
President Donald Trump’s new spending and tax law is set to balloon the budget for immigration and detention enforcement. With an extra $170 billion over the next four years, the government is hoping to hire 10 thousand new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, build new detention facilities, and otherwise ramp up every aspect of arrests and removals. In fact, under the new spending plan, ICE will become the most well-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government. Garrett Graff is a historian and longtime politics and national security reporter who currently writes the ‘Doomsday Scenario’ newsletter. He joins us to talk about why dramatically expanding the federal immigration enforcement budget so quickly is a bad idea. And in headlines: President Trump threatened new tariffs on Mexico and the European Union, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pushed back on critical reports of her handling of the response to the deadly Texas floods, and the State Department l...
Loading summary
Jane Coston
It's Monday, July 14th. I'm Jane Coston, and this is what a Day. The show that thinks that President Donald Trump waking up on a Saturday morning and posting that he thinks Rosie o' Donnell should have her citizenship revoked would be kind of an amusing side note if he were not the president of the United States of America who already wants to end birthright citizenship and deport U.S. citizens. On today's show, it's been one since the attempted assassination of President Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. And the State Department is undergoing a massive reorganization, which really just means laying off more than 1,000 employees. But let's start with immigration, specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ice. It's now the most well funded law enforcement agency in the federal government, thanks to Trump's new disastrous spending and tax law. That's not great for a whole bunch of reasons. We could talk about plans to hire 10,000 new officers as quickly as possible, but first and foremost, let's talk about what, or more accurately, who ICE has been tasked with detaining and deporting. Because even before it got all this new money, the agency had seemingly pivoted away from targeting all those terrifying criminals Trump promised to deport on the campaign trail. Now the agency is more regularly going after non criminals, your farm workers, day laborers, and folks who have been here for decades. And ICE data backs up that pivot. Of the nearly 58,000 people being held by the agency, more than 70% don't have criminal convictions. As they're sweeping all these people up, they're also building new facilities to house them, like Alligator Alcatraz in Florida. The fact that the administration is excited about that name tells you everything you need to know about where its head is at. Now, don't worry. Border czar Tom Homan explained to Fox News on Friday that immigration authorities use all of the evidence at their disposal to determine who should be taken during raids. And definitely don't resort to, say, racial profiling. Oh, wait, that's not what he said.
Tom Homan
Look, people need to understand ICE officers and Border Patrol. They don't need probable calls to walk up somebody, briefly detain them and question them. They just need to totally the circumstances, right? They just got through the observation. You know, get our typical articulable facts based on their location, the occupation, their physical appearance, their actions.
Jane Coston
Huh? Homan tried to walk back those comments during an interview with CNN on Sunday, saying, quote, physical description can't be the sole reason to detain and question somebody. But as California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla pointed out during A conversation with the network's Dana Bash. That's exactly what's happening. People are getting detained by immigration authorities because of their physical appearance.
Garrett Graf
Dana, what if I was outside of Home Depot because I like to do some work around the house, not dressed in a suit? Would I be a target of ICE enforcement under Tom Holman? Probably.
Jane Coston
And now we're giving ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies close to $200 billion to hire thousands more officers and build more detention facilities to do more of all this. Fantastic. So to talk about all the potential problems that come with ballooning ice's budget so quickly, I spoke with Garrett Graf. He's a historian and longtime politics and national security reporter. Graf currently writes the Doomsday Scenario newsletter and hosts the award winning history podcast, Long Shadow. Garrett, welcome to what a Day.
Garrett Graf
Thanks so much for having me.
Jane Coston
So Trump's new tax and spending law throws nearly $200 billion at pretty much every aspect of Trump's draconian immigration crackdown. Can you start by putting into context how big of a funding increase this is for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for Customs and Border Prot. How are those agencies about to change?
Garrett Graf
Yeah. So you could probably say that this is the largest funding increase for federal law enforcement that we have ever seen in modern history. That money is split between a bunch of different buckets to hire new ICE detention officers, hire new CBP officers, build new detention facilities. But altogether, what this means is that ICE will be the best funded, highest funded for federal law enforcement agency in the United States. It will have a budget, you know, sort of on the order of the U.S. marine Corps.
