The ICE Raids — What You Need to Know

Over the past year, brutal immigration enforcement actions and raids led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have shocked the country. These actions have sown fear across communities that have long called the U.S. home. Dangerous operations are happening on streets and in homes, schools, places of worship, and workplaces. Immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and their allies are no longer safe, evidenced by the tragic killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE and CBP officers.

The increased activity from ICE and CBP nationwide stems from a directive from Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to arrest up to 3,000 immigrants each day. The raids have created a climate of fear and anxiety for immigrant communities across the country as ICE and CBP do not target immigrants with criminal convictions as they promised they would. Instead, ICE and CBP are targeting individuals who pose no threat to public safety in the U.S. and in fact, contribute greatly to the economy and social fabric of their communities.

Last year, Congress gave DHS an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, to dramatically increase their capacity to target, detain, and deport immigrants across the country. Now Congress is debating providing more funding to ICE and CBP, but advocacy pressure is working and at the time of writing, no new funding has been allocated to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement operations for this fiscal year.

Here’s what you need to know about the ICE raids:

What does Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) do?

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operates under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the primary agency responsible for the apprehension, detention, and deportation of immigrants. ICE deportation officers conduct the majority of apprehensions of immigrants in the interior of the country.

ICE employs more than 22,000 law enforcement and support personnel and operates over 200 facilities, many through private contracts, to detain immigrants. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act that passed last year has significantly increased the number of ICE deportation officers and detention facilities, turbocharging the agency to conduct raids across the country.

What does Customs and Border Protection (CBP) do?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also operates under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and is responsible for border security. CBP officers have broad authority to stop, question, and search individuals and their property at all U.S. ports of entry, often without a warrant or probable cause. Historically, CBP officers limited their operations to within 100 miles of a border or port of entry.

However, both the CBP and ICE have the authority to interrogate any person they believe may be an immigrant and make warrantless arrests anywhere in the U.S., not just near a border. The Trump Administration has increasingly pulled CBP officers into roving patrols throughout the country, terrorizing immigrants and their communities. It was long-time CBP officers who shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a U.S. citizen who came to the aid of another protester.

How have ICE and CBP’s activities changed since President Trump assumed office?

Currently, there are approximately 73,000 immigrants currently held in ICE custody, the highest number ever recorded and is an 84% increase from January 2025. Over 70% of them have no criminal record, and 95% have never been convicted of a violent crime — a blatant disregard of Trump’s repeated invocation to target violent criminals. Shockingly, 32 people have died in ICE custody during 2025, the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades. Since the start of 2026, six people have already died in ICE custody.

Trump’s efforts to rapidly increase the number of apprehensions and raids have gone beyond the precedent set in previous administrations. ICE has targeted people at workplaces, farms, university campuses, private homes, as well as during random traffic stops. The administration rescinded a bipartisan policy that once limited raids in schools, places of worship, hospitals, and other sensitive areas.

These policies have persisted even though the president himself has acknowledged that they will damage the American economy. Additionally, the administration has sought to penalize sanctuary jurisdictions — cities and states that limit cooperation with ICE — through lawsuits and the withholding of federal funds.

What are the effects of ICE and CBP’s increasingly violent tactics?

The aggressive and extensive behavior by ICE has terrorized communities across the United States. The administration has created a climate of fear that scares immigrants and their children from attending school, seeking medical care, traveling, or going to work — all with deleterious consequences for the country.

The Trump administration’s increase in deportations has often come at the expense of due process, prioritizing speed and political gain over the legal protections of immigrants. These raids distract from practical policy solutions that could better address the need to significantly reform the U.S. immigration system.

What can I do to help?

From helping immigrants access legal support to sending messages to your members of Congress, there is a lot that ordinary citizens can do. Here are seven ways you can take action in support of immigrants.

*Originally published June 27, 2025. Updated February 20, 2026.