard to believe is because it isn’t always legal. What can ICE do, legally, and how can immigrants protect themselves? 

ICE, standing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a federal agency under the Department of Homeland Security that is responsible for enforcing immigration laws and investigating transnational crime.Under their contracts, ICE is allowed to “initiate consensual encounters and speak with people, briefly detain [aliens] when they have reasonable suspicion that the [aliens] are illegally present in the United States, and arrest people they believe are illegal [aliens]”(ICE.gov). Reasonable suspicion, as stated, is a legally defined concept, not something that officers can decide solely based off somebody’s race or ethnicity. Now, what many will look to point out is that barely any, if any at all, of ICE’s encounters with people are consensual. 

A common method that ICE agents can use is their position of power, helping them to persuade and threaten those they believe are immigrants into consenting to answering their questions and providing documentation. However, despite what they may say, you do not have to talk to them or provide any proof of residency if they do not have reasonable suspicion or a search warrant. Another well-documented tactic of ICE agents is stopping a vehicle and forcibly searching the car for anyone they deem to be an immigrant. This tactic is not something that ICE agents are able to do lawfully; in fact, they can only stop someone’s car, legally, if given permission by state officers or local law enforcement. A common thing that ICE agents may do with local law enforcement is pull vehicles over for mild traffic infractions and then search the vehicle and detain anyone they deem suspicious. Besides this, the only way ICE agents can lawfully conduct a search without reasonable suspicion, or a warrant is through a random immigration checkpoint within 100 miles of the U.S. border.  

However, we can view ICE not following the legality of their jobs. Specifically, a video of ICE performing a raid in Los Angeles in October at a car wash shows ICE crashing into a vehicle. The driver of the truck, Martinez, was seen for injuries due to the crash before being taken into custody. Eventually he would be released with pending charges as reported by Garcia and Powell of ABC News. The ICE authorities asserted that this collision was intentional, as Martinez was known to them as someone who documents the actions of ICE, meaning that the local police could not inspect the collision. Instances of ICE hitting cars is not an uncommon story; they have been noted of doing this on numerous occasions, often taking the people in the vehicles under custody after the collision, according to an ABC article. Agents are supposed to be prohibited from using their vehicles to strike others unless they believe the vehicle poses an immediate threat of deadly force.  

With these instances, ICE agents take entire families into custody without a legal basis, and on average, 73,000 people are being held in a detention center on any given day, a number that went up 75% from the previous year. In 2025, at least 3,800 minors were detained by ICE, with the average daily population being 170 children, a 600% increase from the 25 children seen in the Biden administration. The conditions of these detention centers are less than habitable, with people describing them as the most severe, crowded, and deadly centers in decades. Moreover, the numbers of people being deported since the Trump administration took office are reported to be over 540,000, an increased number. President Trump has specifically not promised keeping families together when deporting parents, often abandoning the children in the United States and forcing them into foster care.  

Given these circumstances, it is not surprising that families live in increasing fear, even families who are in the country legally. With the implementation of ICE agents in airports across the country, it seems that their impact will not slow down any time soon, in fact, it looks as if there will be more confrontations with ICE agents in day-to-day life. Despite their intentions of making the United States a safer place for families, it seems that the agents are doing the opposite by tearing apart families and creating fear in the lives of citizens.  

Image Credits: https://thenubianmessage.com/16608/news/ice-has-begun-leaving-airports-but-many-remain/

Works Cited

Blogs, Menu                                                SLS                    |SLS, Robert Weisberg, and Q&A with Sharon Driscoll. “Can Ice Agents Be Prosecuted? Stanford Law’s Robert Weisberg Explains Federal Shootings and Constitutional Limits.” Stanford Law School. Accessed April 16, 2026. https://law.stanford.edu/2026/01/27/can-ice-agents-be-prosecuted-stanford-laws-robert-weisberg-explains-federal-shootings-and-constitutional-limits/.  

Campa, Aydali. “What Rights Do I Have If Ice Stops Me on the Road? – Enforcement and Courts.” Borderless Magazine NFP, November 5, 2025. https://borderlessmag.org/2025/09/30/ice-know-your-rights-vehicle-stop-immigration-resources/.  

Flagg, Anna, and Shannon Heffernan. “Ice Threw Thousands of Kids in Detention, Many for Longer than Court-Prescribed Limit.” The Marshall Project, December 17, 2025. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2025/12/17/children-immigration-detention-dilley-ice.  

Galston, William A., Ellis Chen Vanessa Williamson, Jr. E.J. Dionne, Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, and Diana Paz García Vanda Felbab-Brown. “Ice Expansion Has Outpaced Accountability. What Are the Remedies?” Brookings, February 2, 2026. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/ice-expansion-has-outpaced-accountability-what-are-the-remedies/.  

“How Ice Went Rogue: Analysis of the Legal Authorities Governing Ice.” American Immigration Council, February 11, 2026. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/ice-cbp-legal-analysis/.  

Ice | U.S. immigration and customs enforcement. Accessed April 16, 2026. https://www.ice.gov/.  

“Immigration Rights Activist Says Federal Agent Rammed His Truck in Oxnard.” ABC7 Los Angeles, October 19, 2025. https://abc7.com/post/dhs-vehicle-reportedly-rams-truck-takes-us-citizen-custody-sparking-protest-oxnard/18021400/.  

“New Report Details Ice’s Expanding and Increasingly Unaccountable Detention System.” American Immigration Council, February 4, 2026. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ice-expanding-detention-system/.  

Sadallah, Mary. “Ice Is Rapidly Expanding Dangerous 287(g) Agreements with Local Police.” American Civil Liberties Union, February 27, 2026. https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/ice-expanding-287g-agreements-police.  

“What Pennsylvanians Can Do When Ice Claims to Redefine Constitutional Rights.” WITF, February 18, 2026. https://www.witf.org/2026/01/28/what-pennsylvanians-can-do-when-ice-claims-to-redefine-constitutional-rights/.