Have No Doubt, It Is Happening Here
How ICE Became a Stalking Horse for the Trump-Miller Coup
Welcome to the Civic Way journal, our periodic take on the relevance of current events to America’s future. This is the third of three essays on ICE. The author, Bob Melville, is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of government experience.
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive, will not long be safe companions to liberty. – James Madison
The Homeland Hustle
The Minneapolis surge unnerved the Trump administration. The Trump-Miller anti-immigrant plan was always more about optics than results, more about the visual impact of enforcement actions than the actual performance metrics. But when the optics turned ugly on the streets of Minneapolis, Trump’s polls plummeted and his political advisors began to panic.
It did not take long for Trump to do what he does best—deceive and distract. After the killings, Trump told Governor Walz he would consider redeployment and investigations. He then reassigned Greg Bovino and put border czar Tom Homan in charge of ICE. Holman quickly promised to scale back the surge and withdrew 700 federal agents from Minnesota. By early March, Trump fired Noem.
New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
For those hoping that changes in leadership will bring a change in strategy, disappointment awaits. First, Noem was fired for the wrong reasons. Not for her cruelty and corruption, but for her relentless—and frivolous—theatrics. Not for her misspending and incompetence but her shameless self-promotion. Essentially, Noem was fired because she had become a political liability for Trump.
Second, Trump appointed US Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace Noem. Like Noem, Mullin possesses more bravado and loyalty than relevant experience[1]. Mullin is a former MMA fighter and plumbing firm owner. He is better known for challenging the Teamsters president to a fistfight than his legislative record. He has no experience managing an enterprise as large and complex as DHS.
Third, Trump and Miller are still calling the shots and spreading their incendiary rhetoric. Trump vents about “highly paid Lunatics, Agitators and Insurrectionists.” Homan, as virulently anti-immigrant as Miller or Trump, vilifies protesters and promises the same policies with “better messaging”. The White House has no interest in conciliation or consensus, let alone less extreme policies.
The Worst of the Worst Policies
Despite its dwindling support, the Trump-Miller administration will continue to advance their radical anti-immigrant agenda[2]. To illustrate, their recent actions have included:
Promising ICE agents absolute immunity[3] while lowering hiring, training and tactical standards[4].
Directing ICE to enter homes[5] and arrest legal immigrants and US citizens without judicial warrants.
Ending the US refugee program (except for Afrikaners), authorizing ICE to detain legal refugees (i.e., immigrants granted asylum) and reopening the cases of those previously granted legal status[6].
Expanding the federal detention system for immigrants beyond suitable needs[7].
Accelerating deportations using a more aggressive expedited removal process[8].
Threatening state and local officials with criminal interference charges.
Resisting proposed immigration enforcement reforms in Congress.
Arguably, no conduct better signals the administration’s true intentions than its treatment of ICE protesters. According to a Wall Street Journal investigation[9], the White House regularly detains and prosecutes ICE protesters—mostly US citizens. Pursuing these so-called “domestic terrorist” cases has forced DOJ to divert resources from serious crimes[10]. In some cases, DHS has leaked protester addresses online, burdening protesters with legal costs, job losses and death threats.
Ducking Accountability
DHS leaders have made a conscious effort to subvert every conceivable accountability mechanism. Evidence of this approach is summarized below. The Administration has:
Systematically obstructed investigations by the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG)[11].
Moved decisively to weaken the immigration courts, firing nearly 100 judges, encouraging 55 more to leave voluntarily and ordering the remaining judges to do its bidding[12].
Made the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) a rubber stamp issuing rulings that limited due process and appeals, increased asylum denials and expedited detentions and deportations[13].
Routinely prevented or stonewalled independent investigations into ICE abuses (e.g., refuse to conduct critical fact-finding or share evidence with state agencies).
Reflexively defied and appealed federal court orders.
