Many ICE activities are inhumane, immoral and unconstitutional

To put my observations in a nutshell: Many activities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as it is now operating are inhumane, immoral and unconstitutional.

To present a short list, those activities include arresting people as they come to court for immigration proceedings; separating parents from children; and promising undocumented immigrants that if they pay their taxes using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) their privacy would be protected—and then accessing tens of thousands of those tax returns to identify subjects to fulfill immigration quotas.

Having quotas at all is antithetical to the American approach to justice. Under our system, if a police officer sees a crime, or a citizen reports a crime, the law goes after the identified suspect. Our officers aren’t given a specific number of people they need to arrest for a given crime.

Thank heavens it doesn’t go on much anymore, but in the past, when local police were given a quota for the number of traffic tickets they needed to write, the town was called a speed trap.

Other serious problems are ICE officers using guns in ways that are unacceptable in regular police work, such as shooting into cars. And, once subjects are detained, moving them far away from their homes and families, making it difficult for them to line up legal assistance.

Then there are the ICE detention centers where people are held with no idea when or if they’ll get out. At a congressional hearing, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee whose job was investigating complaints about detention centers, testified she frequently and regularly received complaints that the guards had assaulted someone, that there was no access to legal resources, that the food was rancid or that there was no privacy when using the bathrooms.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (yes, he’s a Democrat) has made numerous oversight visits to the detention center in his congressional district in Texas where Liam Ramos, the little boy from Minneapolis who was taken into custody wearing his Spiderman backpack, was detained.

The Texas Tribune quoted Castro as saying when he walks between the sprawl of trailers where immigrants are held, “People will come up, and they’ll tell us their stories. You have kids that are really stonefaced — that’s their way of dealing with everything. And kids that are very emotional, crying. People will often break down in their conversations with us.”

Along with identifying the problems, I want to say some good things about the Trump administration and ICE. I do credit Donald Trump for sealing off the border. That should have been done decades ago.

And I’m sure many ICE agents, especially those who have been with the agency for a long time, are well trained, capable, skilled, not to mention bilingual.

But I object to the exaggerated rhetoric ICE and Trump administration officials are using to justify what’s going on. For example, DHS issued a statement after Chief Steve Gray of the North Valley Police Department said ICE policies and practices conflicted with the policies and values of his police department.

"To most Americans, our ICE officers are heroes as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members and terrorists."

Correction. None of the five turkey plant workers picked up in Moroni had ever committed a violent crime or a crime involving a victim.

And an investigative journalism project at public radio station KUER found that over an 11-month period in 2025 and 2026, 27 percent of people arrested in Utah for immigration violations had no criminal records.

In the past, the main ICE activity was picking up undocumented immigrants who were in jails and prisons because local law enforcement had arrested them, and often local prosecutors and juries, had convicted them, for serious crimes. Almost no one objects to those actions.

During the early days of the Trump administration, the focus seemed to be on sifting out “the worst of the worst.” Based on what I’ve heard and read, that objective was met a couple of years ago.

Now ICE is going after the best of the best among our immigrant population—our neighbors; people in our churches, including our LDS wards; small business owners; exceptionally good workers who for decades have done work nobody else wants to do; farm workers who become family to the people who employ them; people who drywall, paint and roof our houses and buildings; people who take care of our landscaping.

The typical story is that years or decades ago, when enforcement was lax, they crossed the border illegally seeking a better life. Under federal law, crossing the border is a misdemeanor, although multiple crossings can add up to serious charges. Do we now deport these people, canceling out their contributions and accomplishments?

If an American committed a misdemeanor 15 years ago and local law enforcement just found out about it, would any county attorney in Utah prosecute him or her for it, much less banish the person from the country.

This issue is personal to me. More than 20 years ago, I took in an undocumented 20-year-old kid. His parents in Mexico had separated and his father had crossed the border. One day when this boy was about 16, his father showed up and said, “I’m taking you to America.”

Later his mother said she needed him back at home. I don’t remember all the other circumstances but in his late teens, he was back in America. He told me in his culture, when family told you to do something, you did it.

So what happened? Jumping through all kinds of hoops, and with help from Americans, he became fluent in English, got a driver’s license, got an ITIN number, worked jobs ranging from tire tech to cook, and finally got a job at a mechanic shop. He stayed more than 10 years. His boss said he was the best employee he’d ever had. Before he left, he was the designated diesel mechanic.

He also got married and had three children.

When he announced he was leaving to start his own business, partly to have more flexibility to take care of his family, his boss offered to raise his pay to $100,000 per year.

Today, he is a mobile mechanic on jobs stretching from Brigham City to Lehi. He has put a new engine in a Mercedes, fixed trucks for the Ogden Fire Department, and rescued stranded motorists in Park City and Jeremy Ranch. Every single customer has given him five stars.

And what about the second generation? His oldest son married the No. 2 ranking student at an upscale suburban high school. He got a job selling cars for one of the largest dealership groups in Utah. Pretty soon, he was making as much as $10,000 per month and had more than $20,000 in the bank.

But when he took a flight in a small plane, the bug bit. He wants to become a pilot. He plans to enroll Utah Valley University, where they have a pilot training program.

Bottom line: In a few years, the son of an illegal immigrant might be your airline pilot.

Shame on Congress who, for decades, have failed to pass legislation to give the millions of valuable, albeit illegal, immigrants a pathway to legality. Shame especially on members of Congress, including from Utah, who have bought in and repeated rhetoric about rapists and drug dealers.

When we vilify and deport people because they committed a misdemeanor years or decades ago, we not only hurt the immigrants, we hurt ourselves and our country.