Wednesday begins as a completely ordinary day at the "Sunshine" kindergarten in Chicago. The first children arrive, and the educators prepare for the workday. Until suddenly ICE agents invade.
ICE officers, some of whom wear masks over their faces, arrest one of the educators - a woman from Colombia. The father of a child visiting the kindergarten filmed the agents dragging the woman out of the building as she screamed that she had valid documents.
"The most horrifying footage I have ever seen"
A spokeswoman for the US Department of Homeland Security said after the raid that officers had tracked the woman from Colombia after she and a man fled a "roadside check".
The video has sparked outrage across the country. Matt Martin of the Chicago City Council said it was "the most horrific footage I've seen in my tenure". "Armed officers patrolling the building while educators and children are inside," he said.
ICE stops at nothing
This action is part of a new approach to migrants in Chicago. According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 3,000 people have been detained since September. Since his return to power, Donald Trump has promised to drastically tighten immigration policy and prosecute immigrants without valid documents, as well as those who commit crimes. But ICE's actions in recent months have drawn sharp criticism.
Reports of people being detained who have neither committed a crime nor are in the United States illegally have been reported regularly. There have been repeated raids on schools, nursing homes and other public institutions, and social media is full of countless videos documenting the somewhat brutal approach of ICE officers - armed, dressed in camouflage uniforms, with hoods and masks over their faces. One video shows them ramming a car and pushing it off the road to remove the driver and detain her. The agents do not hesitate to use tear gas. There have also been dramatic scenes in which those being pursued try to escape from the authorities in a state of panic.
Violence, coercion, human rights violations
Numerous human rights violations have also been reported in detention centers. Human Rights Watch has documented several cases in which officials have improperly pressured detainees to agree to “voluntarily” leave the country. Detainees have been tied up and forced to sleep on the floor. At times, they have even been denied food and water. In addition, ICE officials have not allowed them to contact a lawyer or their own family.
According to NPR, in 2025 alone, at least 20 people died while being detained by ICE - such a dark chronicle has not been seen in 20 years. The total number of people detained for deportation has reached a new record of about 60,000 people.
Organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International speak of illegal actions and arbitrary detentions. "ICE is out of control," said Delia Ramirez, who represents Illinois in Congress.
"ICE operates with impunity and without the law. ICE tramples on our rights. ICE terrorizes our communities," Ramirez said. According to her, this is the result of the fact that "Donald Trump, Republicans and the leadership of the US Department of Homeland Security have given ICE unlimited funding, freed it from any control and given it a green light in terms of transparency and accountability".
In September, the Supreme Court allowed immigration authorities to detain and screen people based solely on the color of their skin, ethnicity, language or type of work. But even before that, many immigrants lived in constant fear of being caught by ICE officers.
The best-funded law enforcement agency
Donald Trump, however, has dismissed any criticism. In an interview with CBS a few days ago, he commented that ICE "hasn't even done enough." According to the American investigative portal The Intercept, immigration authorities are currently investigating whether they can pay "bounty hunters" to search for immigrants across the country and report them to the authorities.
As part of his "Big Beautiful Act" last summer, the American president allocated about $ 170 billion in additional funds until 2029 for the Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration Service. With these funds, ICE will become the best-funded law enforcement institution in US history. "Over the next four years, it will have more funds than the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Marshals Service and the Prisons Administration combined," commented Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council.
Author: Thomas Lachan