Under the Trump Administration, immigration, and more specifically, immigration control has become a highly controversial issue. In the time Trump has been in office, the number of people held in ICE detention on any given day has increased by 75%, according to the American Immigration Council. This increase in immigrant detainment shows that Trump is clearly attempting to follow up on his word of cracking down on illegal immigration. While this has been somewhat controversial in itself, the methods Trump’s administration has been using to carry out these goals, powered by Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, have been even more controversial, especially in recent weeks.
While there are many supporters of the increased crackdown on immigration that President Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have been initiating in the nation, primarily with the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the majority of Americans (63%, according to the New York Times) disapprove of the way ICE has been handling business. This disapproval of ICE’s tactics and deployment into US cities has only grown as time has gone on. By late 2025, ICE had already increased its staff numbers by 120% in order to support the increased demand for immigration control. At this time, ICE was still operating relatively peacefully, and anti-ICE protests occurred on a relatively minor scale, though there was clear nationwide division on them detaining innocent, although undocumented immigrants at all. However, buzz around ICE’s tactics has led to increased division and conflict about the matter.
Then, on January 7, 2026, after dropping her child off from school, a 37 year old poet from Minnesota named Renee Good stopped her car to witness federal activity. The ICE agents she was watching approached her vehicle, and tried to open her door and detain her. As she attempted to drive off, she was shot three times and killed by Agent Jonathan Ross. Amid a frenzy of controversy and shock among American citizens, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem released a statement claiming that Renee Good tried to run over the ICE officers with her vehicle, in an attempt to justify the force used in her death. However, a video released online of Good’s death led to a large portion of the general public believing Good was killed in cold blood, as she seemed to have been driving away from the agents in an attempt to escape the confrontation. This sparked mass controversy online and among politics, as many condemned the actions of the ICE Agents present, and demanded for a decreased ICE presence in Minneapolis, as well as all American cities, while others supported the actions of the agents and believed there should be a continued ICE presence.
This controversy was only furthered 17 days later on January 24th, when a nurse at a Veterans Hospital in Minneapolis named Alex Pretti was shot and killed by ICE Agents near 26th and Nicollet in Minneapolis. Video footage showed a physical confrontation between Pretti and several agents, leading to the Agents firing at least 10 shots within 5 seconds. While the Department of Homeland Security released a statement claiming Pretti was armed and had the intent to kill ICE Agents, witness video released to the public showed Pretti holding a phone in his hand, not a gun (even though Pretti was legally allowed to carry a weapon), and showed him trying to assist a woman who had been pepper sprayed, before coming into physical contact with the Agents. This event led to further public uproar and increased division over the intense ICE presence in US cities and their violent tactics. By this time, a New York Times- Siena poll indicated that 61 percent of registered voters nationwide thought ICE had gone “too far,” and President Trump’s approval rating on immigration hit an all time low, according to a Reuters poll.
Since then, anti-ICE protests have increased, and a large memorial has formed at the site of Pretti’s death. This has led to Border Czar Tom Homan deciding to remove 700 ICE and CBP officers from Minneapolis as the Trump Administration and many of his appointed officials attempt to ease the controversy and division at such a difficult time for the nation. Moving forward, while it is hard to expect what is to come, it is clear that some kind of change is necessary when it comes to immigration enforcement, in order to try and heal some of the self-inflicted wounds this country has sustained in recent times.