Isa Abbott, Opinion Editor
I hear a buzzing noise at my desk. I turn around to pick up my phone, looking at my most recent notification. My best friend texted me, asking me how I was doing – often, we do not text enough. I update her on my school, and she updates me on hers. She informs me that on Tuesday, Feb. 3, her high school will be protesting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as there have been sightings of them around their county. My heart dropped fast and heavy.
I grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, a city that is generally racially diverse and houses many immigrant families. I went to school with immigrants. I had family friends who were second generation immigrants. My best friend is the daughter of an immigrant.
I don’t know how to put into words the amount of pain and fear that comes to mind when I think of ICE. They’ve taken so many people away from their families and homes. They’ve killed people and destroyed the hearts of loved ones. Often, when I see a video of ICE detaining or killing someone, I consider what would happen if they did that to someone I also loved and cared for; how painful that would be.
Perhaps this is why I have been so hesitant to finally speak out about this issue: because I, myself, cannot grapple with the fearful idea of what is happening now and what is to come. Every gunshot by ICE is an ear bleeding scream that deafens our voices. At some point, our voices become interference to them, and they see anyone who speaks up as a threat; as a person to kidnap or kill next. I fear going outside. I fear driving to Columbus. I fear for the safety of my sister in an Indianapolis public school. I fear for my friends.
In Indianapolis, a young black man was threatened to be killed by ICE outside of a protest at Warren Central High School, and was also seen circling around Irvington, a small town in Indianapolis. At Indiana University in Indianapolis, ICE is also recruiting students to detain and call out their own classmates. At Indiana University in Bloomington, the governor of Indiana has taken over the university, which has led to program cuts, such as Spanish. These are instances in which ICE and the government are clearly abusing their powers to racially profile and silence people of color in cities that are more diverse.
Beyond racial targeting, ICE and police officers threw tear-gas at a preschool in Minneapolis, and, as most of us know, murdered multiple American citizens in broad daylight with absolutely no remorse. In fact, Renee Good’s last words were “I’m not mad at you,” which was responded to with a shot to the head and an expletive. In another instance, a 32-year-old man was detained in the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, where he was lynched by ICE. ICE’s job is to only detain people who are “national security threats,” and yet, today, they paint the image that anyone who disagrees with them is that national security threat.
ICE also uses people who should not be detained to lure in people who they deem “detainable.” For example, in a book I recently read called “No Undocumented Child Left Behind,” by Michael A. Olivas, immigration enforcement will often target children to lure in immigrant families or parents, which later leads to them being deported. Recently, 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos from Minnesota was detained by ICE, where he suffered from an extreme stomach illness. The mental and physical impacts of children in ICE facilities is detrimental. These facilities are the equivalent to concentration camps. Remember: Anne Frank died at age 15 of diseases from a concentration camp after being deported. This is a very real situation that many children can be exposed to in ICE facilities.
After a judge ruled that Ramos be released, the Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin said that ICE did not target to detain a child, when in fact, they did. Immigration enforcements and the White House continue to spread lies about the ways in which they meet their detaining quotas, not just with children, but even in the case of Good, Alex Pretti, and other American citizens who were killed by ICE agents. The Trump Administration continues to cover their cruelty and thirst-ridden power in suggesting that these citizens, for example, were “threats” because they tried to run over an agent or had a gun. If you only want the Second Amendment to apply to yourself and your orange koolaid drinkers, just say so.
While all of these terrible things have occurred, it is also important to note that ICE raids are, in fact, political distractions from the Epstein files and the immense progress for Project 2025 (extending into 2026). In a recent interview by a CNN reporter, President Donald Trump was asked for his thoughts on the survivors within the Epstein files, and he told her that she was a terrible reporter and that people should focus on things that actually matter.
What actually matters is that reporters are being dismissed, silenced and arrested for covering stories on ICE. Journalists including Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested for this same thing. What is most ironic is that there have not been as many recent news stories on sexual assault cases by ICE agents, as there were before Trump’s presidency. Ideally, perhaps sexual assault cases for ICE agents have gone down, but that’s not likely. Recently, David Courvelle, a 56-year-old ICE agent, pled guilty to raping an immigrant woman from Nicaragua for several months. In return, the woman received food and photos of her daughter. The agent hired lookouts while he raped her in a janitor’s closet. What is most terrifying is that no one knows how often this happens to other people being detained at an ICE detention facility; this is partially due to lack of news coverage, but also because the Trump administration will come for anyone in general who tries to uncover these realities.
On January 22, the House passed a bill that would increase funding by $400 million for ICE detention centers and an additional nearly $400 million to fund its enforcements. Not only did the government vote to put more money towards torturing American citizens with its own law enforcement, but funding ICE also means funding rapists.
To me, it’s also ironic how the president and many government officials are in the Epstein files, but immigrants are not. These people who hold privilege and power make marginalized groups seem like criminals because they need someone else to blame. The White House has a list of maybe five people as some of the “most dangerous immigrants” who are labeled as rapists and criminals, but Trump is mentioned in the Epstein files more than the word “God” and “Jesus” is combined in the Bible. That list of five immigrant men on The White House page does not nearly compare to the amount of pain and suffering that the Epstein files accounts for.
Melting, or getting rid of, ICE starts with targeting the blame on those who actually did harm in the first place. It looks like talking to your representatives, and continuing to protest. It looks like volunteering at immigration centers, and reminding others and educating yourselves on your rights. It also looks like reaching out to people who may need support or are afraid. The community and warm compassion we give to others melts ICE. Melting ICE also looks like facing the fears we cannot yet grapple with. It means that even though things are scary now, we have to face the fact that if we allow ICE to silence our voices, scary will become more petrifying than ever before.
The founding fathers built our constitution in hopes that our government would support and protect civil liberties and freedoms of its citizens; that no one person would be above the law. Melting ICE, at its core, is putting all eyes not just on ICE itself, but also upon the government and administration that supports it and believes they are above the law. We have the right to call out our president and representatives who are not representing our values, but rather their personal benefits of not taking the blame. It is not just immigration enforcement, it is enforcing blame. Do not allow anything to distract you from the big picture. Support government accountability.
Isa Abbott ‘28 is a politics and public affairs major from Indianapolis, Indiana.
An earlier version of this article referred to the date of the school protest as Tuesday, Feb. 10. The updated version is corrected to the date as Tuesday, Feb. 3.