What is ICE doing on America's streets? | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines to focus on one story and why. it matters. The Trump administration is. facing more and more backlash over its. immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. after the killing of another US citizen. Let's go to Washington. Burn Dezman is. there. Burn, thank you for talking this. through. Let's take a step back. What is. it that these agents are doing on the. streets of Minneapolis and other cities? Well, according to the Trump. administration, what Immigrations and.

Customs Enforcement or ICE is doing is. enforcing existing immigration policy. Now, the arrest and removal of what the. Trump administration has dubbed illegal. criminal aliens uh was kind of a. cornerstone of the Trump campaign and. it's something that his campaign's been. very very active in since he came into. back into office just over one year ago. In in practice, what they are doing is. kind of it's been much expanded from its. previous mission. And now we're seeing. ICE agents in cities where it.

traditionally wouldn't have been. particularly common to see them on the. street and operate in ways than which. they hadn't before. Now you're seeing. kind of much more sweeping and. widespread detention powers. And and. that's why people on the streets of. Minneapolis and Los Angeles and other. American cities in many cases are are. protesting. They see this as very much. an an overreach of what ICE was intended. to do. that they think has now had. deadly consequences at least twice in. Minneapolis. >> Now, you use the term ICE agents, which. we hear in the news all the time. Now,

what actually does that mean? Who are. ICE agents and where do border force. agents fit into this? >> Sure. Well, ICE is Immigration and. Customs Enforcement, and they're. essentially charged with enforcing US. immigration law in the interior of the. country. Now, traditionally, as I. mentioned, that would have meant, for. example, checking on workplaces that. were found to have undocumented workers, for example, that here in the United. States illegally. Whereas, Border. Patrol, uh, which is formerly known as.

Customs and Border Protection, they have. a similar role, but exclusively along. United States borders. So, for example, when one drives across from Mexico into. the United States, your first point of. contact with an American official of any. kind would be with a border patrol. officer. Uh, close to the border, you'll. see Border Patrol helicopters, Border. Patrol vehicles, in in many cases, Border Patrol blimps that kind of hang. over the border. um they not only check.

people coming in and out of ports of. entry, but also they're in charge of, for example, chasing smugglers that. perhaps cross the Rio Grande or they're. coming through the desert carrying uh. drugs or guiding undocumented migrants. into the United States. Uh but there. again, you're seeing kind of those roles. be kind of expanded. Both of those. agencies are under DHS, the Department. of Homeland Security. And now you're. seeing both border patrol and ICE agents. deployed inside US cities, which is. something that was never the case before.

this Trump administration. So, for. example, many people will see border. patrol agents uh that you can tell by. the marking on the vests or on their. uniforms, which tend to be green, uh. inside American cities that are nowhere. near the Mexican or Canadian borders, uh. helping enforce those immigration. policies. Uh, essentially what the Trump. administration did was bring in every. available agency it could to help find, detain, and deport undocumented migrants.

in the United States. And that's why. you're seeing kind of them be in the. public consciousness in a way that. wasn't the case before. Very few people, unless you cross the border, would have. had any sort of encounter with Border. Patrol in the past. >> So, obviously, you need a lot of people. to do this work. Are they trained for. the work that they're doing? Well, that's one of the the main concerns at. the moment that there's been a massive. recruitment drive and and quite large. bonuses given to people to join ICE. Uh.

but there are a lot of concerns that. because of the the demands on that. service, they're kind of rushing rushing. through training and that perhaps. standards have dropped. These aren't. necessarily people that go through the. entire training process, which was quite. long. that would have been the case in. the past and and that could have pretty. that could have grave consequences. I. think that's one of the main reasons the. the protesters are there. Also, you're. seeing a lot of backlash into the way. ICE has been trained and rushed to do.

this mission uh from people in many of. the cities where they're operating now. >> And and B, in those interactions that. Asians are having with US citizens, what. legal powers do they have? essentially. they they are in fact allowed to to see. for example if someone is a US citizen. uh but the concern is that the probable. cause that would have been legally. required in the past that's in many. cases appears to be lowered um for. example now you're seeing many US. citizens come forward and say that they.

