Look what ICE is doing in your name

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As the Trump administration pursues a scorched-earth approach to immigration enforcement, it’s a be-careful-what-you-wish-for message to voters — unless they’re without empathy or concern for government transparency, or are uninterested in living in a nation where people can coexist in relative stability.

As of this writing, completed Friday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had detained two university students in Minnesota in recent weeks. The first case to be reported, that of University of Minnesota graduate student Doğukan Günaydin, a Turkish citizen who was pursuing a master’s degree in business administration, was said to be related to an impaired-driving case from 2023. He was here legally on a student visa, which has now been stripped. A judge has asked the federal government to explain why Günaydin remains jailed as the case proceeds.

The second was that of a Minnesota State University, Mankato student who after a week had yet to be identified, despite appeals from the university and others. The school also discovered during a status check that five other student visas had been terminated, even though the government had informed neither the students nor the school, said the university’s president, Edward Inch. He said “this situation is unlike any we have navigated before.”

These cases follow several others nationally, some involving maneuvers reminiscent of the old English star chambers. Those courts, known for their caprice and secrecy — and, at least in lore, for snatching targets as if prey — were abolished in 1641. The student detainments are happening — are ramping up — in America today. And they’re not just targeting those so derisively termed by some people as “illegals.”

Why, other than the change in administration? How does the Trump administration justify such aggressive actions?

“We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campus.” So says Secretary of State Marco Rubio. That reasoning is suspect to begin with in a country built on free expression. But if it’s a ruckus the administration doesn’t want, it’s stirring the wrong pot. Activism around immigration can be some of the most vocal.

Moreover, Günaydin’s detention — if it is, as billed, related not to activism but to a prior impaired-driving offense, since resolved — belies Rubio’s justification.

What I think reasonable observers can see is that the administration wants to establish a culture of fear. Enough Americans have worked in enough organizations to know that some leaders promote such cultures. They also know that it does not induce greatness, at least not sustainably, but that the fear part works wonders.

I don’t know a great many people from overseas, but of those I’ve met, my experience is that they’re thoughtful. That’s not a vibe I commonly get from the Trump administration. (I do get it from some Trump supporters I know, which can be vexing.)

I’m also not personally inclined to join a passionate protest, but I’m thankful to people who are. It’s passion that keeps a society from getting comfortably stuck in a bad place. Could it be argued that the MAGA movement is doing just that? Sure. But all passion remains subject to proof, and the burden of proof usually waters down incendiary ideas and policies.

Immigration enforcement has always been a delicate balance that relied on the good faith and integrity of the administration leading it. At least half the nation will be skeptical of such actions by the Trump administration. A good number of people have long been skeptical of ICE under any administration.

Do I know whether the people targeted recently are guilty or innocent of transgressions against the United States, maybe things beyond what’s been reported? I don’t, and neither do you, because both the policy and the enforcement lack transparency.

It’s good that university leaders are probing for answers. It’s important for the state’s U.S. senators to use their leverage. The state’s U.S. representatives should be visibly involved as well when enforcement actions occur in their districts, even if they’re Republicans.

But the main burden for developing a sound policy, explaining it persuasively to the public and following it competently within the boundaries of the law is on the Trump administration.

A student at Tufts University in Massachusetts was surrounded by masked agents on the street and led away in handcuffs.

A Maryland man was sent in error to a prison in El Salvador. The Trump administration says that was an oopsie but that it can’t get him back. On Friday, a federal judge gave the administration until Monday to remedy the situation.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the same prison in El Salvador and posed in front of jam-packed prisoners, dressed as if for an expensive fashion shoot.

I’m under no illusion that Trump voters en masse will take issue with any of this. But I’d like to appeal to the better angels of those who might.

Polls last fall from Pew Research and YouGov found that about three-quarters of Trump supporters said immigration was one of their top issues. If you’re one of them, you should ask yourself now, as with other policy goals made manifest by Trump once in office, whether this is the degree and style of action you wanted — and if not, how you’re going to communicate that.

In the meantime, Americans, potentially life-shattering things are being done to people in your collective name. You don’t know these people and maybe you don’t care, and maybe you’d even put your own real name behind saying so, but wouldn’t you at least want enough information to know your country is still on solid ground?