# What is the job of ICE supposed to be (if not what it is doing?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 11, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-job-of-ice-supposed-to-be-if-not-what-it-is-doing/825949 "2018-12-11T16:23:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-job-of-ice-supposed-to-be-if-not-what-it-is-doing/825949/61 "2026-01-28T17:23:08Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > This may be what is written down on paper, but it is not what is actually happening NOW. Reality is staring us in the face, and it’s not even remotely like this. 1. That’s decided by the courts, not by us, looking at newspaper articles. 2. If you win, even taking the charitable view of your enemy, nothing’s gained by taking the less charitable view. If you claim that they’re acting criminally then, on the day that it’s proved, you’ve already desensitized everyone to it. Or, if it’s shown that the grand majority of activity was undertaken according to due process, then you look like a liar. Whereas, if you give them the benefit of the doubt, while the evidence is still not available, then either you end up still having won the case because you argued for violations of the First Amendment - which was provable at the time - and possibly get the bonus that they come out looking worse than you’d ever even claimed on the other question. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-job-of-ice-supposed-to-be-if-not-what-it-is-doing/825949/62 "2026-01-28T19:43:06Z")
1. You may have noticed that ICE is completely disregarding court orders now. Without enforcement, the courts are just giving suggestions. 2. I’m not entirely sure what you’re trying to say here. Nobody in the administration deserves any benefit of the doubt anymore. We’re well past that. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-job-of-ice-supposed-to-be-if-not-what-it-is-doing/825949/63 "2026-01-28T20:13:24Z")
Italians are not happy about this, and Italian officials say ICE’s role will be extremely limited: [Italy sets security plan for Milano Cortina 2026, says US ICE staff not on the ground | Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/sports/italy-sets-security-plan-milancortina-2026-says-us-ice-staff-not-ground-2026-01-28/) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-job-of-ice-supposed-to-be-if-not-what-it-is-doing/825949/64 "2026-01-28T20:54:36Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > You may have noticed that ICE is completely disregarding court orders now. Without enforcement, the courts are just giving suggestions. I’ve noticed that some particular incidents smell fishy. But I’ve also noticed that there are millions of people going before a judge prior to removal. [https://tracreports.org/immigration/quickfacts/eoir.html?hl=en-US](https://tracreports.org/immigration/quickfacts/eoir.html?hl=en-US) Headlines aren’t data. A guy running rampant in LA with an axe, murdering (2-3) people, doesn’t mean that there’s a nationwide crime spree, no matter how big the font is on the front page of the New York Times. The Administration won the case, Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam (2020). They _may_ lose the cases Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem (2025) and Make the Road New York v. Noem (2025). They might win all three cases and, officially, have wide swath to round up and deport people with lower due process than you agree with but that, according to all Constitutional process is completely above board. And yet, despite that, they could eventually be shown to have not followed the process that the Supreme Court approved, get sued from abroad, and have to start allowing basically everyone back and yours and my tax dollars will go to pay reparations. At the moment, those results are still pending. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-job-of-ice-supposed-to-be-if-not-what-it-is-doing/825949/65 "2026-01-28T21:11:10Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I’ve noticed that some particular incidents smell fishy. Smell fishy? More like smells like the inside of a tuna that has been sitting outside in the hot sun for a week. I’m referring to court orders from U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez to ICE to not use tear gas or detain protesters. A court order that Bovino explicitly said on the news that he was going to ignore. And they are still tossing tear gas at crowds, and in front of a preschool. They are still driving by people on the sidewalk and spraying them with pepper spray from the safety of their SUV’s. Ignoring court orders is not simply “fishy”. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-job-of-ice-supposed-to-be-if-not-what-it-is-doing/825949/66 "2026-01-28T22:09:13Z")
In cases where people were illegally detained, moved, disappeared, ICE has also failed to follow court orders. Saying that there are cases where deportations were NOT illegal does not excuse these. Miller, Noem and others have gone way, way way past giving them the benefit of the doubt. They are plainly, obviously, grossly showing exactly what ICE is about. > Federal judge Patrick Schiltz, the chief judge in Minnesota, demanded Lyons appear in federal court on Friday to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court for failing to follow an order regarding an Ecuadoran national who was detained this month after entering the country illegally three decades ago. Schiltz said the man, Juan Hugo Tobay Robles, should have been given a bond hearing by law or be released within seven days and that the Department of Homeland Security failed to follow that order and many others. > > “ **This is one of dozens of court orders with which respondents have failed to comply** in recent weeks,” Schiltz wrote, adding that the court’s “patience is at an end.” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2026, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-job-of-ice-supposed-to-be-if-not-what-it-is-doing/825949/67 "2026-01-29T00:19:49Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > - That’s decided by the courts, not by us, looking at newspaper articles. > - If you win, even taking the charitable view of your enemy, nothing’s gained by taking the less charitable view. It’s decided by force, not the courts. The courts don’t matter. And “taking the charitable view of your enemy” is self destructive, and a major reason fascism is winning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-job-of-ice-supposed-to-be-if-not-what-it-is-doing/825949.md?page=3)