Don’t count on new departmental leaders to restore ICE’s accountability. This administration is far more likely to pardon their followers than prosecute them. When an administration is unwilling to prosecute its own people, even the most abusive and obtuse among them know they are free to act however they see fit. This is one of the first hints that a government is becoming a fascist regime.
Trump’s End Game
I have the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States. If I think our country’s in danger … I can do it. – Donald Trump, August 26, 2025
Let’s face it. Most of us took Trump’s anti-immigrant crusade at face value. We thought that Trump’s primary goal was to control the border and deport the “worst of the worst” migrants. Trump still wants these things, but not as much as he craves a powerful domestic paramilitary force subject to his control. The immigration issue is merely the clever—albeit cynical—means to that end.
The Trump-Miller administration quickly recognized ICE’s potential as a federal police force. It secured multi-year funding. It unleashed ICE on all immigrants and dissenting citizens. Not surprisingly, 75 percent of ICE arrests and detainees have no criminal record. Less than 14 percent of immigrants arrested during Trump’s first year were ever charged or convicted of a violent crime[14].
In one year, ICE has become the tip of Trump’s autocratic spear. The MAGA-friendly ICE agents hired in 2025—over half of all ICE agents—resemble discount store special forces more than professional police. Military gear, assault rifles and flash-bang grenades. Sniper training. As the conservative Reason Institute has concluded, ICE is bringing shock and awe to the American homeland[15].
At the current pace, ICE will become the nation’s biggest federal police agency. In the meantime, it has launched paramilitary surges throughout the US, mostly in states with relatively few undocumented immigrants[16]. In Minnesota, ICE agents even harassed Democratic lawmakers. Thus far, ICE has been responsible for thousands of arrests, at least 17 shootings and four deaths, and an unprecedented expansion of prisons[17]. And they’re just getting started. Trump’s deployment of ICE agents to airports confirmed his willingness to send them to unfamiliar terrain[18].
It is no secret that many in MAGA world crave military rule. Unlike the founding fathers, self-serving demagogues like Trump, Vance and Miller argue our government derives its power not from “consent of the governed,” but rather from brute force. A “Call of Duty” edition of ICE is the perfect vehicle for triggering the Insurrection Act. By inciting protests—clearly within ICE’s wheelhouse—ICE will furnish the desired justification for invoking the Insurrection Act and imposing military rule[19].
The Insurrection Act grants President considerable discretion to use federal military resources to enforce domestic laws[20]. It, for example, authorizes the federalization and deployment of National Guard troops to quell disorder. While the power is subject to some limits (e.g., judicial scrutiny), Trump views the Insurrection Act as a vital tool for imposing martial law, saying, “It does make life a lot easier.”
Conclusion
[We] found that the Department of Homeland Security, created in 2002 to protect Americans, has turned its force against citizens. – The Wall Street Journal
The administration pitches ICE as the way to save our nation from a broken immigration system. However, instead of building a better immigration system, the administration has built a MAGA-friendly domestic army. Instead of making us safer, it has chosen to destabilize communities and scare Americans. We can no longer pretend otherwise, ICE poses a grave threat to American democracy.
In 2016 election, JD Vance warned that Trump could become “America’s Hitler.” More recently, Joe Rogan, while discussing the ICE surges, asked if we’re becoming “the gestapo.” When we casually dismiss such warnings, we turn our backs on history. The Nazis did not create a totalitarian state overnight; they lulled Germans to sleep and exploited the first opportunity—the Reichstag fire—to eliminate constitutional rights and pave the path to Hitler’s dictatorship. Is it starting to rhyme?
Until the Minneapolis debacle, it was inconceivable—to most of us—that the federal government would unilaterally invade an American city. But what we thought could never happen here is underway. The man who incited the attack on the US Capitol won’t tell ICE to back off. The Trump administration will continue to unleash angry, ill-trained ICE warriors on US cities. It will try to spark violent protests and invoke the Insurrection Act, perhaps before the mid-term elections.
Like the brave dissenters of Minnesota, we must resist—peacefully and resolutely. Our democracy depends on it.