{"id":7883,"date":"2026-07-16T18:36:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7883"},"modified":"2026-07-16T18:36:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:36:35","slug":"trumps-deportation-push-is-rewiring-american-policing-aclu-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7883","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#039;s deportation push is rewiring American policing, ACLU report says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/RzrRKUR2KjU0FxZ5MUKDbyYBMcA=\/0x0:1920x1080\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/13\/1783972293475.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Trump<\/a>&#8216;s deportation campaign has expanded far beyond ICE, turning federal agents, state troopers, local police and even wildlife officers into a massive 50,000-person internal enforcement force, a new ACLU report says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>The aggressive expansion is blurring the lines between local public safety and federal immigration enforcement, fundamentally changing U.S. law enforcement \u2014 and raising civil rights concerns, the report says.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>The big picture:<\/strong> Neighborhood streets, roads, schools, worksites, hospitals, courts and wildlife areas have turned into enforcement zones, officials say.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That blurring of enforcement lines often has made it<strong> <\/strong>harder for people to know who&#8217;s stopping them, what authority they have and who can be held accountable.<\/li>\n<li>Such confusion has been a backdrop to several violent incidents involving ICE agents this year, including four fatal shootings \u2014 two during the past week, in Houston and Biddeford, Maine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>By the numbers: <\/strong>The ACLU says more than 25,000 federal law enforcement officers outside ICE were diverted to immigration enforcement at various points during 2025, citing outside analyses based on government data. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The report says that included an estimated 9,161 FBI personnel, or at least one in five FBI special agents.<\/li>\n<li>An unprecedented $240 billion has been directed into immigration enforcement through congressional reconciliation bills since July 2025, as Trump has pushed to deport millions of unauthorized immigrants.<\/li>\n<li>About 12,000<strong> <\/strong>new ICE agents were hired in record time in 2025.<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they found: <\/strong>The ACLU reviewed 1,213 cases <strong>f<\/strong>rom January through December 2025 across Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland and New Mexico, using public records, legal filings, news reports, visual evidence and congressional material.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The ACLU found 375 incidents involving force or threatened force, including 241 involving physical force.<\/li>\n<li>The report says agents pushed, shoved, tackled or pinned people 418 times, deployed chemical irritants 361 times, used stun guns 33 times and smashed vehicle windows 47 times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Context: <\/strong>ICE suspended <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/houston\/2026\/07\/14\/ice-suspend-vehicle-stops-shootings-houston-maine\" target=\"_blank\">most vehicle stops<\/a> during enforcement operations nationwide after this week&#8217;s fatal shootings, but Trump reversed that decision Wednesday, calling the tactic one of the agency&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/5969027-donald-trump-ice-traffic-stops\/\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;most important and effective&#8221;<\/a> tools.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zoom in:<\/strong> ICE is leveraging a war chest of more than $250 million to deputize state and local police into its deportation operations.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The policy group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fwd.us\/news\/ice-payouts\/\" target=\"_blank\">FWD.us<\/a> says ICE has paid or promised $257 million to state and local agencies under what&#8217;s known as 287(g) agreements, with incentive payments totaling more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fwd.us\/news\/ice-payouts\/#:~:text=total%20over%20%2440%2C000%20per%20officer.\" target=\"_blank\">$40,000 per participating officer <\/a>in some agencies. The group estimates total 2026 payouts could reach $1.4 billion to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fwd.us\/news\/ice-payouts\/#:~:text=equal%20%241.4%20to-,%242%20billion%20per%20year,-.%20With%20these%20larger\" target=\"_blank\">$2 billion.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>State agencies such as the Florida Highway Patrol and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries now are conducting routine immigration sweeps, the ACLU found.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom out:<\/strong> The scale of the deployment is creating a chaotic environment on U.S. streets.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Federal agents are increasingly relying on masked operations, unmarked vehicles, and gear simply labeled &#8220;POLICE,&#8221; making it difficult for the public to identify who is conducting the enforcement.<\/li>\n<li>This tactic has led to confusion and eroded community trust in genuine local law enforcement, the ACLU says.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Caveat: <\/strong>The report doesn&#8217;t specify how many arrests were made by non-ICE or non-Border Patrol agencies from January through December 2025.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The other side: <\/strong>The White House referred questions to ICE.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions from Axios. <\/li>\n<li>Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2026\/06\/28\/exclusive-secretary-mullin-at-100-day-mark-at-dhs-deportations-are-way-up-2026-stats-set-to-outpace-well-past-2025-numbers\/\" target=\"_blank\">Breitbart News<\/a> last month that DHS is expanding its plans for more local and state law enforcement departments to join enforcement partnerships with the federal government.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;When they partner with us, we reimburse. We&#8217;ll reimburse you for equipment. We reimburse the time of the officer,&#8221; he told the outlet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Between the lines:<\/strong> The ACLU argues that the blurring of federal, state, and local police into one deportation force weakens Congress&#8217; ability to know which agency acted, who funded it, and who should answer for any abuses.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Because the ICE and Customs and Border Patrol funding surge came largely through reconciliation, the ACLU argues, Congress made routine oversight harder by avoiding the usual annual appropriations process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump&#8216;s deportation campaign has expanded far beyond ICE, turning federal agents, state troopers, local police and even wildlife officers into a massive 50,000-person internal enforcement force, a new ACLU report says. Why it matters: The aggressive expansion is blurring the lines between local public safety and federal immigration enforcement, fundamentally changing U.S. law enforcement&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/RzrRKUR2KjU0FxZ5MUKDbyYBMcA=\/0x0:1920x1080\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/13\/1783972293475.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}