Now, in an effort to push agents to achieve his mass deportation agenda, Trump has granted the agency a massive, record-breaking cash infusion, while in the same stroke, he eliminated the oversight bodies that are supposed to regulate ICE’s actions. One former top ICE official says that there’s a worryingly real possibility that the incoming agents will be seeded from “Proud Boys and other insurrectionists.” Whether or not that nightmare scenario is realized, the results of Trump’s agent expansion and oversight contraction will likely spell disaster for civil liberties across the country.
For years, ICE has been accused of using problematic tactics when enforcing immigration law, a trend that has skyrocketed since Trump took office again this year. By March, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had announced that the three oversight divisions within DHS were effectively shutting down: the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman. These were established by Congress as a way to implement oversight of DHS and focused on protecting detainees’ civil rights and ensuring they were receiving immigration-related benefits. Noem fired a majority of their staff by claiming their work was creating “roadblocks” to immigration enforcement.
The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights group sued, forcing the oversight bodies to remain open, though key positions are either empty or being held by Trump-aligned figures—Troup Hemenway, a former leader on Project 2025, was appointed acting officer for the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
However, the Trump administration’s approach to immigration, manipulating existing laws and often straight-up violating them, is not exactly new. Disturbing reports of abuse at immigration detention centers surfaced under the Biden administration, problematic family detention tactics were used by the Obama administration, and Trump’s first administration pursued a notorious zero-tolerance policy that resulted in thousands of parents being deported while their children remained in the U.S. “Our system makes no sense whatsoever and serves nobody’s interests,” Shuchart said. “The only thing that’s ever going to work is legislation.”
Shuchart believes the Trump administration’s solution, which has thus far included firing staff, eliminating guardrails, and throwing billions more dollars at an overwhelmed agency so it can meet the president’s mass deportation goal as quickly as possible, is pure fantasy. The situation facing DHS and all the agencies it oversees is begging for a policy intervention that outlines real leadership and a plan, something money cannot buy.