ICE Trauma and Drama on the Shore by Hugh Panero

Daily images of hooded, heavily armed ICE agents snatching people on US soil are traumatizing. As reported in the Spy in July, this hit home in Easton, Maryland, when ICE agents arrested Pastor Daniel Fuentes Espinal, who has served as the Minister of Iglesia del Nazareno Jesus Te Ama church for ten years. After picking up construction materials at Lowe’s, he went to McDonald’s for breakfast and was arrested on Route 322. He had no criminal record.

Pastor Espinal was detained at the Winn Correctional Center deep in the Kisatchie National Forest in rural Louisiana while awaiting a bond hearing. We learned on Saturday that he was finally granted a bond earlier in the week and is now home with his family in Easton. A GoFundMe campaign has raised $50,954 for his legal expenses.

The White House spin used to be that ICE activities were focused on deporting undocumented immigrants who were criminals. During the election, President Trump lumped immigrants into a false and ugly anti-immigrant narrative. He called them all rapists, gang members, and drug dealers, who were flooding across our border. His racist narrative was designed to rile his base during the election. However, we have come to realize that the Administration’s goal is more sinister and focused on reducing the US immigrant population and not just about removing dangerous criminals. 

The Administration’s 3,000 daily deportation quota, designed by Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff and resident troll, is intended to throw a much wider deportation net to include immigrants here legally. Miller’s long-term goal is to eliminate birthright citizenship, gut various pathways to lawful permanent residency (green card), limit and rescind non-immigrant visas for temporary stays, and halt humanitarian and refugee status. 

A young Maryland man was snatched and arrested at his home despite telling ICE agents he was in the US legally and married to a US citizen. Luckily, his family contacted Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen’s office and got lawyers involved before he was disappeared. In Los Angeles, a day laborer was recently hit by a car and killed on the 210 Freeway while fleeing an ICE raid at a Home Depot. Here in Easton, an ICE van menacingly parked for several hours outside the George Murphy Community pool while children swam on a hot day.  A young man in Talbot County waiting to get day work was picked up by masked ICE agents and whisked away. This is not who we are.

Why is ICE not scooping up business owners with the same enthusiasm as they go after undocumented immigrants? Businesses in need of cheap labor play dumb regarding their workers’ immigration status. Lawyers call that “willful blindness”. The fact that ICE tactics do not include going after the demand side for these workers is a tell that ICE’s strategy is not a serious effort, and more about politics, race, and a show of macho power.

ICE wants to do its snatching at warp speed, so the target’s support network has no time to react and intervene, resulting in no due process. Even if you can determine where a loved one is being held, it is hard to post a bond for release while the situation is being resolved.

According to the Texas Tribune, Jaime Galvin Sanchez “has lived in the US for more than 20 years. He was deported in less than 24 hours without due process.” In many cases, ICE uses “Expedited Removal Authority” to snatch people. The concept was established as part of the 1996 Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act. It allows certain noncitizens to be removed from the US without a hearing before an immigration judge. In the past, Expedited Removal was mainly applied to people who arrived at a port of entry without proper documentation, or who had entered the country illegally and been in the US for less than two years. Trump expanded the use of expedited removal authority to remove obstacles to speedy deportation. It limits access to an attorney, bypasses a court hearing before an immigration judge, and provides no appeal options. Fortunately, Mr. Sanchez’s daughter showed up with utility bills, property tax documents, and his kids’ birth certificates to prove he has been living in the US for decades. He was eventually returned to his family, which is rare. 

The Administration’s ultimate goal is to traumatize legal and undocumented immigrants by making living here brutal, foment fear, and motivate immigrants to self-deport, described as “Attrition through Enforcement”. Trump’s attack dog, Border Czar Tom Homan, does not care if innocent people get snatched. Whenever confronted by reporters with examples of ICE agents overstepping their legal authority or mistakenly arresting or deporting US citizens and people in the US legally, he growls and responds with a “shit happens” attitude. 

