By: Supriya Kaur Sachdeva
As of January 25, 2026, the people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) totaled 70,766, a number that hasn’t been nearly as high since August 2019 during President Donald J. Trump’s previous term. For the past couple of months, ever since Mr. Trump took office, many places around the United States have seen an uprising of ICE activity. Agents have even started arresting people near schools, churches, hospitals and other public spaces that people consider safe and stable. These are places where little children go to learn, where family and friends go to pray, where one goes when they’re injured and need help. All of these are places that provide basic human rights; when someone comes to tear that away, it leads to ruin.
ICE should not be allowed to carry out arrests in these types of areas. This isn’t something that is making the country safer; it’s not solving any real problems. Instead it’s spreading fear and scarring the minds of immigrant families, young immigrant children and even those that are born into immigrant families. It’s an act that instills this fear into the children that their parents or even just other family members can disappear when you’re doing something as simple as going to Sunday Church. It has come to the point where everyday citizens are fearing for their lives. When we take a look at the recent tragedies involving confrontations between ICE and protestors in Minneapolis, it’s clear that the current administration is creating a country that runs on fear. How many more innocent lives must be given just for the United States government to fix its ways?
The United States of America prides itself on being a nation that is built on progress, built on welcoming others, built on providing opportunity, hope and a safe space. However, the brutal targeting of immigrants in these places shows the opposite of all of these core values that America was built on. A country of immigrants, for immigrants, is now against immigrants. The political leadership behind these policies has only made the situation worse. The Trump administration’s approach to immigration has normalized cruelty. On November 22, 2025, the official White House TikTok account posted a video edited using a trendy song with clips of immigrants being detained, chained up, and chased by ICE agents. The words written on it; “Ahhh that deportation feeling.” What exactly has our country come to? In my opinion, the president’s take on this has been nothing but destructive to this country. Allowing ICE to stalk schools and churches as well as target protestors doesn’t do anything to strengthen America. Instead it creates an unhealthy society where people are scared and terrified to go out and exercise their freedoms.
The core tenet of the 14th Amendment demands that states cannot “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” If we want this country to stay true to this foundation, then we must change our ways. We need leadership that values compassion over cruelty because “equal protection” doesn’t seem to feel like equal protection anymore.
