Yes, ICE is deeply flawed, but there is a real risk of something far worse.

a new Prince company, 2USV, would train and deploy an army of as many as 100,000 armed and deputized citizens and for $25 billion, deport 12 million undocumented immigrants before the 2026 midterm elections.

scholarly research on the type of group Prince would mobilize suggests three key patterns. First, these groups are often tasked with committing human rights violations in pursuit of the government’s political goals. Second, the current domestic political environment in the U.S. is conducive to their formation. Lastly, employing groups like this would allow federal government officials — including the president — to evade accountability for illegal or inhumane tactics

many governments around the world use these militias to “evade accountability for strategically useful violence.” Governments shift blame to such militias to retain deniability in the face of domestic pressures or international condemnation. For this reason, they are associated with significant reductions in a country’s respect for human rights, as seen in other countries throughout history, including Serbia, Argentina and Chile.