I’m continuing our discussion about ICE and their unprecedented reign of terror in our country. This time, however, I am delving into the surveillance state and how this activity translates into ICE “enforcement” actions.
ICE is not the only part of the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration apparatus, but it is the most prominent one. It is the one we see on the streets, and it is certainly causing the most outrage. It is also the most well-funded of the agencies, with more funding than the Marine Corps, and a budget that would rank it 14th largest military in the world, between Ukraine and Israel. Much of their budget – a shocking amount – is going toward electronic surveillance.
Note that I am not going to talk about immigration-specific issues here, but rather the extended societal impact of a crackdown on supporters of immigrant rights and of visa holders knitted into a much broader means of cracking down on the Right’s traditional enemies. In the article, “ICE Wants to Go After Dissenters as well as Immigrants” from the Brennan Center for Justice, Faiza Patel and Matthew Ruppert state plainly that the “Trump Administration is being open about its plans to violate Americans/ First and Fourth Amendment rights.” As I discussed yesterday, ICE’s stated mission if to a) enforce US immigration laws, b) preserve national security, and c) protect public safety. It is the last one that has me worried. While the other two might be reasonable under their mandate, the protection of public safety is a whole other matter. According to Paten and Ruppert, “Social media provides government agencies with a wealth of information about Americans: political and religious views, personal and professional connections, health, sexuality.” https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/ice-wants-go-after-dissenters-well-immigrants Homeland Security Investigations (one of those “quiet” divisions of the Department of Homeland Security) uses new surveillance tools to “gather intelligence for investigations into organized crime, trafficking and terrorism – categories newly expanded by the president’s recent memo to include potentially anyone expressing views the administration dislikes.” (emphasis mine) Citing but a few examples of angry and perhaps hyperbolic – but certainly not terroristic – posts by people who might be described as on the left side of the aisle, they cry domestic terrorism. Note that Homeland Security, in August 2025, stated that they had no privacy concerns about their surveillance techniques, stating, “Any individual may decline or opt out of having their information gathered and included in this collection can do so by not posting material online or limiting access to who can view their posts.” https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-09/25_0820_priv_pia-ice-066-protectivemission.pdf We who dissent and openly criticize are the low-hanging fruit, hence the interest by DHS, and by their own specific mission, ICE.
On September 25, 2025, the president issued National Security Presidential Memorandum NSPM-7, “Countering Domestic terrorism and Organized Political Violence.” In it, he says, “There are common recurrent motivations and indicia uniting this pattern of violent and terroristic activities under the umbrella of self-described “anti-fascism.” These movements portray foundational American principles (e.g., support for law enforcement and border control) as “fascist” to justify and encourage acts of violent revolution. This “anti-fascist” lie has become the organizing rallying cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties. Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/ You must understand that it is the Administration defining each of these things; they may not mean what you think they mean. “Donald Trump’s directive retooling the counter-terror apparatus to go after Americans at home, this means monitoring political activity, or speech, as an investigative method to discover “radicalism.”… The focus on speech is evident throughout NSPM-7. The directive says that political violence is the result of “organized campaigns” that often begin (with the left) dehumanizing targets in “anonymous chat foras, in-person meetings, social media, and even educational institutions.” https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/trumps-nspm-7-labels-common-beliefs
Not only did ICE add more than 12,000 new officers to their ranks in the past year (with only 43 days of training), they also added state and local law enforcement as ICE designees. According to Pam Bondi, “All state and local law enforcement officers protecting ICE facilities and personnel are hereby added to a temporary ICE Protection Task Force alongside each of the Department’s law enforcement components.” https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1415691/dl?inline Anywhere ICE goes, local and state law enforcement is now deputized to have their backs. If they see anyone they think is a domestic terrorist (which designation, by the way, can keep you from obtaining or keeping a passport, should they so choose). The surveillance they have been ordering around phones, social media, police and driver databases, license plate reading, facial recognition software, and other forms of oversight of the public-at-large, are expected to be integrated with the tactical drones they are now deploying in major cities where enforcement actions on the part of their immigration and customs hats are concerned. They fully expect that to see you is to know you.
So, what can you do?
Know what you’re facing. Read the article “ICE is Going on a Surveillance Shopping Spree” by Cooper Quintin for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, for a start. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/ice-going-surveillance-shopping-spree
Read NSPM-7, and Pam Bondi’s Memorandum (see above), carefully scan DHS/ICE/PIA-066 from Aug 2, 2025. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-09/25_0820_priv_pia-ice-066-protectivemission.pdf Not one is a difficult read, but, by way of warning, they are appalling.
Then, help defend your rights by protecting them. Seek out reliable sources for tools and suggestions to make your life a little more ICE-proof – or at least make their lives a little more difficult. One such resource is “Surveillance Self-Defense” from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://ssd.eff.org/
I truly wish you the best of luck.
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