Trump Administration Pushes Back on Fake News About ICE

WASHINGTON, DC- After a spate of false claims from Democrats that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is “targeting schools,” the Department of Homeland Security issued a press release where the agency denied the Democrats’ inflammatory rhetoric. 

In the release, the agency wrote, “Contrary to fearmongering by the media and sanctuary politicians, ICE does not target schools or children.” 

The release was issued amid a flurry of scaremongering headlines in newspapers and online media, examples of which follow:

• “Parents navigate back to school amid fears of ICE and federal crackdowns in Washington.” 
• “What if ICE Agents Show Up? Schools Prepare Teachers and Parents.” 
• “‘The impact has been real’: ICE raid fears keep students out of classrooms.” 
• “This back-to-school season, educators prepare for ICE encounters.” 
• “Mass. families navigate back to school amid fears of ICE, changes in school policy.” 

All of the above, according to DHS, is a lie. 

“The media is sadly attempting to create a climate of fear and smear law enforcement. These smears are contributing to our ICE law enforcement officers facing a 1,000% increase in assaults against them,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

“ICE is not conducting enforcement operations at, or ‘raiding,’ schools. ICE is not going to schools to make arrests of children. Criminals are no longer able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense. If a dangerous illegal alien felon were to flee into a school, or a child sex offender is working as an employee, there may be a situation where an arrest is made to protect public safety. But this has not happened.” 

DHS wrote that their directive allows ICE to go into schools and is designed to give law enforcement partners the ability to carry out their duties.

DHS said officers always use discretion in such instances. Moreover, officers require “secondary supervisor approval” before taking any action in a location such as a school. “We expect these to be extremely rare,” they wrote. 

“President Trump and Secretary Noem empowered the brave men and women of ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal illegal aliens–including murderers, rapists, and pedophiles–who have illegally come into our country.” 

This release was the most recent one where DHS had to debunk fake media narratives about the administration’s illegal immigration program.

In June, the agency slammed the media’s lies about “ICE targeting youth shelters,” writing, “DHS has been holding the media accountable for spreading disinformation to the American people.” 

Among the breathless headlines:

• “ICE Facilities are Overcrowded and Inmates are Starving with No Medical Assistance.” 
• “Concerns Grow Over Dire Conditions in Immigrant Detention”
• “Less than 10% of Immigrants taken into ICE Custody since October had Serious Criminal Convictions.”

DHS debunked those three claims, calling them “categorically false.” 

“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers,” DHS wrote. “ICE actually has higher detention quality standards than most U.S. detention spaces [that house] actual U.S. citizens.” DHS also said they are “working overtime to remove these illegal aliens from detention centers to their final destination: home.” 

According to ICE, “70% of ICE arrests” in President Trump’s first 100 days “were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges.” Moreover, ICE has been directed to prioritize “the worst of the worst–including gang members, murderers, and rapists.” 

More inflammatory headlines:

• “A Massachusetts High School Illegal Alien was Held in Solitary Confinement”
• “Milford High School student detained by ICE now in solitary confinement, lawyers say.” 

That, as Maury Povich famously coined, is a lie. 

“Marcelo Gomes, an illegal alien from Brazil, was “NOT in solitary confinement.” Furthermore, “The Burlington facility where he was detained is not even equipped for solitary confinement.” 

DHS also denied headlines claiming ICE is conducting “racial profiling” on illegals and that, as a result, U.S. citizens have been arrested. 

“Any claims individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE. These types of smears are designed to demonize and villiainize our brave ICE law enforcement..

“This kind of garbage has led to a 500% increase in assaults on ICE officers. Politicians and activists must turn the temperature down and tone down their rhetoric.”

The agency also noted that if American citizens were indeed picked up, it was because “they ASSAULTED and OBSTRUCTED law enforcement.” 

DHS also pushed back on claims made by the media that the protests in Los Angeles this past spring were “peaceful,” with one LA news anchor claiming that people were “having fun watching cars burn,” and the riots were “relatively peaceful” as ICE agents and police officers were getting assaulted with rocks, frozen water bottles, impact weapons and professional-grade fireworks. 

Los Angeles city and police department officials alleged that they were “left in the dark” about the impending ICE operations in the city. According to DHS:

“The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was notified two days before the ICE operation began in LA–yet it still took LAPD two hours to respond to calls for help from our federal law enforcement on June 6.

During those two hours, thousands of iroters gathered outside a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer-funded property.” 

These are only small examples of the lies put forth by Democratic lawmakers and spouted by their liberal media mouthpieces. DHS has had enough, and they are fighting back by publishing the truth.