- 1 day ago
ICE raids are becoming more common across the country—and seem to be escalating in force. What happens during an immigration enforcement raid? Who are they actually targeting? And what happens if you get caught in the middle? WIRED's Andrew Couts investigates. This is Incognito Mode.
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00:00ICE raids are becoming more common across the U.S. and seem to be escalating in force.
00:04What happens during a raid? Who are they actually targeting?
00:07And what happens if you get caught in the middle?
00:08This is incognito mode.
00:17When we're talking about immigration enforcement in the U.S.,
00:20you're probably thinking of immigration and customs enforcement agents
00:23or Customs and Border Protection officers.
00:25For this episode, we're going to be primarily focusing on
00:28Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE,
00:30which has become a catch-all term for all these agents
00:32carrying out immigration enforcement actions.
00:34Within ICE, there are basically two types of buckets that agents fall into.
00:39There's Enforcement Removal Operations, or ERO,
00:41and there's Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI.
00:44ERO agents are generally the deportation officers
00:46that you're going to see apprehending people on the streets,
00:49at local businesses, or in courthouses around the U.S.
00:52HSI officers are more like detectives.
00:55Think of, like, the FBI or the Secret Service.
00:57They're serious investigators, and they're typically going after serious crimes,
01:01from child exploitation cases to drugs and smuggling.
01:04Within ERO, there's a Special Response Team, or SRT.
01:08These are for highly risky operations,
01:10where they're expecting violence or some other type of high risk.
01:13However, the reality on the ground today
01:15is that all of these lines are getting blurred.
01:17HSI, ERO, and other federal agents
01:19are involved in basic immigration enforcement.
01:22That means going into businesses, churches, schools,
01:24and apprehending people for whatever reason they see fit.
01:27If you witness an ICE raid today,
01:28you're likely to see agents from all different types of agencies,
01:31whether it's CBP, FBI, or even your sheriff's department,
01:35your local police department,
01:37and others who've been deputized to carry out immigration enforcement actions.
01:41To start the process of figuring out where and who to target,
01:44ICE gathers a ton of data.
01:45They get this from a bunch of different sources,
01:48everywhere from utility bills, to IRS records,
01:51Medicaid, license plate readers, social media.
01:54Basically, any data that can get their hands on,
01:57they're getting it and using it to figure out who to target and where.
02:00A January 2026 report from 404 Media
02:02shows that it's even easier for ICE to use this data
02:05for carrying out enforcement operations.
02:07Using an app called Elite, developed by Palantir,
02:09ICE can use all different types of criteria to figure out who to target,
02:13such as the likelihood that somebody actually lives at an address,
02:16or whether they have a criminal record.
02:18One of the most controversial aspects of the app
02:20is the ability to target areas
02:21just by concentration of immigrant populations.
02:24ICE agents are able to look at basically a map interface
02:27that shows them the concentration
02:28of potentially undocumented immigrants in the U.S.,
02:31and then use that information to target those areas.
02:34Targeting people simply because they're an immigrant
02:36goes against the Trump administration's claims
02:38that they're going after the worst of the worst or violent criminals
02:41and that they're trying to make America safe.
02:43In addition to Elite's capabilities,
02:45there's also the aspect that the technology
02:46is essentially what's used in warfare.
02:48Palantir, which developed the app,
02:50has deep ties to the U.S. military.
02:51It's very similar to tech that troops have used
02:53to figure out who to target in war zones,
02:55but now it's being used on American soil.
02:57In reality, ICE is targeting people in a couple of different ways.
03:01There's this highly sophisticated way
03:03in which they're using all this data
03:04and these sophisticated apps developed by defense contractors
03:07to target specific people at specific times and specific places.
03:11And then there's just brute force racial profiling.
03:14The Supreme Court essentially okayed racial profiling
03:16in a controversial 2025 opinion
03:18in which Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that
03:21how somebody looks and whether they have an accent
03:23or speak a different language
03:24can be part of what an ICE officer uses
03:26to justify targeting a specific person.
03:28It's no coincidence that we're increasingly seeing videos
03:31of people being arrested by ICE agents
03:33while they scream,
03:33I'm a U.S. citizen,
03:34or even showing their passport.
03:36Beyond the targeting of specific people or neighborhoods,
03:38the Trump administration is specifically going after sanctuary cities.
03:42In 2025, the Department of Justice published a list
03:44of sanctuary jurisdictions that it plans to target
03:47under an executive order.
03:48These sanctuary cities also just so happen to be places
03:51that voted Democratic in the 2024 election.
03:54Sanctuary states or cities are places that limit their cooperation
03:57with federal immigration authorities.