Jane Coston
In a recent newsletter, you wrote that by doing this, we are potentially, quote, turbocharging an increasingly lawless regime of immigration enforcement. Can you explain that?
Garrett Graf
Yeah. So some of this has to do with the weirdness of how we treat border security and immigration security in the United States, which is CBP and ICE operate under a slightly different set of standards. They don't operate in conjunction with the sort of normal Article 3 court standards of evidence that you would expect the FBI, the DEA, the Secret Service, the Marshals to have to uphold. They have sort of different levels of evidence that they need to initiate contacts. And basically they're just also not as well trained. And I think one of the things that really worries me about this moment is ICE already has some of the lowest hiring standards, lowest educational standards, and lowest training standards of any federal law enforcement agency. And there's simply no way for a healthy law enforcement agency to grow at the rate and size and scale that ICE is expected to grow under this new hiring bill. And when we did this with the border patrol after 9 11, I spent about five years reporting on the surge of criminality and corruption inside the Border Patrol that followed that hiring surge. And it was a disaster. There was one CBP officer or agent arrested for misconduct or corruption every single day from 2008 to 2014. And even by 2017, the pace of arrests for misconduct or corruption had slowed to only one agent or officer every 36 hours. I mean, this was an incredible wave of corruption because they lowered their hiring standards, they lowered their training standards, and they put a lot of agents and officers into the field who never, ever should have been federal law enforcement.
Jane Coston
Okay, that gets to the next question I have, which is actually what is concerning me about everything you are saying in this current moment. Who are the kinds of people who would most likely apply to be an ICE agent?
Garrett Graf
Yeah, this is where I actually get most worried, which is the people who are going to be attracted to being an ICE officer right now are almost by definition the people that we should not want to be ICE officers that we have never seen in federal law enforcement. A hiring surge take place amid an agency that is so polarized and so politicized as ICE is right now. The appeal that ICE has is for, effectively, I think, the worst bullies in American society, which is, you know, do you want to dress up like. Like you are attacking Fallujah to go rough up some guys in the Home Depot parking lot? You know, are you interested in being part of a SWAT team that's taking down grandmas and manhandling members of Congress outside detention facilities in the United States? Like, if that's you, then ICE is for you. And that's like, that's a terrible hiring pitch for the types of people who are going to be applying to be this next 10,000 new ICE officers?
Jane Coston
Are there even thousands of people in the country who want to do these jobs? They may talk like they want these jobs, but there was a recent piece in the Atlantic citing a few current ICE agents, mostly anonymously. And they paint a picture of a miserable workforce of people who don't want to be rounding up farm workers and day laborers at Home Depot or grandmas. They don't want to be doing any of this. But those are current ICE agents, not the people being recruited who are saying, hell yeah, let's do this. But are there that many people who want to do that? I am horrified of the answer in either direction.
Garrett Graf
Yes. And I think the answer is probably, yes. Which is there are 10,000 people across the country who are watching these headlines go by, watching these raids happen, and are excited by it. One of my concerns in this is how we are tipping the balance of federal law enforcement away from the agencies within the Department of Justice, the FBI, the atf, the dea, the US Marshals, and toward the Department of Homeland Security, where you have cbp, already the largest federal law enforcement agency in the country. And now ice, which is on track to probably actually even be larger than CBP and dhs. Law enforcement is just less grounded in the Constitution. It is less grounded in civil rights and civil liberties in the way that we expect in a free society. Border security and sort of border security zones just have different levels of civil rights standards than we are used to in the Department of Justice.
Jane Coston
Here's what gets me. We're ballooning immigration enforcement's budget. We're building all these new detention centers. But notably, the new law doesn't include very much money to hire more immigration judges to hear all of these new cases. Despite a massive backlog. In fact, the law actually caps the number of new immigration judges at 800. This weekend we saw reporting about a new ICE memo telling officers they can deport migrants to countries other than their own with as little as six hours notice. What do you think this will all add up to in a year, even a few months from now?
