ICE Intensifies Raids with Military Tactics: Protests and Fear Spread Across the U.S.

• ICE raids in previously safe spaces
• ICE uses military tactics
• Protests grow in California

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has adopted new tactics to conduct raids and detain migrants.

These operations, increasingly frequent and resembling military actions, have sparked sustained protests in cities like Los Angeles, which has seen six straight days of public mobilization.

The raids are carried out with discretion, without prior notice, and with a display that resembles military operations.

Some experts attribute this shift to a meeting held in late May between high-ranking officials from Donald Trump’s administration.

ICE Intensifies Raids and Triggers Widespread Fear

The meeting included Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security.

Both officials demanded that ICE increase the number of arrests to 3,000 per day and proposed leadership changes within the agency.

The raids now extend beyond known workplaces or restaurants.

Arrests have been reported in the parking lots of stores like Seven Eleven and Home Depot—places where day laborers gather to find contractors.

Detentions have also occurred in previously unimaginable locations such as Catholic schools, causing alarm among migrant families.

Downey Mayor Mario Trujillo reported that a grandfather was arrested in front of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish School while dropping off his granddaughter.

Raids have also been documented in religious centers like Downey Memorial Christian Church, where masked ICE agents in tactical gear confronted church leaders.

Even nannies have reported arrests in playgrounds.

“I’m a U.S. citizen, but the color of my skin makes me wonder, will they see me differently? Honestly, I’m not that afraid, but I worry that if they don’t believe me—or choose not to believe me—what will happen to the child?” said Elsy Melara to CNN.

She knows several au pairs who have been detained and are now in ICE custody.

Raids have also reached agricultural areas in Ventura County, near Los Angeles.

The United Farm Workers (UFW) union confirmed several operations on local farms.

A video shared by the UFW shows farmworkers fleeing through the fields in Oxnard to avoid arrest.

Footage also captured U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicles speeding through the crops.

RELATED: Crisis in Los Angeles: How Immigration Raids Are Impacting Jobs, Businesses, and Latino Families

These operations are especially alarming given that California produces 75% of the country’s fruits and nuts.

More than half of the state’s 255,700 agricultural workers are undocumented, the majority of them Hispanic.

Another tactic being reported is returning to the same places where raids had occurred just days before.

EFE confirmed that ICE agents returned to the Home Depot in Whittier, where three migrants were detained on Monday.

On Wednesday, another person was arrested in the same parking lot.

The pattern repeats: without targeting specific individuals, ICE reappears in the same locations.

Since Trump’s return to the presidency in January, the operations have taken on a more aggressive tone.

It is now common to see masked agents accompanied by armored vehicles.

These images, more typical of military or paramilitary forces, are generating a strong reaction in public opinion.

Community leaders and human rights advocates denounce these tactics as instilling fear and vulnerability in migrant communities.

Technology Used to Identify Undocumented People

The New York Times revealed that ICE is using a new mapping app that tracks people with deportation orders.

This app cross-references data from various federal agencies to make arrests easier.

ICE’s new operational approach is being seen as a repressive and unprecedented shift.

Migrants now live in constant fear—even in places once considered safe, like schools, churches, and parks.

Civil organizations, mayors, and religious leaders have raised their voices against what they consider a systematic human hunt.

The pressure on ICE from the federal government appears to be shaping a harsher and more visible immigration policy.

These military-style raids are leaving a trail of outrage, pain, and resistance in hundreds of communities across the U.S.

Do you think these kinds of raids endanger entire communities, or are they a necessary measure to reinforce security?

SOURCE: EFE