Then there is the story of Amir, a young Afghan who saved American soldiers’ lives during the Afghan War. He was 18 years old and served as an interpreter. Several times, he saved the life of Dewy Yopp, a retired Special Forces officer. After the 2021 US withdrawal, Amir received a special immigrant visa for Afghan allies for his help during the Afghan War. A promise fulfilled by our government to Afghans who risked their lives and their families’ lives during the war. Trump now wants to end the Temporary Protected Status for Afghan refugees and return them to Afghanistan, claiming it is safe to return despite a State Department Do Not Travel Advisory and the very real threat of persecution and death for those who aided the US. 

Polling shows that images of armed ICE agents snatching people, brazenly marching around Los Angeles and other cities with AK-47s, are turning public opinion against aggressive ICE tactics and the President, which will have an impact on the 2026 mid-term elections.

Voters have also noticed that if you are a black or brown immigrant, you get profiled and picked up by ICE, but if you are white or wealthy, there are shortcuts to acquiring US citizenship. The Administration recently welcomed 60 white South Africans as refugees, saying with a straight face that they faced discrimination and violence at home, which the country’s government strongly denies. Refugee advocates wondered why these white South Africans were admitted when the administration had suspended efforts to resettle people fleeing war and persecution who had gone through years of vetting. 

Like a storyline from South Park, Trump also plans to offer a grotesque shortcut to citizenship for wealthy immigrants, not in keeping with our immigrant heritage. Trump plans to offer a Trump Gold Card for $5 million in exchange for US citizenship. A far cry from poet Emma Lazarus’ 1883 sonnet that gave a voice to the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free….” 

Most Americans know that the majority of illegal immigrants are not rapists, gang members, or drug dealers, but people seeking a better life for their families. While many oppose blanket amnesty, they also realize that the mass deportation of 11 million people is unrealistic.

They are here doing jobs that Americans do not want to do, and that businesses and our economy need. 

It is time for Congress to deal with our broken immigration system. Demonizing immigrants may work in an election year to get votes; however, it does not work if you are serious about fixing a complex immigration system, and leaves us with hooded men in dark SUVs waiting outside car washes, Lowe’s parking lots, public pools, and Latino churches to grab people – maybe your Pastor, neighbor, or good friend.

Andrew Mills, Chief of Police for the City of Palm Springs, CA, said on social media regarding ICE activities, “You joined a Federal Agency to arrest and bag cartels. Instead, you are doing jump outs, arresting dishwashers and gardeners for working hard. You watch the 4th amendment and the 14th mendment being violated regularly behind a cloak of secrecy, wearing masks and heavy armor. There are other options.”

The best option would be comprehensive immigration reform. In 2006-2007, President George W. Bush made comprehensive immigration reform his key policy initiative. His plan proposed a “rational middle ground” where undocumented immigrants with deep roots in the US could apply for citizenship after paying fines, taxes, learning English, and working for several years, while waiting behind those who applied through existing legal channels. It also included:

Border Security: Bush called for increased funding, technology, and personnel for border enforcement, expanding the Border Patrol, and the use of the National Guard for assistance.

A Temporary Worker Program: A legal channel for foreign workers to fill jobs that American workers weren’t taking, with temporary worker status, background checks, and a return to their home countries upon expiration of their authorized stay.

Employer Accountability: Deter businesses from hiring undocumented workers by mandating the use of the E-Verify, the electronic employment verification system, and penalizing non-compliant employers.

Assimilation: The plan emphasized the importance of immigrants learning English and adopting American values to integrate into society successfully.

Bush’s effort failed. GOP Immigration hawks resisted any legalization path, and unions were not happy with the temporary work visa, among other obstacles. Conservatives claimed that amnesty violates the rule of law and rewards bad behavior. An argument that rings hollow today after the President pardoned January 6th rioters, who violently took over the Capitol, a pardon that was a direct assault on the rule of law. 

Hugh Panero, a tech and media entrepreneur, was the founder and former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media and other stuff for the Spy.