03:59This means they have laws on the books
04:00that limit local police from helping immigration agents
04:03carry out deportation proceedings
04:05or spending money on immigration matters
04:07can even mean giving assistance to people
04:09regardless of their immigration status,
04:11such as allowing them to get driver's licenses
04:13or accessing city services.
04:15The Trump administration is targeting sanctuary jurisdictions
04:18not because they have super high crime rates
04:20among immigrant populations.
04:21It's really just because they're not cooperating
04:23with federal immigration officers.
04:26So once ICE picks a place to target,
04:29what do they do next?
04:30Well, assuming it's a targeted operation,
04:32they're going to conduct surveillance.
04:33ICE agents want a visual verification
04:35of the information that they have.
04:37This means observing a targeted person's activities,
04:39such as when they go to work or take their kids to school,
04:42making sure somebody actually lives at an address
04:43where they think they live,
04:44that they drive a car that they think they drive,
04:46and that they look like the person
04:47they're supposed to be targeting.
04:49ICE agents will often use ruses
04:50to carry out the surveillance.
04:52This means dressing up in plain clothes
04:53or wearing uniforms that make them look like local police
04:56who are investigating fake crimes.
05:01When ICE arrives on the scene of a place they plan to raid,
05:04they're typically going to be driving unmarked vehicles.
05:06The number of people involved in a raid
05:08depends on the complexity and scope of an operation.
05:10But typically, you're going to have a team leader,
05:12you're going to have cover officers
05:13who are looking out for people running away
05:15or other threats.
05:16You'll see a certain number of deportation officers,
05:18depending on the size of the raid.
05:20You'll see designated drivers
05:21who are in charge of transporting anybody who's arrested.
05:24Sometimes you'll see local police officers.
05:26Sometimes they'll have translators with them.
05:28And for operations that ICE deems high risk,
05:31you'll see special response teams or SRTs.
05:33When ICE pulls up for a raid,
05:35they're typically going to act fast.
05:37Agents will jump out of their vehicles
05:38and scan the area for any threat.
05:40They're going to look at the waistbands or hands of people
05:42to see if there are any weapons present.
05:43They'll look for windows or doors that people can escape from
05:46or vehicles that they might use to flee.
05:48In a targeted operation,
05:49agents will often call out the name of the person
05:51they're seeking to apprehend.
05:52Often, agents won't identify themselves,
05:55though sometimes they'll say ICE, HSI,
05:57or whatever agency they're with,
05:59or they'll have the name of the agency they work for
06:00on their vest.
06:02Since March 2025,
06:03it's become commonplace for immigration officials
06:05to wear masks while they're on raids.
06:07The Trump administration justifies this by saying
06:10if these agents are identified,
06:11they could be targeted by harassment or even violence.
06:14People are out there taking photos
06:16of the names, their faces,
06:18and posting them online with death threats
06:21to their family and themselves.
06:24So I'm sorry if people are offended
06:26by them wearing masks,
06:27but I'm not going to let my officers and agents
06:29go out there and put their lives on the line
06:32and their family on the line
06:33because people don't like what immigration enforcement is.
06:36However, former ICE officials have criticized
06:38the practice of wearing masks,
06:39saying it raises tensions with the community
06:41and otherwise makes everyone less safe.
06:43ICE agents are not required by law
06:45to reveal their name or any other personal information.
06:47That includes to the person they're trying to detain
06:50or anybody else who's around.
06:54ICE's authority changes depending on whether
06:56they're in a private space or in a public space.
06:59When ICE is operating in public,
07:01they can basically ask anyone questions as they say fit.
07:03If they have reasonable suspicion
07:05to believe somebody is in the country illegally,
07:07they can detain that person for further questioning
07:09and that can lead to arrest.
07:10ICE's authority changes drastically
07:12when they're trying to target somebody
07:13who's on private property.
07:15To enter somebody's home or a business,
07:17ICE needs to have a judicial warrant
07:18signed by a judge or an arrest warrant.
07:20Oftentimes, ICE agents will just have
07:22an administrative warrant,
07:23which doesn't give them legal access to a property.
07:25But they'll use these administrative warrants
07:27to try to trick people into letting them inside.
07:29It reveals a memo released internally
07:31by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
07:33suggesting that federal agents
07:35can rely on administrative warrants
07:37to make arrests instead of judicial warrants,
07:40meaning a judge does not have to sign off
07:43for agents to enter a suspect's home.
07:45ICE can also enter a home
07:47if somebody just lets them in.
07:48But this can be really confusing for people,
07:50especially in a high-stress situation.