Garrett Graf
Yeah, and again, this is where I think we have to be able to read between the lines about just how lawless and cruel this regime is going to be that we are setting up and funding right now as a country which is, you know, we poured $200 billion into immigration enforcement in this new bill. There was obviously plenty of money to throw around at this problem. According to the Trump administration, they only took the number of immigration judges in the country. And mind you, this is, this is a system that is already working with like a years long backlog from 700 immigration judges to 8, 800. So a tiny fractional increase even as they double the number of ICE officers, increase the number of CBP officers. So you're going to be throwing a lot more people into an already backlogged and broken system. Which makes clear, I think to me that their plan is to not respect any of the due process and civil liberties that we are used to in our immigration system and that they are just going to be, you know, throwing bodies in unmarked vans, getting them to planes and getting them overseas to whatever country they're willing to accept. You know, America's enforced disappearances. Which is the term of art in international law that I think we need to get ourselves comfortable with. Because these are not going to be detentions and removals like any system that we are used to. This is going to be sort of kidnapping and enforced disappearances akin to, you know, I think some of the worst authoritarian regimes of modern history.
Jane Coston
Garrett, thank you so much for joining me.
Garrett Graf
I would say it's always a pleasure, but this wasn't actually.
Jane Coston
No, no it wasn't. That's okay. That was my conversation with historian and journalist Garrett Graf. We'll link to his newsletter and podcast in our show Notes. We'll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Watch us on YouTube so you can see my existential horror in real time and share with your friends. More to come after some ads What a day is brought to you by Deleteme. Right now the headlines are chock full of data breaches and regulatory rollbacks, making us all vulnerable. But you can do something about it. Deleteme is here to make it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online. Deleteme does all the hard work of wiping you and your family's personal information from data broker websites. Deleteme sends you regular personalized privacy reports showing what info they found, where they found it, and what they removed. And Deleteme isn't just a one time service. Deleteme is always working for you, constantly monitoring and removing the personal information you don't want on the Internet. As someone with an active online presence, privacy is really important to me and I keep hearing about data breaches in the news. In a recent Coinbase data breach, a hacker obtained names, addresses, phone numbers and the last four digits of users Social Security numbers plus masked bank account numbers. Data brokers can vacuum up a lot of that data, create a searchable profile about you, and sell it to whoever wants it. Thankfully, Deleteme can help remove it from those sites and keep your info from falling into the wrong hands. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Deleteme now at a special discount for our listeners. Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com wad and use promo code WAD at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.com WAD and enter code WAD at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com WAD promo code WAD.
Tom Homan
Now is your time to get into a new Dr. Horton home by taking advantage of its national Red Tag sales event going on right now through July 20th. Stop by any of its participating communities and find select red Tag homes at Incredible Pricing. So whether you're buying your first home or looking for an upgrade, you don't want to miss the red Tag sales event going on right now. Discover the Dr. Horton Difference at Dr. Horton.com Dr. Horton America's Builder and Equal Housing Opportunity Builder.
Jane Coston
Coverage varies by plan.
Kristi Noem
View contracts and exclusions@endurancewarranty.com if your car is out of warranty, one major repair bill could wipe you out. Just ask.
Ludacris
Ludicrous car breakdowns can wreck your wallet. Without Endurance, a worn out timing belt could cost you $1,700. A busted transmission, that's 4,000 easy, and engine meltdown 7,000. But if you've got Endurance, you could never pay out of pocket for a car repair again. With Endurance, your car's most expensive parts are covered, plus you pick the mechanic you trust to do the work. With Endurance, your rate stays the same no matter how many claims you file.
Kristi Noem
If your car is under 20 years old, Endurance has you covered with unlimited miles. Plus your plan includes 24. 7 roadside assistance anywhere in the country.
Ludacris
So who's going to pay for your next bullet breakdown? You or Endurance?
Kristi Noem
Choose the name Ludacris Trusts Endurance right now. Get $300 off any plan plus a year of elite benefits, a $2,000 value free, all backed by a 30 day money back guarantee. Get your free quote@endurancewarranty.com that's endurancewarranty.com.
