ICE Raids

Averey Parsons • June 11, 2025

What is an “ICE raid”? 

Since Trump made his way back into the presidency, we have been hearing a lot about ICE raids and protests about this matter. 

An ICE raid by definition is “seeking to locate and detain individuals - spouses, parents, co-workers, and community members before deporting them from the United States.” This doesn't just hurt families, but it also breaks them apart and separates families that have been living here in the United States in silence for many years.

 ICE arrests happen daily all over the world and have immigrants living their day-to-day lives not knowing if they will make it home. Just in Massachusetts, there have been nearly 1,500 individuals who have been arrested in a month-long operation. They say that nearly half of “illegal aliens” were found to have criminal records or a kind of poor record. Since Trump got back into office, the ICE raids have been heavily enforced and expanded. Many deem this to be hypocritical due to Trump being a felon himself while targeting other “felons” and kicking them out of the country just for the crime of wanting to live a better life. 

In the past few days, there have been protests in downtown Los Angeles over the immigration enforcement raids. This caused a big disruption and prompted Donald Trump to order 700 active-duty marines to join the National Guard troops previously deployed to the city. Thousands had taken to the streets on Sunday in response to Trump's deployment of the National Guard. Law enforcement then began using tear gas, rubber bullets, and flashbangs to control the crowd. 

As of Tuesday, 146 protesters have been arrested by LAPD officers. These ICE raids continue to go on and get out of hand; these raids aren't doing anything beneficial except to make a man who U.S. citizens voted to become our president excited, as well as his audience of supporters.

 A quote by Sam Williamson the State Director for Local 32BJ states,  “These raids aren't targeting criminals, they're targeting working people. They're targeting mothers and students and union leaders and when those are the kind of folks were locking up for no reason, something is really wrong.” 

And for those who have dignity and care to help make a change and bring families back together: reach out and share resources, spread the popular social media threads, and help make a positive change. Coming together for protests and sharing things over social media can help make an impact which is very important in this time of need.

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