Editorial | A time for serious action to rein in ICE and CBP

Most Americans had no problem with Homeland Security agents from ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) getting immigrants with serious criminal records out of our country. But a year later, it is clear to everyone that the Trump administration’s stated mission of deporting “the worst of the worst” is entirely false.

We have witnessed it firsthand for months on end at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, where masked ICE agents have stalked the hallways and ambushed law-abiding immigrants complying with court orders to attend hearings.

All this pales in comparison to what has happened in recent weeks in Minnesota, where armed, masked ICE and CBP agents, armed to the teeth, have roamed the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul — barging into homes without proper warrants, abducting people out of their vehicles, taking children away from their families, and fatally shooting not one, but two, U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — involved in protests.

What good has all this done? Nothing.

Advocates say the detention operations have encouraged many immigrants to ignore court orders out of fear of arrest and deportation. Those brave enough to report to Federal Plaza anguish over the decision and pray that the worst possible outcome won’t happen.

The rampant violence and violations of constitutional rights are wholly unnecessary to immigration enforcement in America — and the Trump administration knows it.

They know it because 2.7 million people were deported during the eight years of the Obama administration, and another 1.1 million people were deported during President Joe Biden’s four years in office. In those 12 years over two presidential administrations, 3.8 million people were deported without ICE or CBP resorting to the thuggish behavior witnessed at Federal Plaza, on the streets of Minnesota, and other parts of America.

If ICE and CBP cannot operate within the law and the Constitution in enforcing immigration laws in the name of public safety, then serious action must be taken to either force their compliance or force their operations to cease.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in the wake of Alex Pretti’s killing by ICE agents in Minnesota on Saturday, said he would stand against continuing to fund ICE without major reform. He must hold fast to that promise, but that’s not enough.

States like New York must exercise their constitutional powers to further protect their residents from the brutality.

It starts with reimposing a statewide mask ban that applies to all federal agents. It also includes expanding prosecutorial powers to hold federal agents accountable for violations of state criminal law, and liable to civil claims from those whose civil and constitutional rights have been violated.

No one should settle for anything less. Remember: If they can do this in Minnesota, they will eventually try this in New York. It must never come to that.