On Monday, Anna Giaritelli broke a story for the Washington Examiner, highlighting the Trump administration’s removal of five Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in five major cities –Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego – and filling those posts with senior Border Patrol officials. The five ICE officials have been reassigned to different posts within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
According to a source Giaritelli spoke to, this is just the beginning of a major reorganization effort to ratchet up “its flashy, high-profile deportation campaign” and increase the agency’s arrest numbers. Additional sources told Giaritelli that DHS initially planned to fire all five field office directors, but ICE acting Director Todd Lyons pushed back, leaving them to be reassigned. DHS Secretary Kristin Noem will have final say over their reassignment.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the parent organization for Border Patrol, typically only has authority within 100 miles of any U.S. border and at every point of entry into the country. But under the current Trump administration, Border Patrol agents have been unleashed deep within the country’s borders, and their violent tactics have been noted on screens all over the internet and on people’s televisions at home. Despite ICE itself being an inherently xenophobic and violent agency after being birthed at the height of anti-Arab and Islamophobic animus in the aftermath of 9/11, CBP has historically been much worse.
Death in CBP custody is far more common than in other DHS agencies. One particular type of incident never discussed on mainstream media is related to vehicle chases by border patrol agents that result in migrants being killed after agents initiate crashes using various methods, such as pit maneuvers, at high rates of speed. As is typical of law enforcement agencies, their initial statements are riddled with holes, making them all but nonsensical.
Migrants in medical distress also die at high rates when Border Patrol is involved. Whether it be from heat exhaustion (Border Patrol has a history of tearing down hydration stations along the border left out by volunteers and targeting humanitarian groups) or what Border Patrol often refers to as “unreported preexisting conditions,” the lack of proper medical care while in CBP custody is a common and recurring problem. Oversight mostly comes in the form of DHS investigating itself, with little accountability to speak of.
Citizens have been on the receiving end of Border Patrol’s tactics before. In 2020, they were unleashed on Black Lives Matter protesters, and many were disappeared for hours, if not days, off the streets. Additionally, Border Patrol agents have been training in more violent scenarios with a pretext that portrays anti-Trump protesters as enemies. When an agent points a gun at someone and yells, “Bang, bang, you’re dead, liberal!” it’s because that’s precisely how they’re trained. That training is now spreading to other agencies and even to the public through Citizens Academy trainings.
They are conditioned to believe that their actions are justified and that anyone opposed to them is an adversary and a threat to the so-called “homeland.” The premise for their existence is one of racism and white nationalism, making DHS and its child agencies the ideal environment for racists and bigots to prosper. Their targeting of Black communities, deviating from the mission to mass deport as many Latinos as possible, speaks to the motivations behind many of the actions we’re seeing livestreamed on social media. No one is safe from DHS’s powers.
One simple look at Greg Bovino, the senior Border Patrol official who has willingly become the face of Trump’s mass deportation machine, explains much of the violence we’re seeing. Bovino brings the violent nature of how Border Patrol operates near the border, where no one is looking, to our city streets. Many are trying to absolve ICE by taking this opportunity to point the finger at CBP, essentially declaring that it’s Bovino and Border Patrol officials who are bringing the violence to our streets.
While Border Patrol agents in the mix do allow ICE agents some leeway to claim it’s not them being violent, they can only do so because CBP is notoriously worse than they are. But that doesn’t make ICE agents the good guys here. They willingly signed up for what they’re doing and seem to enjoy causing harm to immigrant families across the country. We have seen no protest or mass exodus from agents who point their fingers at others.
Despite the violence we’re seeing now, the latest move by the Trump administration to place violent Border Patrol agents at the helm of ICE signals that things are only going to get worse.
Arturo is an independent journalist whose work can be found at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, and more. Arturo is also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support his work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
If ever I have been innocent of what is happening in our country, you have educated me to see the persistent and violent actions of these federal agents. This story is horrifying. I read a story years ago in the Atlantic magazine about how border patrol agents are less educated and trained than any other federal law enforcement. This is echoing in my head as I absorb your story. OMG. What are we doing?