ICE is getting a bad press. Perhaps they deserve it, but I’m not so sure. Certainly they need a better public relations team.

I question ICE tactics in Minneapolis. But much of the problem springs from an uncooperative attitude on the part of local leaders. I hope that things will change now that Holman has arrived on the scene in an attempt to restore some order. The recent death of two protesters was sad and unfortunate, but considering the frequency and violence of contacts between ICE agents and protesters, we are fortunate to have avoided even more bloodshed. If ever a quarter of ICE agents were as ruthless and Gestapo-like as their opponents claim, the death toll would be much, much higher. On the whole, I believe ICE agents have displayed remarkable restraint.

Trump and the Secretary of Homeland Security insist that ICE is arresting the worst of the worst – thousands of criminals who poured into our nation during the Biden administration. Trump’s critics say that is nonsense. They trot out statistics showing that only 5% of ICE arrestees were violent criminals, and the vast majority of those being detained were simply poor persons who crossed our border in search of a better life. I believe that the truth lies somewhere between DHS propaganda and the claims of Trump hating critics.

Looking at various sources, I arrived at the following numbers. Like any numbers, they may have been manipulated by providers, but I believe them to be reasonably accurate.

ICE has arrested and detains about 70,000 illegal immigrants.

Approximately 3,500 detainees have been convicted of a major violent crime (murder, rape, etc.)

Another 17,500 have been convicted of some lesser crime.

19,000 have pending criminal charges but have not been convicted.

More than 30,000 detainees have no criminal convictions and no pending charges.

My conclusions:

Critics of ICE and the Trump administration harp on the fact that only 5% of those arrested and detained by ICE have been convicted of a major crime, and the great majority of those arrested have not been convicted of any crime. But looking at the other statistics and circumstances gives us a more complete picture.

As always, Trump exaggerates the accomplishments of his homeland security campaign. Exaggeration appears to be in his DNA. Even so, the removal of several thousand violent criminals from our streets is to be applauded, and we can be certain there are other violent criminals among the seventy thousand detainees.

ICE’s preferred mode of operation is to take undocumented aliens as they are released from state or local jails after serving time for some felony or misdemeanor. In this type of operation few foreign nationals are arrested unless they have some sort of criminal charge or conviction against them. In sanctuary cities like Minneapolis, however, ICE is not permitted to pick up aliens as they are released, therefore ICE takes to the streets. They go to places where foreign nationals tend to concentrate, primarily looking for felons but scooping up others in the process. These others may have no convictions or criminal charges, but many are in our country illegally, and ICE is tasked with removing them.

Perhaps laws and procedures should be changed. It would even be more productive if local leaders and law enforcement personnel could be persuaded to cooperate with the federals. We need to lower the temperature.