Prototype of a border wall presented by Fisher Sand & Gravel in San Diego, California, on October 26, 2017. JOHN GIBBINS/SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE VIA ZUMA WIRE/REA
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was meant to be Donald Trump's enforcement arm. But the federal immigration agency has become both a political liability and a budgetary headache for the White House. Democratic lawmakers have now threatened to trigger another government shutdown, beginning Friday, February 13, unless the agency's controversial practices are seriously reformed, after two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed in anti-immigration operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in January. The opposition has demanded that federal agents, who operate masked, be identifiable, that they stop racial profiling during checks, cease searches and seizures of evidence without judicial warrants, and adhere to proper procedures in the use of force.
Beyond ICE, other immigration control agencies have also come under scrutiny, such as Customs and Border Protection (CBP), whose agents were responsible for one of the two deaths in Minneapolis, and, to a lesser extent, the Coast Guard.
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'The US crisis around ICE evokes the one sparked by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850'
