Trust in ICE Plummets Despite Targeting Serious Criminals
- The ICE officers descended on Compton, targeting immigrants convicted of theft, child abuse and selling drugs.
- No whistles alerting targets to the officers' presence. No face masks. In some cases, residents opened their doors to let the officers inside their homes.
- The Los Angeles area operation ended with 162 arrests, including a Mexican national convicted of rape and a Salvadoran national convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
The ICE officers descended on Compton, targeting immigrants convicted of theft, child abuse and selling drugs.
There were no protesters. No whistles alerting targets to the officers’ presence. No face masks. In some cases, residents opened their doors to let the officers inside their homes. One man thanked them for not arresting him in front of his children.
The Los Angeles area operation ended with 162 arrests, including a Mexican national convicted of rape and a Salvadoran national convicted of voluntary manslaughter. immigration and customs Enforcement said almost 90% of the people arrested had criminal convictions.
It was June 2018, more than a year into Donald Trump’s first term as president. More than seven years later, carrying out the same operation in L.A. or other U.S. cities feels almost unfeasible without drawing angry crowds and requiring multiple officers, at times across federal agencies, to detain a single target.
In the years as Trump’s first term, ICE and the government’s immigration enforcement apparatus expanded raids well beyond those against known criminals or suspected ones. Increasingly, immigrants with no criminal records and even legal residents and U.S. citizens found themselves stopped and sometimes arrested.
The uncertainty over who is being targeted has fueled a growing pattern of community protests and rapid response mobilizations, even when officials say they are targeting convicted felons, reflecting a widening gap between how enforcement is described and how it is indeed experienced. That gap has become most visible on the ground.
In recent months, sightings of ICE or other federal agents have drawn crowds of protesters, legal observers and community organizers. In many cases, residents say they can’t distinguish between targeted enforcement actions – against child molesters, human smugglers and other serious criminals – and broader sweeps, responding instead to the mere presence of agents whose role and authority are no longer clearly understood.
Experts say the Trump administration’s antagonistic rhetoric against immigrants and often seemingly indiscriminate targeting of people in neighborhoods has hurt the reputation of its immigration enforcement agencies, including ICE and Border Patrol, like never before. And it has inspired a mass movement of resistance that has seen Americans shot by federal immigration officers. In the last month, two U.S. citizens - Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti – were shot dead by ICE and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.
The fatal shootings forced Trump to recalibrate his immigration enforcement tactics, in part by sidelining Border Patrol Cmdr.Gregory Bovino, who first launched the aggressive raids in-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7ce0dcd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8008×5076+0+0/resize/1024×649!/format/webp/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff5%2F93%2F29d88a534b3495352c1f0e271b9f%2F1538912-me-0121-fed-shooting-compton-gem-032.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5aa4b5b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8008×5076+0+0/resize/1200×761!/format/webp/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff5%2F93%2F29d88a534b3495352c1f0e271b9f%2F1538912-me-0121-fed-shooting-compton-gem-032.jpg 1200w” sizes=”100vw”/>
Federal agents clear the way for an authorized car to pass while investigating a shooting involving a federal agent in Willowbrook.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
The agents were there to arrest a man they say had been “involved in human trafficking” and had a final removal order. They alleged the man had two prior arrests for domestic violence. Homeland Security officials later said the man used his vehicle to ram federal agent vehicles in an attempt to evade arrest, prompting an agent to open fire.
But as news spread that the operation was targeting a suspected criminal living in the country illegally,most residents shrugged it off. They said federal officials had made false claims against other people they had arrested or shot at, including labeling Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists.
“They’ve shown us that they’re not trustworthy,” Rosa Enriquez, 39, said while holding a Mexican flag.
Similar scenes have played out across the country. This month, a journalist posted a video of agents — who she identified as working for ICE — calling out a driver for honking during an operation St.Paul, minn.
“We’re here to arrest a child sex offender and you guys are out here honking,” the agent said. “That’s who you guys are protecting. Insane.”
“Just go. You’re lying!” a woman shouts.
homeland Security has made it a point to tout the arrests of criminals across the country. the “worst of the worst arrests” in L.A. this month, according to the agency, included a man convicted of second-degree murder, another for voluntary manslaughter and one with multiple convictions for driving under the influence and disorderly conduct.
“We will not let rioters or agitators slow us down from removing murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists,” Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
but experts say the general public has clearly witnessed a shift in who is being targeted.
In May, white House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly directed top ICE officials to go beyond target lists and have agents make arrests at Home Depot or 7-Eleven convenience stores as they sought to crank up their daily arrest numbers to 3,000.
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, center, marches with federal agents to the Edward R.Roybal Federal Building.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
The following month, Border Patrol agents lead by Bovino were on the ground in L.A., tackling car wash workers, arresting street vendors and chasing down day laborers.
“The pressure of those numbers on enforcement agencies and mobilizing the whole of government and other law enforcement agencies, well beyond the customary ICE and CBP, has created pressures that have led to extensive overreach,” said Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, is the agency that includes ICE and Border Patrol.
At the peak of arrests in L.A in June, around 75% of people had no criminal conviction. A Times analysis found that in the administration’s first nine months,from Jan.1 to Oct. 15, of the more than 10,000 Los Angeles residents who were arrested in immigration operations, about 45% had a criminal conviction and an additional 14% had pending charges.
In November the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank,
Minneapolis City Council Approves $8 Million Settlement in alex Pretti Case
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved an $8 million settlement on January 30, 2026, to resolve a lawsuit brought by the family of Alex Pretti, who died after being struck by a foam projectile during a 2024 protest. The settlement concludes a legal battle that highlighted concerns about police crowd control tactics.
pretti, 22, was injured on May 29, 2024, during demonstrations following the death of Winston Smith. According to the lawsuit, Pretti sustained a traumatic brain injury after being hit by a foam projectile fired by a Minneapolis Police Department officer. Pretti died from those injuries on June 1,2024.
Details of the Settlement
- Total Settlement Amount: $8,000,000
- Plaintiff: The family of Alex Pretti
- Defendant: The city of Minneapolis
- Date of approval: January 30, 2026
The settlement agreement includes a commitment from the Minneapolis Police Department to review and revise its crowd control policies.Specifically, the department will mandate de-escalation training for all officers involved in protest response and restrict the use of foam projectiles to situations where there is an imminent threat to life.
“This settlement represents a step toward accountability and healing for the Pretti family and the Minneapolis community,” said attorney Sarah Miller, representing the Pretti family. “While no amount of money can bring alex back, we hope this will prevent similar tragedies in the future.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob frey stated that the city acknowledges the pain caused by Pretti’s death and is dedicated to improving police practices.”We are committed to ensuring the safety of all residents during protests and demonstrations,” Frey said in a press conference following the council vote.
The case drew attention from civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, which called for greater openness and oversight of police actions during protests. The ACLU of Minnesota continues to advocate for policy changes to protect protesters’ rights.
People take part in a vigil at a memorial for Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.