were perhaps racially profiled by ICE or. other federal law enforcement officers. on American city streets uh that they've. been unfairly they followed uh that. proper search and seizure laws which are. protected by the US constitution aren't. being followed and again I think that's. causing quite a lot of anger too because. now also you're seeing these agents who. are almost universally wearing face. masks or balaclavas when they're. operating and and don't have bodywn. cameras as local law enforcement.

officers do they're stopping people US. citizens and others and those. interactions are are very tense and. there is a concern concerned that there. is very little recourse if something. were to go wrong because there's no. bodywn cameras for example. >> This is something I think is obvious to. people watching us in the US but much. less so elsewhere. Who are these people. answerable to? We get the idea they're. answerable to President Trump and. operating in Minnesota without any. support of the people who run Minnesota.

>> In some ways that's very much the case. So both ICE and and Border Patrol op uh. answer to the Department of Homeland. Security which was established a few. years after the September 11th attacks. Uh but in this case the the direction. really does seem to be coming from the. White House from the White House through. the director of DHS Christine Gnome to. those agencies. And what we do know is. that there's been very very little. cooperation in the case of Minneapolis. between those federal law enforcement.

agencies and local police and local. officials. >> But in some parts of the US, this has. support. So let's talk about the policy. that these agents are enforcing. Am I. right in thinking that these are. immigration rules that have always been. there but haven't always been enforced. like this? And I think it's very much. fair to say that immigration enforcement. and and border security is perhaps not. the main reason that Trump was elected. president uh in the last election, but. it's certainly one of the top reasons.

It's something he promised to do. throughout his presidential campaign and. which he began doing on on the first day. of his administration in January of last. year. And it's something that's broadly. popular with his base. Now, I think. we're starting to see polls suggest that. while people are broadly in favor of the. the ultimate objective of this sort of. immigrations enforcement, there is. growing unease with the way it's been. carried out. Uh people thought very much. it would be much more focused on.

criminals who have uh bes have committed. violent crimes, for example, or crimes. other than immigration violations. And. now we're seeing more and more, for. example, families or people that had. been in communities for decades. They've. also been caught up in this. And I think. that's poll suggest causing uh a lot of. discomfort with the way it's been. handled. >> And let's talk more about the criticisms. beyond Minneapolis. We've got former. presidents like President Obama,

President Clinton talking about hundreds. of years of freedoms being at stake. And. even Trump's supporters like Joe Rogan. on his podcast talking about, you know, this leading to military guys parading. the streets asking US citizens to show. their papers and being very against. that. >> Indeed. And I I think for the for the. White House, those voices such as Joe. Rogan in particular, that'll very much. be raising alarm bells because these are. uh there's very influential podcasters. within the broader magaz.

that are kind of expressing that. discomfort that I mentioned earlier in. terms of how this has been done. I. thought one of the most telling things, for example, about the shooting in. Minneapolis, uh, uh, that took place. recently was that very influential. figures within the progun lobby that are. broadly supportive of Republicans and. broadly supportive of President Trump, they came and expressed grave concern. about how this shooting took place and.

what exactly led to this man being shot. because they, the way they saw it, he is. being blamed for being a legal gun. owner, which for for them and for. millions of Americans is an issue that. they're very passionate about. You're. also seeing other. uh kind uh people within that broad. Trump base that are very influential. They all see this as kind of a. distraction perhaps from for example the. economy. Uh you know that the president.

is focused on riots in Minneapolis. He's. not focused on bringing down prices or. bringing down inflation. And I think. that's something that the Trump. administration is very much going to. have to respond to in the short term. I. think from their perspective, it's. almost to be expected that Obama or. Clinton would be critical of them, even. if the language is is very strong from. from the Obamas and from the Clintons. Uh they're very much more worried about. how this is perceived within the. segments of America that already support.

them and I think uh seem quite shaky in. some regards. >> Well, thanks B in Washington. You can. get more of that interview and the other. global news of the day in the global. news podcast. Wherever you get your. podcasts from, you can subscribe here on. YouTube. And if there's a story you'd. like us to cover, then do drop a comment. below.