07:52An ICE officer might yell to the person at the door,
07:54let me in!
07:55And that person might think
07:56that they legally have to do that.
07:58But by just opening the door,
07:59ICE agents can later claim in court
08:00that they were invited into the home,
08:02even if that's not what the person intended.
08:04Once an immigration agent is let into a home,
08:06they're allowed to carry out their operation
08:08and arrest whoever they're there to target.
08:10ICE operations targeting businesses
08:12can be even more complicated.
08:14Because businesses are typically open to the public,
08:16ICE agents can gain access to the space
08:18even if they don't have a warrant.
08:20And things can get really complicated really fast
08:22depending on how employees or business owners
08:24perceive their rights in that situation.
08:26Because of ICE targeting businesses,
08:27some stores have begun locking their doors
08:29and only letting people in
08:30after they've confirmed that they're not ICE.
08:35When ICE is carrying out an operation,
08:37if somebody complies with their orders,
08:39they may just keep things verbal
08:40and never get physical.
08:41But if somebody runs away or otherwise resists,
08:44ICE agents might use violence to apprehend a person.
08:46Technically speaking, ICE policy mandates
08:49that agents are supposed to use
08:50one of five levels of force,
08:52depending on the situation.
08:53The first level is just an officer's presence.
08:55They're supposed to be dressed professionally,
08:57be courteous, polite,
08:58and their attire should be appropriate
09:00to the work being performed.
09:01Level two is verbal commands.
09:03These commands are supposed to be clear,
09:05straightforward, and not overly aggressive.
09:07Level three is what's known as soft techniques.
09:09This includes physical contact using an open hand,
09:12but no weapons,
09:13escort positions,
09:14come along holds,
09:15the use of pressure points,
09:17and weirdly,
09:18the use of chemical agents,
09:19like tear gas,
09:20which feels like a pretty big escalation.
09:22At level four,
09:23ICE agents can use physical force
09:24that have a greater possibility
09:25of causing people injury.
09:27This can include the use of their hands,
09:29legs, feet, head,
09:30or even their whole body.
09:31This can include takedowns
09:33and even the use of tasers and dogs.
09:35The fifth and final level
09:36is the use of deadly force.
09:38This can include the use of strangulation techniques,
09:40the use of weapons like batons
09:42against somebody's neck or throat or head,
09:44or even the use of firearms.
09:45If you've seen videos of ICE
09:46carrying out operations,
09:48it sure doesn't seem like they're carrying out
09:50some five-level escalation protocol.
09:52Many times,
09:52they seem to be at level three or four instantly.
09:55If you've seen the videos of Jonathan Ross
09:56shooting Rene Good in Minneapolis,
09:58he appears to go to level five almost instantly.
10:01Any claims that Ross was fearing for his life
10:03can be used to justify the level five use of force.
10:06When an officer uses fearing for their life
10:08as a justification for killing someone,
10:10it's very difficult to push back against that.
10:12In fact,
10:12over the past 10 years,
10:13ICE agents have killed more than two dozen people,
10:15and it doesn't appear as though
10:16any of them have faced criminal charges.
10:21So,
10:21has it always been like this?
10:23When people talk about this question,
10:24they often bring up
10:25the media's so-called liberal bias,
10:27saying that press outlets
10:28are only focusing on the Trump administration
10:30because they're a Republican,
10:31and that other administrations
10:32have done exactly the same thing.
10:34Not only that,
10:35but the Trump administration's
10:36immigration enforcement tactics
10:37are perfectly legitimate
10:39and completely within the bounds of law.
10:40Others like to bring up the fact
10:42that President Barack Obama
10:43deported about three million people
10:44during his time in office.
10:46They also claim that there was
10:47little to no opposition when he did that.
10:49First of all,
10:49there were protests around
10:50Obama's immigration enforcement actions.
10:52Opposition were so impactful
10:54that the administration eventually enacted DACA,
10:56which gave certain protections
10:58to people who entered the country illegally as children.
11:00This means there weren't large-scale operations
11:02that were just targeting entire communities
11:04like we're seeing today.
11:06The Trump administration
11:07also rolled back policies
11:08that limited ICE's ability
11:10to carry out enforcement actions
11:11around hospitals,
11:12places of worship,
11:13and schools.
11:14This has resulted in harrowing scenes
11:16of people being apprehended
11:17while dropping off their kids
11:18or going to church.
11:19It's these types of actions
11:21that are causing terror
11:22in communities across the United States.
11:23Beyond hospitals, churches, and schools,
11:26ICE agents are also arresting people
11:27while they're going to their
11:28immigration court appointments,
11:30something that has not historically happened.
