Growing rejection in the United States of the methods of work of the immigration police

Criticism of the methods of work of the immigration police in the United States is increasing, even among supporters of President Donald Trump, and the famous “podcast” host Joe Rogan, who supported him in the recent elections, went so far as to liken the operations of the Federal Security Service to the “Gestapo,” the secret police in Nazi Germany.

Rogan’s criticism fueled controversy over the working methods of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, which implement the policy of forced deportation of irregular immigrants mandated by the Trump administration.

Opinion polls show that the majority of Americans reject the behavior of the “ACE” officer who shot and killed Renee Good, 37 years old, on January 7 in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota (north).

In a poll conducted by the Quinnipiac Institute, 57% of voters condemned the work methods of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Administration, including 94% of Democratic voters and 64% of independent voters, while Republicans supported it by 84%.

In another poll conducted by The Economist magazine and the YouGov Institute, the percentage of those who support abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (46%) for the first time exceeded the percentage of those who oppose its dissolution (43%).

Joe Rogan, who is widely followed, said: “We don’t want men equipped like soldiers roaming the streets and arresting people, many of whom turn out to be American citizens who just don’t have their identification papers. Are they going to be like the Gestapo? Where are your identification papers? Is this what we have reached?

Left-wing activist Ben Burgess wrote on the “X” platform: “The most appropriate description of Joe Rogan is that he is the most famous undecided voter in America, and it is interesting to know what is on his mind.”

But it seems that White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt overlooked the fact that these reservations came from a conservative podcast host when she reaffirmed, on Thursday, the administration’s hardline stance on dealing with irregular immigration.

“Immigration officers are simply trying to enforce the law, and the Democratic Party has insulted these individuals, calling them Nazis and members of the Gestapo, which has led to the violence you see in the streets,” Levitt said during a press conference.

Stephen Schoen, a law professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that regardless of opinions about Trump’s anti-immigration policy, the methods of these masked officers, who are sometimes armed with rifles, contradict the principles deeply rooted in the American political and legal culture.

He points as an example to the identity checks conducted by “ACE” agents, which Joe Rogan criticized, stressing that the law only allows them if there is “reasonable suspicion” of illegal activity.

Schoen adds that when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, for example, ask peaceful demonstrators to show their identification papers, “many people associate this with dictatorial or totalitarian regimes.”

He considers the deployment of immigration police officers, who number 22,000 across the country compared to 10,000 a year ago, according to the Ministry of Homeland Security, to be “unprecedented,” especially given the protection they enjoy from the administration.

Stephen Miller, one of the most influential White House advisors, recently said in his address to the “ACE” operatives: “You have immunity to carry out your mission.”

Vice President Jay DeVance confirmed that the immigration officer who shot Rene Goode “enjoys absolute immunity.”

But Axios reported that the US administration conducted its own opinion polls that showed a decline in support for immigration enforcement, even among right-wing voters.

On Friday, the news site quoted an unidentified high-ranking advisor that the US President “wants mass deportations.” What he doesn’t want is what people see. He doesn’t like the way things look. “(The immigration police’s methods) don’t give a good image, and he has expressed some dissatisfaction with it.”