US immigration crackdown: Are masked ICE agents creating a ‘secret police' in America?
Protesters in Los Angeles conducted a loud overnight demonstration outside a hotel, aiming to disrupt US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents over the agency's aggressive tactics.
The 'No Sleep For ICE' rallies highlight growing public anger and fear among immigrant communities and some Americans regarding the agency's methods, including masked agents and the detention of US citizens.
Critics, including a think tank fellow and California lawmakers, have raised concerns about federal agents wearing masks, likening the practice to a 'secret police' and introducing legislation to restrict it.
LOS ANGELES, June 22 — After night fell on the outskirts of Los Angeles on Thursday, around 50 people clanged metal pots and blasted air horns outside a hotel in a noisy bedtime protest targeting US immigration agents.
The 'No Sleep For ICE' rally underscored growing anger at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a once obscure agency that has become the focal point of President Donald Trump's migrant crackdown.
'They terrorise our community the entire day. Why do they get a good night's sleep?' said Nathanael Landaverde, 23, who banged a dismantled frying pan at the protest.
Dramatic images have shown federal agents, often masked and sometimes armed with assault rifles, chasing down migrants and handcuffing them at courthouses, farms and on the streets.
ICE officials have also detained some US citizens for allegedly intervening in arrests, including a mayoral candidate in New York this week.
The heavy-handed approach has sparked fear among immigrants and infuriated many Americans, particularly in liberal cities such as Los Angeles, where large-scale street protests erupted this month over ICE raids.
'If they do not sleep they are not going to do their job effectively. They are going to get fewer people,' added Landaverde, as passing vehicles honked in apparent support for the late-night rally.
It was not certain whether ICE agents were staying at the three-star hotel, but protest organisers claimed to have photo evidence.
Dozens of people danced to a deafening cacophony as they waved signs reading 'No rest for ICE' and 'ICE out of LA' towards the hotel, where some guests peered through the curtains.
One woman simply screamed into a megaphone. Another man wore earmuffs as he blasted distorted white noise through a speaker.
'They are ripping families apart, and it is horrifying to watch in my community. They cannot sleep if they are going to do that here,' said Juliet Austin, 22, who was playing a small blue accordion.
A man is detained as clashes break out after community members pushed back against a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) attempt to raid a store in Bell, just south of Los Angeles, California, on June 20, 2025. — AFP pic
'Secret police'
Trump was elected to a second term in large part for his promise to deport thousands of migrants.
But alongside their aggressive tactics, critics have denounced federal immigration agents for wearing face masks to hide their identities — a highly unusual but legal practice in US law enforcement.
'At what point will we as a nation find ourselves with a secret police?' Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute think tank, wrote last month.
'For the Trump administration, turning masked raids into standard practice fits into a wider effort to dodge accountability for potentially illegal and unconstitutional actions,' he added.
In California, lawmakers have introduced the 'No Secret Police Act' that would restrict federal agents from wearing masks.
Federal officials have rejected this criticism by claiming that agents wear masks to protect them from potential reprisals.
Meanwhile, ICE has frequently boasted about its activities and posted pictures of detained migrants on social media.
And it crucially still enjoys Trump's support, who last weekend praised ICE agents' 'incredible strength, determination, and courage.'
Still, anger over ICE looks unlikely to go away as long as immigration arrests continue, and protesters Thursday were adamant they would not back down.
'I think it is a modern Gestapo here in America,' said Austin, a dance teacher.
