Read Time: 2 min 35 sec

ICE—U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—is one of at least six federal agencies involved in immigration and one of two responsible for enforcement.

ICE was launched in 2003 as part of the new Department of Homeland Security, which was formed in response to 9/11.

How does ICE work?
ICE investigates and enforces immigration violations and removes people believed to be in the country unlawfully. It focuses on immigration issues inside the U.S. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforces immigration at the borders.)

ICE has two enforcement divisions: Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). 

HSI handles federal criminal and national security investigations. It’s responsible for “investigating, disrupting, and dismantling transnational criminal organizations and terrorist networks.” ERO is responsible for the apprehension, detention, deportation, and removal of undocumented immigrants and lawful noncitizens with violations, as it enforces immigration law.

Breaking immigration law is typically a civil, not criminal offense.

What’s an “ICE raid?”
An ICE enforcement action (sometimes called a raid) generally involves agents going to workplaces, grocery stores, streets, courtrooms, or other public areas to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally. These usually happen in public because ICE operations are conducted under “administrative warrants” signed by the DHS, not a “judicial warrant” signed by a judge. 

ICE agents can also go onto private property with permission or after they receive a judicial warrant.

What are ICE raids not?
They’re generally not random… though they are often unannounced.  

ICE identifies people to arrest based on prior intelligence, federal immigration law, and their internal priorities, then moves them into detention processing. While some operations are large and visible, many are targeted arrests that happen with little public notice.

__

CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
While you probably play a small role in affecting U.S. immigration policy, you play a much more significant role in Christ's mission to demonstrate his love to the world. As you seek justice, remember compassion for your neighbors—whether immigrants, longtime citizens, criminals, ICE agents, legislators, or people who passionately disagree with you on immigration policy.

“We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
1 John 4:19-20 (CSB) (read full passage)

Want to hear more about ICE and how it handles its operations? Listen to today’s episode of the TPO Explains podcast to hear us dig a little deeper!

If getting your kids to eat vegetables feels like your daily Everest, Hiya's new Kids Daily Greens + Superfoods is a total game-changer—or, to keep the metaphor going, a summit-reacher. 

It’s a greens powder packed with 55+ whole-food-sourced ingredients and not-a-one gram of sugar—just mix one scoop with milk or any non-dairy beverage and watch them actually enjoy something that's secretly fueling their growing bodies. Seriously: think chocolate milk, stuffed with veggies (in the most delicious way). 

Hiya is offering TPO readers 50% off their first order with code POUROVER—so you can give your kids the full body nourishment they need to grow. (Psst… that code gets you free shipping and a cool reusable canister, too!).

Curious how we choose sponsors?  Learn more  |  Advertise with us

Guessing in which year each of these photos were taken.

This time-lapse of a magnolia tree in every season…

Your kids flexing their brain cells with these challenges. Created by TPO Reader Bailey H., Challenge Time Online is a fun and safe interactive website for kids to try new puzzles each week! (Sometimes, grown-ups enjoy them too!)*

*This is a free promo for a TPO-reader-owned small biz. Have your own small business you want us to know about? Fill out this form!

Top News Resource: A look at the new food pyramid

Top Christian Perspective: This week, our most-shared perspective was a prayer in the face of troubling world events. Download wallpapers of it here.

Top Whipped Cream: A moment of relaxation…

Who’s Helping Us Move
Christian Realtors® from the Christian Real Estate Network*

Buying or selling a home is one of the most consequential financial decisions you’ll ever make… and it’s a spiritual one, too. It deserves prayer, wisdom, and careful stewardship.  

That’s where Christian Real Estate Network comes in. Their vetted Christian Realtors® bring professional expertise alongside biblical values, personal care, and attentiveness to God’s leading throughout the process. For 20+ years, they’ve helped the Body of Christ move with integrity and peace. 

Let them walk with you as you put one of your most important decisions in God’s hands. Connect with a Christian Realtor® (for free) today!

“A Liturgy for Those Flooded by Too Much Information” by Douglas McKelvey

“In a world so wired and interconnected, our anxious hearts are pummeled by an endless barrage of troubling news. We are daily aware of more grief, O Lord, than we can rightly consider, of more suffering and scandal than we can respond to, of more hostility, hatred, horror, and injustice than we can engage with compassion.  

But you, O Jesus, are not disquieted… You carried the full weight of the suffering of a broken world when you hung upon the cross, and you carry it still… Give us discernment to know when to pray, when to speak out, when to act, and when to simply shut off our screens… casting the burdens of this world upon the strong shoulders of the one who alone is able to bear them up. 
Amen.”