Jane Coston
Here'S what else we're following today. Head of lines.
Donald Trump
We've been taken advantage of for many, many years by countries both both friend and foe. And frankly, the friends have been worse than the foes in many cases. So I would say just keep working. It's all gonna work out.
Jane Coston
President Trump explained American tariff policy as he sees it to reporters on Friday, just hours before he threatened Mexico and the European union with a 30% import duty starting on August 1st. Trump's declaration came via two separate letters posted to Truth Social on Saturday, one addressed to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the other to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. On Sunday, von der Leyen told reporters she's ready to play ball with the.
Ursula von der Leyen
U.S. we have always been very clear that we prefer a negotiated solution. This remains the case and we will use the time that we have now till the 1st of August and on the second track. Since the very beginning we have worked and and now are ready to respond with countermeasures.
Jane Coston
Sheinbaum said Saturday that she too was confident that Mexico would reach a deal with the US by August 1st. The threats against Mexico and the EU were the President's final flourish on a week long tariff tear. Trump announced new tariffs for 23 other countries this week, including Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil. At the time of our taping on Sunday evening, Trump had yet to taco to Mexico, the eu, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil. I say this, don't worry. I'm sure that's coming next week. Sunday marked one year since the assassination attempt against President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A local firefighter, Corey Comperator, was killed by one of the shots fired at the stage. His widow, Helen, appeared on Fox and Friends Saturday to discuss the recent suspension of Secret Service officers on duty, then suspending them. When my husband was killed, you know that's not punishment. No. 6 Secret Service agents working at the event were suspended without pay or benefits for periods of up to six weeks, the agency said in a statement. Last week, the Secret Service came under intense criticism by Congress after the attempt on Trump's life. Kimberly A. Cheadle, who led the agency at the time, resigned Days later. President Trump offered a more positive take on the Secret Service's performance during a Saturday appearance on My View with Lara Trump.
Donald Trump
I have great confidence in these people. I know the people and they're very talented, very capable. They had a bad day and I think they'll admit that at the end of a rough day. This is a very dangerous job being president.
Jane Coston
As everyone knows, only the most amazing and ethical journalism comes from an interview between the president and his daughter in law on Fox News. Moving on, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pushing back on reports criticizing the federal government's response and hers, specifically the deadly floods in Texas. Noem sat down with NBC News Meet the Press for an interview that aired Sunday. In it, the secretary defended a rule she implemented that reportedly requires her to approve Federal Emergency Management agency expenses over $100,000. Naturally, the rule has garnered backlash and blame for a slower deployment of some resources to Texas after the floods earlier this month, Noem refuted those claims.
Claudia Sheinbaum
The $100,000 sign off is for every contract that goes through the Department of Homeland Security.
Ursula von der Leyen
We did implement that.
Claudia Sheinbaum
It's an accountability on contracts that go forward, but there was no break in contracts. Those contracts were approved as soon as they were in front of me and fema knew they were fully to deploy the instant that the local officials asked for the request.
Jane Coston
Hmm. So much for accountability. And when host Kristen Welker pressed gnome, she responded with some of maga's favorite buzzwords.
Ursula von der Leyen
The New York Times is reporting that thousands of calls from flood victims to FEMA call centers went unanswered in the middle of this ongoing disaster. Because you didn't renew contracts to keep call center staff in place until nearly one week after the floods. Why did it take so long to extend those contracts?
Jane Coston
It's false.
Claudia Sheinbaum
Those contracts were in place. Nobody, no employees were off of work. Every one of them was answering calls. So false reporting, fake news. And it's discouraging.
