The Icemen Cometh: The First Target Is Immigration. The Next Is Democracy.

https://washingtonspectator.org/the-icemen-cometh/



On July 9, 2025, the House of Representatives passed a sweeping legislative package that dramatically expanded the operational scope and funding of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), making it the largest domestic policing agency in the country. After months of escalating detentions, politically motivated efforts to arrest, detain and deport lawful permanent residents based on their protected speech, and ICE’s growing use of contractors operating without warrants or identification, this moment marks not the beginning of authoritarianism—but its consolidation.

The Trump Administration’s second term represents a break with constitutional norms—not a continuation of a bipartisan trend. While presidents from both parties have struggled to manage immigration, it was not until 2025 that federal officials began openly violating court orders. Once constrained by long-standing constitutional guardrails, detention and deportation now proceed with minimal legal accountability. This breakdown is aided by a compliant Congress—dominated by Republican majorities beholden to Trump—and by a Supreme Court which in overturning precedent and issuing unsigned opinions has not merely supported but actively enabled Trump’s executive overreach.

Unmarked Vans, Unchecked Power

ICE’s operational methods under Trump are already borrowing from the tactics of long-established authoritarian regimes. Tactics routinely include early-morning raids without warrants, indefinite detention without formal charges, and transfers across state lines to block access to habeas corpus. Masked operatives seize targets from the streets and force them into unmarked vehicles en route to contractor-run facilities in other states. Some are deported to countries where they have no personal ties and no access to counsel.

Though ostensibly targeting undocumented immigrants, these tactics have also ensnared permanent residents and, in several cases, U.S. citizens. A graduate student in Los Angeles was tackled and detained during a Home Depot raid; another citizen’s car window was smashed as he tried to record the scene; others were grabbed and placed in unmarked vehicles. None had engaged in unlawful conduct. In one high-profile case, ICE acknowledged it arrested permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil without a judicial warrant. Private contractors have summoned individuals to routine ICE appointments—only to have them detained upon arrival, often by plainclothes agents who have failed to identify themselves.

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