The Intentional ICE Terror

One of the signature campaign slogans and promises from Donald Trump as he ran for president again was “mass deportations now.” He practically regaled his campaign audience with the horrific possibilities of a beefed-up ICE. Now over six months into office, the actual Trump White House has unleashed an immigration force that is truly supercharged in inflicting terror upon immigrant communities. 

But the terror goes well beyond the actual ICE agents, most of whom are masked without any proper identification. In states like Texas there have been frightening incidents where men have posed as ICE agents, attempting to or even outright threatening members of predominantly minority-heavy communities.

Last month in Houston a man was arrested for impersonating an ICE agent while attempting to rob a vehicle. But that impersonation isn’t surprising given the number of unidentifiable ICE agents who have been arresting individuals throughout Texas in places like hardware stores, farms, and courthouses. 

According to Elida Caballero Cabrera, an immigrant and women’s rights attorney with the Women’s Equality Center, these tactics should be seen as deliberate. According to her, ICE’s own tactics have been blurring “the lines between state and vigilante violence,” which puts immigrant communities in grave danger.

The lack of accountability for these ICE agents is alarming, but that also seems to be the point. Their authority goes beyond any semblance of true law and order. “This isn’t just about badges or uniforms, it’s about power,” says Caballero Cabrera.

The fear and alarm that ICE has produced in the last few weeks will likely even increase as these arrests continue. And then that opens the door to even more impersonators who can piggyback off that hysteria. The people that Caballero Cabrera warn are most likely to be hurt are vulnerable immigrants, especially women.

She is especially worried about the lack of resources these women will be able to rely upon. In a country where health care is already hard to access, for an undocumented woman afraid of being arrested, that barrier becomes even greater. And in Texas, hospitals are now required to submit the costs of treating undocumented patients.

Caballero Cabrera also believes this will impact rates of domestic violence. Already immigrant women face high rates of domestic violence. If they do not feel free to report that, it could get even worse. Last month the Houston Chronicle reported that the Houston police contacted ICE after a woman from El Salvador called them to report her ex-husband for domestic abuse.

Fears of an even bigger and bolder ICE will likely come to fruition. When Republicans in the U.S. Congress and Senate passed the massive spending bill earlier this month, it included an astronomical amount for ICE. Of the billions allocated for immigration enforcement, ICE would receive an extra $75 billion to boost staffing and detention centers. And just this week, it was also announced that the Department of Defense had awarded $1.2 billion to a private contractor to operate the largest detention facility in the nation at Fort Bliss. 

Caballero Cabrera does think that spreading awareness of the abuses of ICE is not only helpful, but necessary. She also believes in pushing elected officials toward due process, like helping make legislation requiring ICE offers to have visible identification such as a recent bill championed by Texas congressmembers Veronica Escobar and Vicente Gonzalez.

Tracking the stories of gender-based violence, especially within the immigrant community is also something she believes must continue.