WSJ What’s News: ICE’s Expanding Authority Under Trump (January 25, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this Sunday deep-dive, host Alex Osola examines how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has grown in scope and power during President Trump’s second term. With a dramatic surge in ICE activity—most notably in Minneapolis, where protests and a fatal shooting have sharpened debate—the episode explores the evolution of ICE’s mandate, changes to its training, tactics, legal boundaries, and the mounting pushback from communities and courts. Reporter Michelle Hackman, who covers immigration policy for The Wall Street Journal, joins to provide expert analysis.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

ICE’s Origins and Mandate

• Founding and Purpose

  • ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was created in 2003 as part of the post-9/11 restructuring of federal law enforcement.
  • Original mandate: To enforce civil immigration laws, focusing on deportations and investigating criminal actions in the immigration system.
    • “After 9/11, the government really revamped its sort of law enforcement... separated out this agency to really step up deportations and also investigating foreigners who were using the immigration process to commit crimes.”
      — Michelle Hackman [01:55]

• Difference from Other Agencies

  • ICE’s mandate centers on removing individuals already present in the country illegally, not policing the border itself.
    • “Their mandate is civil. It’s not criminal... Technically speaking, to getting a parking ticket.... The consequence is deportation, but... deportation is not supposed to be like a criminal punishment.”
      — Michelle Hackman [02:38]

Evolving Training and Tactics

• Shortened and Relaxed Training

  • Traditional training took 16 weeks (law, firearms, Spanish language), now reduced significantly.
  • Spanish-language requirement dropped; agents instructed to use translation apps.
  • Portions of training now conducted online.
    • “They’ve cut down everything, even including the firearms. Training is shorter... a lot of the training is actually literally now done online.”
      — Michelle Hackman [03:20]

• Shift in Enforcement Approaches

  • Past: Careful, police-like investigations, focusing on targeted arrests based on records.
  • Present: Increased pressure to arrest more people, leading to “profiling tactics” to identify immigrants more rapidly.
    • “ICE officers... being driven by the pressure that they're under to arrest lots of people. What we're seeing is they're actually using basic profiling tactics to see if they can't find immigrants a little bit more quickly.”
      — Michelle Hackman [04:52]

Eroding Legal Protections

• Reasonable Suspicion & Profiling

  • ICE now relying more on profiling for stops, backed by recent Supreme Court rulings:
    • “Let’s say you are Hispanic and you look terrified when you see the ICE officer—that suddenly now does rise to... reasonable suspicion to then stop someone.”
      — Michelle Hackman [05:46]

• Warrantless Home Entry

  • ICE increasingly entering homes on the basis of administrative warrants (signed within ICE), not by a judge.
    • “ICE has just decided... we’re going to argue that this administrative warrant that ICE itself produces is enough to force down someone’s door, break in and arrest them.”
      — Michelle Hackman [06:06]

Detention Conditions & Legal Recourse

• Speed of Deportations

  • ICE seeks to deport detainees quickly; recourse is limited once a person is out of the country.
    • “They have admitted to wrongly deporting multiple people... once you've been deported, your recourse is very limited.”
      — Michelle Hackman [07:22]

• Deaths in Custody

  • Increased deaths linked to surging numbers in detention and poor conditions:
    • “We’ve seen a really high number of deaths... In ICE detention... conditions inside ICE detention have been reported to be pretty poor.”
      — Michelle Hackman [08:10]

• Asylum Seekers

  • Asylum seekers can now be detained for the entire duration of their case as a deterrence tactic.
    • “This government is detaining people partially as a deterrent measure to say, if you are detained that whole time, you’re likelier to just give up and leave the country.”
      — Michelle Hackman [09:04]

Legal Challenges & Pushback

• Ongoing Lawsuits

  • Suits challenge ICE’s use of profiling, wrongful detention of US citizens, and warrantless home entries as constitutional violations.
    • “There are ongoing lawsuits around ICE’s use of profiling... There is going to be litigation around... forcibly enter their homes if you don’t have a warrant signed by a judge.”
      — Michelle Hackman [09:14]

• Private Businesses and Civil Disobedience

  • Businesses can restrict ICE from private spaces unless provided a warrant.

    • “Where ICE has had some problems is the officer will say... let me go back to your kitchen and interview your employees. That’s when a restaurant owner can say... that's private property. You can't go there.”
      — Michelle Hackman [09:50]

  • Public backlash: Example of Hilton facing criticism after a hotel refused to accommodate ICE agents.

    • “Hilton got so much blowback.”
      — Michelle Hackman [10:46]

• Advice for Bystanders

  • Observers may legally record ICE operations but should not intervene.
    • “You are legally allowed to record that interaction. As long as you don’t intervene... you are okay.”
      — Michelle Hackman [11:01]

Trends and Outlook

• Regional Variations
  • Operations elsewhere (e.g., Maine) less intense than Minneapolis due to both scope and scale.
    • “In Minneapolis, what really made that operation so remarkable... you have a relatively small city of about 400,000 people and 3,000 ICE officers there.”
      — Michelle Hackman [11:20]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On ICE’s Civil vs. Criminal Authority:
  “If you’re here in the country illegally, that technically is not a crime... it’s a civil violation. The consequence of it is deportation.”
  — Michelle Hackman [02:38]

• On Training Devolutions:
  “They’ve cut down everything, even including the firearms. Training is shorter than it used to be, and a lot of the training is actually literally now done online.”
  — Michelle Hackman [03:20]

• On Profiling and “Reasonable Suspicion”:
  “What the Supreme Court has said recently is that you can actually take a number of those profiling factors… that suddenly now does rise to the level of reasonable suspicion.”
  — Michelle Hackman [05:39]

• On Home Raids:
  “ICE has just decided we need to be making more arrests. We’re going to disregard that (judicial warrant), and... this administrative warrant... is enough to force down someone’s door.”
  — Michelle Hackman [06:06]

• On Private Sector Pushback:
  “Let’s use a restaurant as an example... That’s when a restaurant owner can say, I’m sorry, no, that’s private property. You can’t go there.”
  — Michelle Hackman [09:50]

Key Timestamps

• [01:55] – ICE’s founding and original mandate
• [03:20] – Dramatic changes to ICE training
• [04:52] – Shift from targeted police work to rapid, profiling-based tactics
• [05:39] – Supreme Court’s impact on “reasonable suspicion”
• [06:06] – ICE’s escalation to warrantless home entries
• [07:22] – Rapid deportation and recourse issues
• [08:10] – Deaths and conditions in ICE detention
• [09:14] – Overview of current lawsuits against ICE practices
• [09:50] – Rights of businesses during ICE raids
• [10:46] – Example of public backlash (Hilton incident)
• [11:01] – Legal rights of bystanders during ICE operations
• [11:20] – Comparison of Minneapolis and Maine immigration operations

Conclusion

This episode provides a comprehensive look into ICE’s rapidly evolving—and increasingly controversial—role under the Trump administration. With new legal gray areas, reduced training standards, growing community pushback, and a rising tide of legal action, ICE now stands at the heart of America’s immigration and constitutional debates.