An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent appeared to sympathize with a protester on Sunday while in Charlotte, North Carolina, but declined to engage fully due to concerns about “video cameras.”
According to Ukrainian-American journalist Oliya Scootercaster, ICE agents were conducting an operation in Charlotte, searching through a wooded area for a man who was reportedly selling flowers on the corner.
A video shared by Scootercaster captures a group of protesters engaging with an ICE agent—specifically, an agent from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The protesters questioned the agency’s aggressive operations, including its frequent use of warrantless searches and seizures, which experts have called unconstitutional.
One protester asked the agent how they determine a suspected undocumented immigrant’s immigration status before putting them “in handcuffs.”
“That’s a very fair question,” the agent responded. “I think that more of us would like to have a conversation about these things, but we can’t because this isn’t a press conference. I can’t go and give official statements in front of video cameras. This is not a conversation, this is a ‘gotcha.’”
Morale at ICE has reportedly been “in the crapper,” with agents expressing frustrations over aggressive quotas, excessive overtime, and the moral dilemma of routinely targeting migrants who have no criminal histories.
During the Trump administration, ICE was issued a quota to make at least 3,000 arrests a day, many of whom were migrants with no criminal history beyond their immigration status. This policy has contributed to growing unease within the agency.
https://www.rawstory.com/ice-2674300328/