--- title: The Chaos and Cruelty of ICE description: “Violent immigration enforcement isn’t just a threat to public safety, it's a threat to the very cornerstone of our democracy,” write Naureen Shah and Denise Bell. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/08/06/the-chaos-and-cruelty-of-ice/ author: Naureen Shah article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-08-06T19:33:44.194Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-06T19:33:44.436Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Chaos and Cruelty of ICE og:description: “Violent immigration enforcement isn’t just a threat to public safety, it's a threat to the very cornerstone of our democracy,” write Naureen Shah and Denise Bell. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/08/06/the-chaos-and-cruelty-of-ice/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba3453d7c5104f6f/6a74e0440d71181153e4ed20/Immigration-Customs-Enforcement-agents-walk.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Immigration-Customs-Enforcement-agents-walk.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Chaos and Cruelty of ICE twitter:description: “Violent immigration enforcement isn’t just a threat to public safety, it's a threat to the very cornerstone of our democracy,” write Naureen Shah and Denise Bell. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltba3453d7c5104f6f/6a74e0440d71181153e4ed20/Immigration-Customs-Enforcement-agents-walk.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  IDEASTime ideas # The Chaos and Cruelty of ICE by [Naureen Shah](https://time.com/author/naureen-shah/) and [Denise Bell](https://time.com/author/denise-bell/) Aug 6, 2026 7:33 PM UTC  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026.Blake Fagan—AFP/Getty Images by [Naureen Shah](https://time.com/author/naureen-shah/) and [Denise Bell](https://time.com/author/denise-bell/) Aug 6, 2026 7:33 PM UTC Within the span of just six days, immigration enforcement agents fatally shot [two more people](https://time.com/article/2026/07/17/when-ice-kills-we-cannot-look-away/), Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine. [Their deaths](https://time.com/article/2026/07/16/i-see-my-father-in-the-fathers-killed-by-ice/) are not an aberration, they’re an indictment: President Donald Trump’s [mass deportation machine](https://time.com/7291757/trump-deportation-ice-el-salvador/) is deadly and wreaks havoc on American streets every day. Juiced by [tens of billions](https://time.com/article/2026/06/10/house-passes-secure-america-act-senate-reconciliation-bill-funding-immigration-enforcement-trump/) in funding from Congress, the Trump Administration has amassed [thousands](https://time.com/7308862/trump-ice-agent-salary-deportation/) of law enforcement personnel and [deployed](https://time.com/7358027/ice-agents-minnesota-alex-pretti-abolish-ice/) them in a nationwide “[surge](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07/02/us/trump-news)”—with a public mandate to deport [one million](https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2025/08/america-first-in-action-deportations-surge-jobs-return-dc-gets-tough/) people per year, regardless of the chaos their actions cause in American streets. These latest shootings, which Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) now admits took the lives of people who weren’t even their intended targets, reveal the sloppy, reckless, and cruel results of the Trump Administration’s unprecedented arrest escalation. The New York Times [reports](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/08/us/immigration-agent-shootings-vehicles.html) that six other people have been fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since the start of President Trump’s second term, as the agency pursues [aggressive arrest quotas](https://time.com/article/2026/07/20/ice-detention-facilities-14-locations-immigration-deportation/). Without change, this pattern of reckless enforcement threatens to become the go-to playbook for immigration enforcement for years to come. A [new report from the ACLU](https://www.aclu.org/publications/agents-of-chaos-and-cruelty-how-the-trump-administrations-national-deportation-policing-force-has-attacked-american-communities) only provides more clarity on ICE’s track record of lawlessness, as ICE and the agents working for it are operating under new norms that put people in danger, undermine our basic freedoms, and are already changing the nature of American life for the worse. Through a detailed accounting of more than 1,200 enforcement incidents across eight states in 2025, the report found that immigration agents routinely used violence and the threat of physical force against those they encountered to compel immediate obedience to their commands, not because they faced serious threats to their own safety. Our report identifies 418 times agents shoved, tackled, or pinned people; 76 times they pulled people from cars; 130 times they brandished weapons and 69 times, they verbally threatened to use weapons or force; 361 times they pepper-sprayed or used other chemical irritants on people; and 81 times they used tactics so dangerous that they’re sharply prohibited by many law enforcement agencies because they’re deadly, such as chokeholds and grabbing people by the neck. When armed officers begin encounters with force as a default tactic, it puts lives at risk. A minor stop, confusion, or an attempt to drive away can become deadly in seconds. Injury and death are not just accidents—they are risks created by the method of enforcement itself. The dangers have only magnified as immigration agents moved their operations into the spaces of everyday public life—where people live, work, commute and go to school—exposing anyone who may happen to be in the vicinity to the disruption and violence. For instance, children are often caught in the cross-hairs. We identified more than 200 who were detained or subjected to law enforcement misconduct, including 32 U.S. citizen children. In this way, violent immigration enforcement isn’t just a threat to public safety, it's a threat to the very cornerstone of our democracy. Research from the ACLU identified 782 people who were watching, documenting, protesting, or otherwise bearing witness and were targeted, detained, or subject to law enforcement misconduct. This, we determine, is an attack on the First Amendment, effectively suppresses free speech, and threatens to roll back civil liberties. These findings should worry all Americans. The Trump Administration has turned the nation’s largest federal law enforcement agencies into a kind of paramilitary force, threatening the rights and safety of communities across the country. In the brutal and swift pursuit of its ambition to achieve 100 million deportations—approaching a third of our nation’s population—this deportation force has fundamentally reshaped American life. The White House should de-escalate its enforcement surge. But without serious, lasting reform, everyday places will remain danger zones for immigrants and U.S. citizens alike, and deaths and serious injuries will continue. It’s time to replace ICE, an agency that was conceived about a quarter century ago and has proven reckless and unaccountable, with a new system designed to manage immigration effectively. We must bring our neighbors and loved ones out of the shadows, and on a path to citizenship and to undisputed, full protection under our laws. This new agency should be charged with a mission to keep families together, support all our communities to thrive, and uphold our rights—not attack them. Mr. Salgado Araujo and Mr. Durán Guerrero are not the first people to be killed by ICE agents, but they must be the last. [TIME Ideas](https://www.time.com/ideas) hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. 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