Jane Coston
According to that New York Times report, FEMA didn't answer nearly two thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line two days after the flood swept through Central Texas. Search operations for the roughly 170 people still believed to be missing are ongoing. Some were paused on Sunday as more heavy rain pounded the region. My reaction is one of shock, disbelief and sadness for individuals who literally dedicated their lives to keeping Americans safe, to supporting American prosperity, and for advancing American values. A former undersecretary of state was Rezaya spoke to the Associated press about the 1,300 State Department employees who were laid off on Friday. A combination of civil servants and foreign service officers received layoff notices just one day after they had been officially notified of the upcoming action. The layoffs are part of a massive reorganization currently underway at the State Department. The plan, approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calls for an 18% reduction in US based staff. According to a memo to Congress. The changes at the State Department are driven by a need to eliminate redundancies, integrate what remains of usaid, and to better serve President Trump's America first vision of foreign diplomacy. Sure, the United States Supreme Court paved the way for the layoffs at the State Department with its decision Tuesday that the Trump administration can move ahead with its plans to dramatically downsize the federal workforce. That decision could also result in mass firings at other federal agencies like the Departments of the treasury and Housing and Urban Development. And that's the news before we go Vote Save America is launching a brand new pilot program to recruit candidates in Arizona, North Carolina and Texas. We're talking school board, city council, state legislature, local races that shape our communities and build the bench for long term Democratic power. And we're kicking things off with a live call this Wednesday, July 16th. Tommy will be there along with VoteSave America and their partners driving this work to break down what it takes to run. If you've ever thought about running, this is where to start. Sign up for the kickoff call and learn more@votesaveamerica.com Run paid for by votesave america. You can learn more@votesaveamerica.Com this ad has not been authorized by any candidate or candidates committee. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, thank the maker that our president has so many brilliant ideas to prevent deaths from flash floods and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, I'm not just about how President Trump came up with another amazing concept during his definitely not sycophantic interview with his daughter in law, Lara on Fox News Saturday Evening.
Donald Trump
Maybe they should have had Bells something go off, but it's pretty dangerous territory when you think of all the times that they've had this.
Jane Coston
Like me, what a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe@cricket.com subscribe I'm Jane Coston and Bells. Why didn't anyone think about Bells before? What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is Emily Foer. Our producer is Michelle Aloy. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Sean Ali, Tyler Hill and Laura Newcombe. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adrienne Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.
Verizon Representative
Gas, Groceries, Eating out It all adds up fast with the Verizon Visa card, you get rewarded every time you spend. Get 4% in rewards on gas, dining and at grocery stores. And you can put those rewards toward your Verizon bill or on new tech like a smartwatch and earbuds. Apply today at Verizon. Application required. Subject to credit approval. Must be a Verizon mobile account owner OR manager or FiOS account owner. See verizon.com Verizon Visa card for terms and restrictions. The Verizon Visa Signature card is issued by Synchrony bank pursuant to a license from Visa USA Inc.
Jane Coston
What does possibility mean to you?
Verizon Representative
Um, that's a hard question.
Jane Coston
Something that you can strive for, that I'm able to do anything I set my mind to. You're confident in yourself and you believe in yourself. Stuff that you could show Cheese. I feel it's Sara Anything is possible when you're more confident. Shoes are a huge part of that. They are the most important part of my style. You can express yourself in the right shoes. Anything is possible. DSW countless shoes at bragworthy prices. Imagine the possibilities.
Podcast Summary: "Why Hiring 10,000 New ICE Agents Is A Bad Idea"
What A Day
Host: Jane Coaston
Release Date: July 14, 2025
In the episode titled "Why Hiring 10,000 New ICE Agents Is A Bad Idea," host Jane Coaston delves into the recent surge in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under President Donald Trump's administration. The discussion begins by highlighting the significant increase in ICE's budget, attributing it to Trump's new spending and tax law, which allocates nearly $200 billion to federal law enforcement agencies.
Notable Quote: Jane Coaston remarks, “ICE is now the most well-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government, thanks to Trump's new disastrous spending and tax law” ([00:02]).
Coaston elaborates on how ICE’s role has shifted from targeting criminals to focusing on non-criminals, including farm workers, day laborers, and individuals who have resided in the U.S. for decades. Data presented in the podcast indicates that over 70% of the nearly 58,000 people held by ICE lack criminal convictions, showcasing a pivot away from Trump's original campaign promises.
Notable Quote: “...the agency had seemingly pivoted away from targeting all those terrifying criminals Trump promised to deport on the campaign trail” ([00:02]).
