# Where do ICE agencies get their "leads"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2026, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975 "2026-01-24T05:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/21 "2026-01-25T18:47:37Z")
@Chronos Yours didn’t make a stop at Ellis Island? I know my family didn’t. We left the Netherlands in the late 1700’s. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/22 "2026-01-25T20:24:56Z")
I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but I’d like to see whether the ICE roundups are in proportion to the number/types of immigrants from various countries? Like are they going after known illegal Canadian and European immigrants, or is it just Somalis, Mexicans, and other brown and black types? ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/23 "2026-01-25T20:49:29Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Where does the list of supposed illegals come from? Generally, two places: 1) From Govt databases; and 2) referrals from other law enforcement agencies. Thats how it usually would work. I obviously don’t know how current administration gets its list. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/24 "2026-01-25T21:11:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > @Chronos > Yours didn’t make a stop at Ellis Island? You think that what they got at Ellis Island constitutes “knowing anything about their past histories”? All they’d really have would be country of origin and name, and a lot of the time they got the name wrong, anyway. We are the real undocumented immigrants. ---
**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 25, 2026, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/25 "2026-01-25T21:23:10Z")
That may have been how they _used to_ make up the list, but by the number of people taken into custody, quizzed then turned loose ghod knows where, or even held in total secrecy until they figure out what they can get away with, they are just blindly casting wide nets in the general direction of “those people” in an effort to please their superiors. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/26 "2026-01-25T21:23:11Z")
My distant family was here long before Ellis Island opened. I’ve wondered what they did at Ellis besides health screening (small pox, cholera, dysentery) and recording names. But, that’s totally irrelevant to the current topic. Moving on… It is concerning that ICE seems well prepared with a long list of names to deport. This ICE Sweep had to be well planned awhile ago. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/27 "2026-01-25T21:36:42Z")
Doesn’t need much planning at all. Just drive around town until you see businesses labeled “bodega” or “mercado”, and then kick in all the doors in that neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/28 "2026-01-25T21:38:19Z")
There are lots of videos of ICE agents just randomly hassling people in Walmart parking lots demanding they prove their citizenship. I think the Gestapo was probably methodical, but like everything about US fascism, our version is much dumber. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/29 "2026-01-25T21:51:33Z")
This is the Trump version of the Gestapo. It’s like the Nazi Gestapo but fatter and dumber. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975/30 "2026-01-25T22:05:10Z")
I wonder how the new ICE hires compare to the Brownshirts. Did Ernst Rohm get a bunch of dumb guys off the street, and pay them a lot of money to say, “You don’t mess with ICE!” ? Er, sorry, Sturmabteilung. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-ice-agencies-get-their-leads/1026975.md?page=1)