Where ICE might go next
ICE hasn't fully left Minnesota, but its footprint has significantly decreased. Where is ICE going to invade next?
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Trump border czar Tom Homan announced about a month ago that ICE's operation in Minneapolis would be coming to a close. Despite that, there are reportedly still around 650 agents in the state. That's down from 3,000, so things have changed, but folks in the region are still on alert.
What we don't yet know is where ICE might invade next. We've seen ICE go from one American city to another over the past year or so, and it doesn't seem likely that this pattern will suddenly end. Since there haven't been any major deployments announced recently, the best we can do is look for clues about which city might face ICE's brutality in the not-too-distant future.
One clue we can look at is where ICE is establishing offices in cities around the country. First, we've got Raleigh, North Carolina. It's been reported that ICE is expanding its office space in Cary, North Carolina, which is just outside of Raleigh. A new office space was leased in October. Residents in the area are concerned about what ICE might be planning for the region.
It's looking like California could be the focus of an upcoming ICE surge, as the agency has been leasing office space in cities like Sacramento and Irvine. A senior White House official told Wired in January that California would be "next" after Minneapolis. Los Angeles obviously faced some of the worst ICE crackdowns last year, and it seems like the agency might be planning another operation in the state.
ICE's footprint also appears to be expanding in the Baltimore, Maryland area, and many residents are worried a surge might be coming to their city. Federal contract records show ICE has been quietly building up its office space in the area with two new locations. Trump has called Baltimore a "hellhole," so it wouldn't be surprising if he wanted ICE to invade that city.
There have been reports that New York City is in ICE's crosshairs for some time now, but I've been wondering if Donald Trump's admiration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani might have moved those plans to the back burner. Mamdani seems to be able to get Trump to listen to him, and it'll be interesting to see if that means New York will be protected from a surge, at least for now.
