The official mission statement of ICE is to “Protect America through criminal investigations and enforcing immigration laws to preserve national security and public safety.” However, I believe that this organization is becoming blatantly corrupt and using the phrases “protect” and “preserve” as an excuse to terrorize and abuse our society.
Within the last year, there have been hundreds of accounts of ICE agents physically abusing people and abusing their power. For example, CNN and CBS reported on December 15 that ICE shoved a pregnant woman’s face into the snow on the ground. There have since been claims online saying that the woman lost her baby due to this account. Sadly, this woman is one of many who have been thrown to the ground, dragged across streets, pushed up against walls, and kicked repeatedly by agents according to video evidence and news reports. Keep in mind that the majority of these victims did not do anything to provoke said abuse and harassment. This proves that ICE isn’t even following their own mission statement since they are the cause of public riots as they hold the power of fear over millions of heads. Due to this fear, no students at Heritage were interviewed out of respect for the personal experiences of the members of our community. With that being said, it is a known fact that students at Heritage walk these hallways afraid since ICE has previously been seen patrolling around schools in our state.
According to Fox 12 Oregon, an ICE agent admitted on December 29 to sexually assaulting a woman multiple times while she was in custody. Fox 12 reports, “Prosecutors said the encounters took place inside the detention center, including in a janitorial closet.” Not only as a human with a basic moral compass, but also as a woman, this case makes me sick to my stomach.
The Trump Administration and ICE officials, including their website, both refer to undocumented citizens as “illegal aliens.” This term is not to draw attention to the state of their citizenship, but rather to degrade and dehumanize these people. Clearly, what started as an organization to remove actual criminals has begun to break up families and destroy communities. These ICE agents wear ski masks to hide their identities and obtain anonymity so they can rip parents from their children and physically harm civilians without fear of consequences.
Worst of all, The Guardian has reported that “Thirty-two people died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2025 – making it the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades.” These deaths occurred in detention centers, during transport, or following enforcement actions. It is one thing to destroy someone’s life by deportation, harassment, or through everyday anxiety, but it’s another to actually take away someone’s life. ICE agents should not be allowed to play as judge, jury, and executioner.
Recently, three horrific incidents of cold-blooded murder have happened due to immigration enforcement. The first murder was Keith Porter Jr, who was killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles. The agent once again claimed to be acting in self defense due to Porter’s New Year’s tradition of firing guns into the air, a tradition well known around the neighborhood. Witnesses report that the agent did not identify himself before killing Porter and that Porter was posing zero threat.
The second incident was Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7. Two ICE agents approached her car due to the claim that she was “weaponising” her vehicle. As one of the agents started to pull on her car door handle, Good reversed her car in order to leave the street. While she was turning right, the other agent drew out his gun and planted his feet firmly in front of the car, shooting her three times in the face. It is important to note that the car was avoiding the officers altogether, as clearly shown in every released video angle. Additionally, after the shots were fired, the car continued to move forward, never once running over or even remotely harming the agents.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a public statement that Good tried to attack the agent in an “act of domestic terrorism.” Noem is clearly oblivious to the fact that people saw this event happen from multiple angles, including one from the officer’s phone, which has been shared with the public.
Our President then tweeted saying that the reason this even happened was because of the Radical Left targeting and attacking officers. This deadly incident has nothing to do with political parties. The problem here is the poorly trained men who confidently choose to abuse their power and terrorize civilians. Our government is trying to gaslight the American people into believing that this was a case of self-defense when there were no signs or actions that warranted a self-defense reaction.
And most recently, on January 24, Alex Jeffery Pretti was shot and killed by immigration agents (a branch of ICE) in Minneapolis. A woman was shoved to the ground and then pepper-sprayed by agents in front of Pretti, where he then hunched over her to shield her from more spray. The group of agents then dragged Pretti away while others still sprayed the defenseless women. Pretti did have a gun on him; however, he was licensed and legally allowed to carry it. Still, an agent was seen removing the weapon from him, and it was at that moment that another agent shot him in the back multiple times. Another agent then drew his weapon and fired at his lifeless body. The government’s narrative was once again that this innocent man was a domestic terrorist, but in reality, he was an ICU nurse. This was not an act of self-defense: the only thing in his hands was his phone, and his weapon was never drawn from his side at any point. He wasn’t in a car, nor did he have any form of protection on him by the time he was killed since his gun was taken from him. This man sacrificed his life to protect a woman being attacked, but his life should never have been taken for trying to save hers.
Our government is trying to paint these people as villains while being ignorant that they are the real issue. That fact is becoming known since they are now implementing body cameras on all agents in Minnesota, and the killers of Pretti are now on administrative leave along with 700 other agents.
Keith Porter Jr, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffery Pretti were citizens of the United States. If those in authority feel no remorse and no regret for the lives lost, then who knows how many more people, citizen or not, will lose their lives to the cold, apathetic hands of ICE.
This country is becoming a sick and cruel place where people are living in fear. We cannot let the hatred our government is pushing spread. Despite what our President believes, everyone in this country, regardless of their place of birth, are humans, not aliens nor animals. As Bad Bunny expressed during his speech at the 2026 Grammys, in these times, it can be hard not to be consumed by the hate being pushed. But we need to be different. Choose your words with love, act with love, and treat all people with love. We must cultivate peace and love within our communities because the only thing stronger than hate is love. With that, I say, the ICE must melt.
