🚨 ICE Just Admitted This on National TV And Everyone’s Panicking 😳 What happens when a government agency flat-out says, “We will arrest anyone we find in the U.S. illegally—even if they’ve done nothing wrong”? That’s not a rhetorical question. That’s a direct quote from the new acting head of ICE, and it’s already sending shockwaves through immigrant communities, legal experts, and even business owners. In an exclusive CBS interview, ICE’s Todd Lyons just pulled back the curtain on what the second Trump administration has planned—and it's a blueprint for mass deportation that doesn’t care about nuance, backstory, or even clean records.
.jpg "ICE agents arresting undocumented workers during a workplace raid")
Let’s be very clear: this isn’t your usual soft-pedaled political promise. When Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, went live on Face the Nation, he didn’t hold back. He didn’t sugarcoat the agency’s new mission. He said outright that ICE will arrest anyone found in the U.S. illegally—even if they haven’t committed a crime. And that wasn’t even the most intense part of the interview.
This declaration marks a brutal pivot from the last few years of immigration enforcement under Biden, when deportation priorities were narrowed to focus on violent offenders and recent border crossers. Under the new administration, that cautious lens is gone. Lyons basically ripped it off and threw it out the window. The “whole aperture” of the immigration portfolio, as he put it, has been blasted wide open.
In real terms, this means that sanctuary cities are back in the crosshairs. Local jails that once refused to hand over detainees to ICE can now expect federal agents knocking—if not busting in. Communities that believed they had some breathing room will now see an uptick in "collateral arrests," where people are detained simply because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time during an ICE operation.
Let’s talk numbers, because those matter too. Lyons says the Trump administration’s ambitious goal is one million deportations in a year. As of June 24, ICE had deported 150,000 people in just six months. That’s already more than double the pace under Biden. Even more concerning? A significant number of those deported weren’t violent criminals, but individuals with minor offenses—like traffic violations or expired visas.
Lyons insists they’re prioritizing “the worst of the worst.” But the moment you say everyone without legal status is now a target, it blurs the lines between priority and policy. You can’t claim to focus only on dangerous criminals while arresting non-criminals en masse in neighborhoods, courtrooms, and even workplaces. That contradiction is the heart of the panic now rippling through the nation.
It gets darker. ICE has resumed massive worksite raids, including meatpacking plants, cannabis farms, and racetracks. In one California bust alone, 300 workers were arrested—ten of them minors. These are the same types of raids that caused national outrage years ago. Back then, ICE was slammed for separating families and creating fear in places where people were just trying to make a living. But that’s back now. Loud and proud.
Even more unsettling is the vague double-speak around enforcement. Lyons claims ICE is also cracking down on American companies hiring undocumented workers. On paper, that sounds balanced. But history tells us that workers—not employers—usually pay the price. Especially when companies get off with a fine, and the people they hired get deported, sometimes without due process.
And let’s not ignore the theatrics. ICE agents are back to using masks during raids, a tactic that critics say is designed to intimidate and erase accountability. Imagine walking into your workplace only to be swarmed by masked agents treating you like a criminal—despite having no criminal record. That’s not law enforcement. That’s psychological warfare.
There’s also the fact that many of the “serious criminals” ICE brags about arresting turn out to have charges like driving without a license or overstaying a visa. The term “criminal alien” gets weaponized to justify a policy that, at its core, is about fear and control.
One of the wildest parts of this story? Trump’s White House is pushing ICE to hit 3,000 daily arrests. That’s not a typo. Three thousand people per day. While the agency hasn’t hit that number yet, Congress recently handed ICE tens of billions in extra funding to scale up operations. That means more agents, more raids, more chaos.
And if you think this is just about individuals who crossed the border last week, think again. Long-time residents who’ve built lives, businesses, and families here—many of whom pay taxes and have no criminal history—are suddenly in danger. This isn’t just immigration enforcement. It’s a sweeping crackdown designed to scare people out of existence.
The fallout is already happening. Advocacy groups are reporting spikes in fear-based behavior—people skipping work, avoiding hospitals, and pulling their kids out of school. Some immigrant parents are drafting guardianship papers in case they’re detained and can’t pick up their children from daycare. That’s the real-world cost of “opening the whole aperture.”
Meanwhile, the administration keeps throwing out mixed signals. Just last month, ICE ordered a pause on raids at certain worksites like farms and hotels after business owners complained. That pause lasted only a few days. Then the raids resumed. Even Trump’s promise to give farmers a “pass” has no legal backing. It’s all soundbite, no substance.
This matters not just because of the human impact, but because of what it says about American values. Are we really okay with turning immigration enforcement into a dragnet that doesn’t distinguish between threats and neighbors? Is this what public safety looks like now—agents with masks kicking down doors while non-violent people get swept away?
And let’s be honest, these aren’t policies made in a vacuum. They’re political. They’re part of a campaign narrative to appear tough, to distract from economic woes, and to reenergize a base that thrives on fear. But the people who pay the price aren’t political pawns. They’re real families, real workers, real humans.
.jpg "ICE agents arresting undocumented workers during a workplace raid")
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