The episode discusses the proposed hiring of 10,000 new ICE officers and the construction of new detention facilities, such as the controversially named "Alligator Alcatraz" in Florida. Coaston critiques the administration’s approach, suggesting that the expansion is misaligned with the agency's current practices and priorities.
Notable Quote: “The fact that the administration is excited about that name tells you everything you need to know about where its head is at” ([00:02]).
Jane Coaston introduces historian and national security reporter Garrett Graf to provide an in-depth analysis of the implications of ICE's expanded budget.
Key Points from Garrett Graf:
Unprecedented Funding Increase: Graf explains that the $200 billion allocation represents the largest funding increase for federal law enforcement in modern history, positioning ICE to potentially rival the U.S. Marine Corps in budget size ([03:31]).
Lawlessness and Cruelty Concerns: He warns that this financial boost could "turbocharge an increasingly lawless regime of immigration enforcement," emphasizing ICE's current low hiring and training standards ([04:37]).
Historical Precedents of Corruption: Graf draws parallels to the post-9/11 surge in Border Patrol hiring, which led to heightened criminality and corruption within the agency. He cites that from 2008 to 2014, one CBP officer was arrested for misconduct or corruption every day, a trend that slightly improved by 2017 ([05:15]).
Recruitment Challenges: Graf expresses concern over the type of individuals attracted to ICE positions, suggesting that the agency may end up with personnel more akin to "the worst bullies in American society" rather than professional law enforcement officers ([07:09]).
Impact on Federal Law Enforcement Balance: He highlights the imbalance being created by diverting resources to ICE and CBP, potentially undermining agencies like the FBI and DEA that are more grounded in constitutional and civil liberties standards ([08:32]).
Notable Quotes:
Coaston addresses the disconnect between the increase in ICE personnel and the insufficient expansion of the judicial system to handle the resultant cases. The new law restricts the number of immigration judges to 800 despite the growing number of ICE officers, exacerbating the backlog in immigration proceedings.
Notable Quote: Garrett Graf warns, “This is going to be throwing a lot more people into an already backlogged and broken system,” suggesting the administration’s plan disregards due process and civil liberties ([10:56]).
The discussion intensifies as Graf compares the current ICE trajectory to authoritarian regimes, anticipating practices akin to "kidnapping and enforced disappearances." He emphasizes the lack of due process and the potential for severe human rights violations as ICE expands its reach without adequate oversight ([10:56]).
Notable Quote: “They are just going to be throwing bodies in unmarked vans, getting them to planes and getting them overseas to whatever country they're willing to accept... America’s enforced disappearances” ([10:56]).
The episode concludes with a somber reflection on the potential consequences of expanding ICE without addressing systemic issues within the agency and the broader immigration system. Coaston underscores the urgent need for a balanced approach that respects human rights and ensures accountability within immigration enforcement.
Notable Quote: Garrett Graf asserts, “These are not going to be detentions and removals like any system that we are used to. This is going to be sort of kidnapping and enforced disappearances akin to, you know, I think some of the worst authoritarian regimes of modern history” ([10:56]).
Massive Funding Increase: ICE receives unprecedented financial resources, positioning it as the top-funded federal law enforcement agency.
Shift in Focus: ICE's priorities have shifted from targeting criminals to detaining non-criminals, including long-term residents and laborers.
Hiring and Training Concerns: The rapid hiring surge may compromise the quality and accountability of ICE agents, leading to increased corruption and abuse.
Judicial System Strain: Limited expansion of immigration judges exacerbates case backlogs, undermining due process.
Authoritarian Risks: The expansion without proper oversight raises fears of human rights violations and authoritarian practices within immigration enforcement.
This episode provides a critical examination of the Trump administration's policies regarding ICE, highlighting significant concerns about the agency's expansion, operational focus, and the broader implications for civil liberties and the U.S. judicial system. Through expert insights and detailed analysis, Jane Coaston paints a compelling picture of the challenges and potential dangers posed by the current trajectory of immigration enforcement in the United States.