“Never trust ICE. They lie.”
March 4th, 2026. Abductions are down, but fear remains high among vulnerable communities. Normally bustling hubs are silent and empty, and donations of food, time, and money are drying up. Hundreds of families are facing eviction notices, unable to afford rent while hiding for their lives. Many worry that this lull is the calm before more focused attacks. Others wonder if this is a true de-escalation - and if so, where the next target will be. Today, we hear from an immigration lawyer.
Are there any stories you've personally been involved with that you can share?
A common scenario: people just going about their day. Getting gas. Scraping snow off their car. ICE shows up. People are picked up, sent to Texas, stuck there for months. They’re forced to decide whether to fight their case from detention for months or years.
Immigration detention is worse psychologically than criminal detention. There’s no timeline. Some people don’t go outside for years. And immigration detention is civil, not criminal, so there are fewer due process rights.
Is there anything you really want to talk about?
Yeah. A few things. The history of legislation by both Democrats and Republicans got us to a place where Trump can exploit these powers. Immigrants have always been treated as second-class citizens. The silver lining is that people are waking up to how vulnerable non-citizens are. I hope we keep that energy and make changes.
Immigration lawyers are burning out. Everyone is. We need to carry forward the community care we’re learning. I also want people to approach lawyers. Ask questions. There are insidious changes happening that won’t make sense if you’re not a lawyer.
Have you been seeing refusals to follow court orders? And is that a change?
Yes. So immigration courts are administrative courts. They’re under the executive branch. Federal courts are judicial. In the past, if a federal court issued an order, there was no question it would be respected. Now we’ve seen ICE violate federal court orders over a hundred times.
Just this week I had two cases. In one, my client was detained in Minnesota. I filed a habeas petition. The judge ordered ICE not to move him out of state. ICE moved him to Texas anyway. The judge ordered his release two days ago, and he’s still in Texas. They say they can’t fly him back until tomorrow. You can file motions to enforce or contempt, but that doesn’t always get your client out faster. Sometimes yelling at the government feels good, but it doesn’t help your client.
If you could give basic advice to people, what would you want them to know?
Non-citizens: Never trust ICE. They lie. Don’t sign anything without reading it in your own language. If you’re getting a lawyer, talk to several. There are good and bad ones. Don’t take the first person just because you’re desperate.
For citizens: we allow people to live as second-class citizens. This will take decades to fix. It’s okay to take breaks, but Trump leaving office won’t magically fix everything.
This testimonial was shared with author consent as part of a larger project to share real stories from people affected by the largest DHS operation in history. You can read more about this initiative and the charity it supports at storyforge.com/metrosurge.