Immigration and Customs Enforcement commands a force of more than 22,000 agents operating far beyond the nation’s borders, driving an aggressive mass deportation campaign under Donald Trump that targets one million expulsions annually.
From Post-9/11 Counterterrorism to Mass Deportation
Originally established in the wake of the September 11 attacks to track down terrorists, the American immigration and customs police has shifted both its target and its fundamental nature. Following Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the agency has deployed an unprecedented offensive designed to reach the threshold of one million removals every year.
Budget Surges and Recruitment Bonuses
To hit these marks, federal authorities have more than doubled the agency’s manpower and tripled its operational budget. Financial incentives have played a direct role in that expansion, with recruitment bonuses reaching up to 50,000 dollars to draw in new personnel.
Sweeps Outside Schools and Courthouses
Rather than focusing exclusively on frontier enforcement, personnel now deploy directly outside schools, at street corners, and near courthouse exits. According to the stated framework of the administration, these operations target individuals deemed not “beautiful or white,” as characterized by President Trump.
Rare Access Exposes the Unconvicted Majority
Rare access granted to documentary filmmakers reveals the operational reality on the ground, shadowing agency leaders and their agents during active sweeps. While official messaging frames these efforts as a pursuit of criminals, the documented figures reveal a starkly different breakdown. In practice, the vast majority—70 percent—of those detained by agents carry no criminal convictions whatsoever.
Municipal Pushback and Community Division
Resistance to these tactics has solidified in local communities across the country, pitting local citizens and municipal leaders against the federal enforcement apparatus. The city of Minneapolis, marked by the deaths of George Floyd and Renee Good, a mother, stands as a prominent center of municipal pushback. Across the country, two distinct communities now face one another: those who track and those who shelter.
Caught in the middle of this societal friction are children growing up under the shadow of sudden enforcement actions. A young girl interviewed in the documentary captures the daily anxiety, noting that she often returns from school uncertain whether her mother will still be at home, with routine childhood activities like playing in the public park curtailed by fear.
The machinery driving these operations relies increasingly on advanced data analytics and digital identification technologies to locate migrants, undocumented residents, and asylum seekers. These digital tracking systems form the backbone of a wide-reaching policy implementation unfolding across the United States.
