US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has strayed from its law enforcement mission, accusing it of creating fear and chaos in communities across the country.
"For months, Americans have watched in horror as ICE agents have stopped acting like law enforcement and started terrorising communities across the country," Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday.
The top Democrat argued that public sentiment is shifting and that President Donald Trump is beginning to recognise growing opposition to ICE’s actions.
"It's not an immigration issue, it's a public safety issue, and the Republicans are on the wrong side of public safety right now," he said.
Democrats in both chambers are unified on the need for reform, Schumer said.
"Democrats in the House and Senate are on the same exact page about what needs to be done to rein in ICE and end the violence," he said.
The New York Democrat went on to accuse ICE of acting with impunity, saying, “Americans don’t support the kind of abuses ICE is committing across communities.”
“ICE’s behaviour is not law enforcement, it’s thuggery. It puts people in danger.”
Schumer called for bipartisan cooperation to pass what he described as “real, meaningful, common-sense legislation,” urging Republicans to work with Democrats to curb ICE’s actions.
Deeply unpopular
On Wednesday, Trump told NBC News that he believes his administration could use “a softer touch” in its immigration enforcement operations after federal agents killed two Americans in the state of Minnesota last month.
Trump also said he personally ordered the withdrawal of 700 federal agents involved in the contentious immigration crackdown in the state.
ICE remains deeply unpopular with many Americans primarily due to high-profile family separations, child detentions, and prolonged holding in substandard facilities.
Critics view these practices as unnecessarily cruel, while supporters argue ICE is simply enforcing laws Congress passed, that interior enforcement deters irregular immigration and human smuggling.
In early 2026, Minnesota became a major flashpoint for ICE unpopularity when the Trump administration launched "Operation Metro Surge," deploying thousands of federal agents (initially around 2,000–3,000) to the Minneapolis–St. Paul area in what officials called the largest immigration enforcement operation ever conducted in the state.
This led to widespread outrage over aggressive tactics, including workplace raids, residential arrests, masked and heavily armed agents, warrantless stops, and racial profiling—particularly targeting Somali and Latino communities.
The operation sparked massive protests, economic shutdowns, and a partial agent drawdown after two high-profile killings of US citizens by federal officers: Renee Nicole Good (shot by an ICE agent) and Alex Pretti (shot by a CBP agent).
Polls showed strong opposition, with many Minnesotans and Americans viewing ICE actions as excessive.
