I helped run ICE. Minnesota is a warning about the path we're on. |
Immigration enforcement in the United States has drifted away from its core purpose. What began as a public safety function – focused on serious threats and guided by professional judgment – has become something far more volatile: politicized, disconnected from local realities and increasingly dangerous for everyone involved.
The recent tragedy in Minnesota should force a reckoning. Not because it is unique, but because it is the inevitable outcome of where we are – and where we are headed – if we refuse to change course.
I’ve spent two decades inside the national security and homeland security system. I’ve worked alongside agents who take their oath seriously and understand the weight of the authority they carry. We also all know how fragile public trust is, and how quickly it can be shattered when enforcement loses its grounding in common sense and accountability.
What we are witnessing now is not enforcement designed to protect Americans. It is enforcement untethered from public safety, driven by optics, speed, daily arrest quotas and political pressure rather than judgment. And that makes everyone less safe.
First, this approach is dangerous for law enforcement officers themselves.
When federal agents are pushed into fast-moving, high-visibility operations without clear prioritization or coordination with local partners, risk skyrockets, and officers are placed in volatile encounters with little margin for error. Split-second decisions carry life-or-death consequences – for both civilians and for agents.
Second, this model undermines public safety instead of advancing it.
Public safety is not measured by arrest numbers or viral footage. It is measured by whether communities are safer tomorrow than they were yesterday. When immigration enforcement prioritizes........