'This city is not the one to mess with... We are not going to let it happen. We are not tired,' she added. — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
29 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
Iran atomic agency says US attacks on nuclear sites ‘barbaric'
TEHRAN, June 22 — Iran's atomic energy organisation condemned today the US attacks on key nuclear sites including the mountain-buried Fordo as 'barbaric' and in violation of international law. 'At dawn today, the country's nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan were attacked by the enemies of Islamic Iran in a barbaric act that violates international law,' the organisation said in a statement published on state media. — AFP
Malay Mail
29 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
Trump says Iran must make peace or ‘we will go after' other targets
WASHINGTON, June 22 — US forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites in a 'very successful attack,' President Donald Trump said yesterday, adding that Tehran's nuclear programme had been obliterated. After days of deliberation and long before his self-imposed two-week deadline, Trump's decision to join Israel's military campaign against its major rival Iran represents a major escalation of the conflict. 'The strikes were a spectacular military success,' Trump said in a televised Oval Office address. 'Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.' In a speech that lasted just over three minutes, Trump said Iran's future held 'either peace or tragedy,' and that there were many other targets that could be hit by the US military. 'If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.' The US reached out to Iran diplomatically yesterday to say the strikes are all the US plans and it does not aim for regime change, CBS News reported. Trump said US forces struck Iran's three principal nuclear sites: Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow. He told Fox News six bunker-buster bombs were dropped on Fordow, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were fired against other nuclear sites. US B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,' Trump posted. 'Fordow is gone.' 'IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR,' he added. Reuters had reported earlier yesterday the movement of the B-2 bombers, which can be equipped to carry massive bombs that experts say would be needed to strike Fordow, which is buried under a mountain south of Tehran. An Iranian official, cited by Tasnim news agency, confirmed that part of the Fordow site was attacked by 'enemy airstrikes.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his 'bold decision' which he said will change history. 'History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime, the world's most dangerous weapons,' Netanyahu said. Diplomacy unsuccessful The strikes came as Israel and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat that has resulted in deaths and injuries in both countries. Israel launched the attacks on Iran saying that it wanted to remove any chance of Tehran developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Diplomatic efforts by Western nations to stop the hostilities have been unsuccessful. In recent days, Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have argued that Trump must receive permission from the US Congress before committing the US military to any combat against Iran. Republican Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi applauded the operation but cautioned that the US now faced 'very serious choices ahead.' Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, a Republican, said that despite the heavy US bombings over Iran, 'This war is Israel's war, not our war.' He added, 'There will not be American boots on the ground in Iran.' One Republican lawmaker, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, simply said, 'This is not constitutional.' Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said the US public 'is overwhelmingly opposed to the US waging war on Iran' and accused Trump of displaying 'horrible judgment.' Israel launched attacks on June 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies. At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed by Iranian missile attacks, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime enemies. More than 450 Iranian missiles have been fired towards Israel, according to the Israeli prime minister's office. Israeli officials said 1,272 people have been injured since the beginning of the hostilities, with 14 in serious condition. — Reuters
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Malay Mail
How the US hit Iran's nuclear facilities — and what comes next
WASHINGTON, June 22 — The United States has carried out strikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, with President Donald Trump saying yesterday it was a 'very successful attack' and that all American planes were safely on the way home. Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up in 2018. But he has since backed Israel's military campaign against Iran's nuclear facilities and top military brass, which it launched a little over a week ago. AFP examines what we know about the US strikes on Iran. The targets Trump said the United States struck three main Iranian nuclear sites: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, with the former being hit with a 'full payload of bombs.' Fordo — which was built in violation of UN resolutions under a mountain near the holy central city of Qom — was an enrichment plant capable of housing about 3,000 centrifuges. Centrifuges are used to enrich uranium, both for civilian and military use, with the radioactive metal needing to be enriched to high levels for use in atomic weapons. Fordo's location deep underground presented a challenge to Israeli forces, which do not have the deeply penetrating munitions needed to hit the facility. Natanz was Iran's main uranium enrichment site, with nearly 70 cascades of centrifuges at its two enrichment plants, while a uranium conversion facility and a nuclear fuel fabrication facility were located at Isfahan. The munitions Trump did not identify the type of munitions used in the strikes, but the GBU-57 — a powerful 30,000-pound (13,600-kilogram) American bunker-busting bomb — was likely used to hit Fordo. The US military says the GBU-57 — also known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator — is designed to penetrate up to 200 feet (60 meters) underground before exploding. This differs from most other missiles or bombs that typically detonate their payload near or upon impact. Testing of the weapons began in 2004 and Boeing was in 2009 awarded a contract to complete the integration of GBU-57 with aircraft. The aircraft The only aircraft capable of deploying the GBU-57 is the American B-2 Spirit, a long-range stealth bomber that can carry two. Prior to the Iran strikes, specialist flight tracking sites and US media reported that multiple B-2s had left a base in Missouri in the central United States. The bombers — which can fly 6,000 nautical miles (9,600km) without refuelling — are designed to 'penetrate an enemy's most sophisticated defences and threaten its most valued, and heavily defended, targets,' according to the US military. The B-2 was first publicly displayed in 1988 and flew for the first time the following year, with the first of the planes delivered in 1993. The bomber took part in operations against Serbian forces in the 1990s, flying non-stop from Missouri to Kosovo and back. B-2s were subsequently employed by the United States in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in the 2000s. What comes next? Trump called on Iran to 'agree to end this war,' saying that 'now is the time for peace.' But it remains to be seen whether the strikes will push Tehran to deescalate the conflict, or to widen it further. If Iran chooses the latter option, it could do so by targeting American military personnel who are stationed around the Middle East, or seek to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which carries one-fifth of global oil output. — AFP
