... The images of masked, heavily armed immigration agents snatching people off the streets and taking them away in unmarked cars have shocked many Americans " and led to a simple question: Is all of this legal?
It is -- at least for now.
Why it matters: Since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was created after the 9/11 attacks, its agents have operated with vastly more enforcement power, less transparency and fewer guardrails than local police.
- - - ICE's rules were designed largely to give the agency broad leeway in helping the FBI identify and arrest domestic terror suspects.
- - - Now the Trump administration is using that power to go after unauthorized immigrants " potentially millions of them " with a frequency and aggressiveness that has sent ripples through communities nationwide.
Zoom in: Under Trump, critics say, ICE has become the closest thing the U.S. has to a secret police force.
- - - ICE agents aren't required to wear body cameras, can cover their faces, don't have to provide badge numbers or identify themselves, can arrive in unmarked cars and don't need a warrant from a judge to detain someone.
- - - Like those with other federal enforcement agencies, they can ignore rules that govern local police departments, particularly those local agencies with histories of abuse or that operate under court-imposed restrictions on racial profiling.
- - - In some cases, ICE agents can even arrest U.S. citizens -- but they aren't supposed to place them in immigration detention units. Even so, a few U.S. citizens have been detained in recent ICE raids because of agents' mistakes or negligence. ...
