The Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement apparatus, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is increasingly operating outside of established legal constraints without meaningful oversight, which should alarm anyone who believes in the rule of law. When a federal agency resists transparency and ignores accountability, while facing few consequences for doing so, the damage does not stop with the communities they target—it threatens democracy itself.

ICE, CBP and the rest of DHS have become one of the clearest examples of this danger. Without urgent and sustained oversight, the erosion of democratic norms will not stop there. It will spread. 

Since returning to the White House, President Trump and his administration have bypassed legal constraints on using federal immigration agents for immigration enforcement in the interior of the country and have openly flirted with calling in the military in violation of deep seated laws and norms. As the administration ramps up large-scale immigration sweeps nationwide—at a scale that hasn’t been seen in decades—ICE has reportedly carried out over 16,000 street arrests of immigrants who had no criminal convictions, charges or removal orders from just January 20, 2025 through the end of July 2025, often in operations targeting Black and Brown communities. ProPublica also found more than 170 cases during the first nine months of Trump’s second term where U.S. citizens were detained at raids and protests, including nearly 20 children. At the start of 2026, the Department of Homeland Security launched what it has said is the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out by the agency, sending 2,000 federal agents and officers to the Minneapolis area. 

Amid growing public unrest over the deployment, U.S. citizen Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent on January 7. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem seemed to unequivocally conclude that the killing was justified, telling the public that Good was engaged in an act of “domestic terrorism,” despite apparent evidence and video footage to the contrary. Less than three weeks later, federal agents killed another U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti. Once again, DHS justified its agents’ actions, claiming Pretti posed a threat and violently resisted attempts to disarm him, even though bystander videos showed Pretti holding a phone while apparently trying to help protesters whom agents had pushed to the ground.

In both cases, the public was expected to accept the government’s version of events without transparency, accountability or independent oversight. As Minnesota officials were blocked from conducting an investigation into the shooting of Good, prosecutors in the DOJ Civil Rights division were reportedly informed that they would also not be a part of the investigation, breaking usual precedent. Instead, the FBI took over the probe and eventually closed it, focusing instead on investigating Good’s partner and protesters. An FBI agent who was part of the investigation also swiftly resigned after bureau leadership pressured her to discontinue a civil rights inquiry into the immigration officer who shot Good. Similarly, the Homeland Security Investigations branch was initially given the lead of the investigation into the shooting of Pretti, which is also highly unusual. Since then, the FBI has been given the lead role. State officials were once again initially blocked from investigating, creating growing concerns about whether evidence would be destroyed or altered. A federal judge granted state and local officials’ request to prevent federal officials from destroying any evidence related to the shooting of Pretti. After major pushback, the FBI and state officials are reportedly announcing a joint investigation.

These incidents are part of a broader pattern. There have been at least 10 shootings by immigration enforcement agents amid DHS operations, and at least six people have died in ICE custody so far in 2026. Other reported use-of-force incidents—including cases where agents shot and sometimes killed individuals during enforcement operations—have raised ongoing questions about training, accountability and whether current oversight mechanisms are sufficient to protect the public. 

At the same time, ICE has expanded its authority behind closed doors. According to an internal agency memo, agents were authorized to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, relying instead on administrative warrants. This represents a serious departure from long-standing constitutional protections and shows how unchecked authority can quietly become normalized. 

“As the Trump administration has doubled down on aggressive immigration enforcement, it has also sought to limit oversight.”

As the Trump administration has doubled down on aggressive immigration enforcement, it has also sought to limit oversight. In early 2025, the administration placed roughly 300 workers across three separate DHS oversight offices—the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman—on paid leave as it redirected thousands of federal agents to support DHS operations. These watchdog offices are congressionally tasked with investigating misuse of force and other misconduct by officers and agents, but DHS officials said the divisions were “roadblocks” to their operations. Most recently, a judge blocked DHS from restricting lawmakers’ access to ICE facilities if they haven’t provided seven days notice—a violation of a statute that grants lawmakers unannounced access to detention facilities—after a group of lawmakers sued.

The Trump administration has even attempted to deflect accountability for the Minnesota shootings by shifting attention and law enforcement resources towards journalists instead of the DHS agents involved. After protesters entered a church whose pastor reportedly leads the ICE field office in St. Paul, the DOJ sought to bring charges against multiple people, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon. A federal magistrate judge rejected the DOJ’s attempt to bring charges against Lemon, citing a lack of evidence. But on January 30, Lemon and three others, including journalist Georgia Fort, were arrested by federal agents anyway—a clear First Amendment violation. Meanwhile, the DHS agents involved in the fatal Minnesota shootings remain free on administrative leave, with no public accountability.

If DHS is operating with expanded powers while resisting oversight and transparency, congressional intervention becomes all the more essential. Oversight is not optional—it is the primary mechanism that ensures executive agencies remain accountable to the law and the Constitution. If Congress fails to act, it would be neglecting its solemn and urgent responsibility to serve as a check on executive power. 

In the wake of these tragic events, the stakes could not be clearer. A federal agency empowered to use force, enter homes and operate in secrecy without meaningful consequences poses a direct threat to democratic governance. If oversight fails here, it will fail elsewhere—and once accountability is lost, restoring it becomes far more difficult, as lives are put at risk and community safety is undermined.