11:32They're also going after refugees
11:33or people who are relocated
11:35into the United States
11:36by the U.S. government
11:37who are now being targeted
11:38by immigration authorities.
11:42Then there's the scale of ICE itself.
11:44Since ICE received its funding boost,
11:47the agency has hired thousands of new recruits
11:49and it's reduced its training program
11:51from five months down to just eight weeks.
11:53That means there are thousands of more agents
11:54on the streets with less training.
11:56On top of this,
11:57an AI screening tool flagged certain recruits
12:00as being officers when they actually weren't
12:02just because they had the word officer
12:04in their resume.
12:05This okayed them to go out in the field
12:06without getting the proper training.
12:08Beyond ICE's use
12:08as an immigration enforcement authority,
12:10the Trump administration
12:11has increasingly painted the agency
12:13as a military force.
12:15In 2025,
12:16Trump posted an Apocalypse Now meme
12:18depicting ICE going to war in Chicago.
12:20The militarization of ICE
12:22goes beyond mere rhetoric.
12:23We see this in increasingly violent tactics
12:25and the use of stun grenades
12:27as a means of crowd control.
12:29So what should you do
12:30if you're caught in the middle of an ICE raid?
12:32Well, it really depends
12:33on your personal risk threshold.
12:35If you're here in the U.S. undocumented,
12:37your risk is at the absolute highest.
12:39You're going to need to take careful steps
12:40to make sure yourself and your family are safe.
12:42That means having plans in place
12:44for taking care of your kids,
12:45your pets,
12:46and other family members
12:47who might need assistance
12:48and possibly having legal representation in place.
12:50For anyone else,
12:51it really depends on your personal situation.
12:53If you're comfortable going outside
12:55during an ICE raid,
12:56first thing to remember
12:57is that the point of observing ICE agents
12:59is to de-escalate the situation.
13:01You're there to prevent violence,
13:03not to ramp up tensions.
13:04It is 100% within your constitutional rights
13:07to record ICE agents
13:08as they're doing their duties.
13:09You just have to make sure
13:10that you don't interfere in any way
13:12or they can charge you with obstruction.
13:14But it's hard to overstate
13:15just how important it is
13:16to record what federal agents are doing
13:18so that you can hold them accountable
13:19if they break the law.
13:20If you're a minority or another group
13:22that might be targeted by ICE operations,
13:24just remember that some ICE agents
13:26might use your ethnicity
13:27as a justification for detaining
13:29or even arresting you,
13:30even if you're a U.S. citizen.
13:31Now, to be clear,
13:32ICE does not have jurisdiction over U.S. citizens.
13:36They're there purely to carry out
13:37immigration enforcement actions.
13:39But if you're present during an ICE raid
13:41and you give them any reason to target you,
13:43that could mean recording them,
13:44that could mean following them in your car,
13:46give them any excuse to go after you.
13:48And what we've seen recently
13:49is that they probably will.
13:50It's extremely important to remember
13:51that ICE can legally detain anyone
13:54who's impeding their operation
13:55or otherwise carrying out a felony offense.
13:57If you're confronted by an ICE agent,
13:59remember that they're often trained
14:01to give commands three times.
14:02It's after the third command
14:03that they're trained to escalate use of force.
14:05In terms of digital privacy,
14:07one thing to remember is that
14:08if you're out in public,
14:09you're not going to be anonymous.
14:11If ICE wants to identify you,
14:12they almost certainly will.
14:13That said, there are some steps you can take.
14:15If you have your phone with you,
14:16make sure you turn off biometrics
14:18such as fingerprint or face ID.
14:20If you turn off biometrics,
14:21this can prevent authorities
14:22from getting into your device.
14:24If you think you might end up
14:25in the thick of an ICE operation,
14:26make sure you delete any sensitive information
14:28off your device before you go
14:29in case they do get into it.
14:31ICE officers might demand
14:32that you unlock your device,
14:33but you're not legally required to do so.
14:36Remember that you can be identified
14:37in many different ways.
14:38Your license plate might reveal
14:39personal information like where you live.
14:41And ICE agents have been using facial recognition
14:43to run people through databases
14:45to check their immigration status
14:47and find out other personal information about them.
14:49If you want to get involved,
14:50but you don't feel comfortable going outside,
14:52there's a lot you can do even from home.
14:54You can take part in charity drives
14:55to give food and clothing
14:57and other necessities
14:58for people who aren't able to go out in public
15:00as freely as they would
15:01when ICE isn't around.
15:02This has been Incognito Mode.
15:04Stay safe out there.
15:06Stay safe out there.
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