The Aggressive Crackdown by ICE: Inside Growing Architecture of Immigration Enforcement

Inside the Growing Architecture of U.S. Immigration Enforcement

Panel discussion on how the U.S. government’s aggressive immigration crackdown is reshaping the lives of migrants.

Date & Time: June 25 @ 1 PM - 2 PM PT (4 PM - 5 PM ET)

RSVP: https://events.propublica.org/immigration-enforcement


Join ProPublica reporters for an in-depth discussion about their recently published investigations into the Trump administration’s moves to ramp up deportations. Together, these stories reveal how immigration enforcement is quietly being embedded into everyday institutions, raising urgent questions about transparency, accountability and the future of immigration policy in America.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, tasked with protecting unaccompanied immigrant children, has shifted toward enforcement by sharing sponsor information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, leading to the arrests of such guardians and the prolonged detentions of children, as well as family separations. This transformation has turned a protective agency into an enforcement arm, placing minors and mixed-status families at new risk, often without public knowledge or accountability.

Meanwhile, ICE officials tout an unprecedented expansion of the 287(g) Program, which allows state and local police to enter federal agreements to act as deportation officers. Government watchdogs have warned that such agreements lack oversight, while advocates allege they come at a high cost to communities.

The panel also examines how private companies and logistics networks have enabled enforcement to scale rapidly and invisibly. We’ll share insights into the hidden world of deportation flights, where civilian flight attendants report unsafe, traumatic conditions as migrants are moved with little oversight. We’ll also discuss how a privately held company has made billions running tent detention facilities to hold immigrants entering the U.S. at the border. The session also covers how individuals — many without criminal convictions — have been swept up in this system and deported to dangerous conditions abroad, including prisons in El Salvador.

During this virtual event, reporters will trace these threads across systems of care, policing, privatization and international detention, revealing how enforcement has become more expansive. Submit your question for our panelists below when you RSVP.