At a Glance
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said ICE agents ask bystanders for ID during “targeted enforcement”
- Four violent ICE encounters occurred in 11 days, including the fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Renee Good
- Data show nearly 75,000 of 225,000 ICE arrests in nine months had no criminal record
- Why it matters: Americans could be required to carry citizenship proof during routine ICE operations
Kristi Noem on Thursday defended federal agents who have questioned people about their citizenship, saying identity checks happen when officers surround a target during immigration operations.
Speaking outside the White House, the Homeland Security secretary responded to reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have asked random residents for proof of legal status.
“In every situation, we are doing targeted enforcement,” Noem said. “If we are on a target and doing an operation, there may be individuals surrounding that criminal that we may be asking who they are and why they’re there and having them validate their identity.”
The former North Dakota governor, 54, added: “That’s what we’ve always done in asking people who they are so that we know who’s in those surroundings.”
Noem said anyone agents suspect of breaking the law will be held “until we’ve run that processing.”
Surge in violent encounters
ICE actions have drawn renewed scrutiny in 2026 after a string of confrontations:
- Jan. 3: Texas detainee dies in ICE custody; medical examiner likely to rule homicide
- Jan. 7: Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis resident, shot four times by an ICE agent while driving away; pronounced dead
- Jan. 9: 21-year-old protester permanently blinded after being shot with non-lethal rounds at close range; allegedly mocked by agents, his aunt says
- Jan. 14: Venezuelan man shot in leg during struggle with officers
Video from Minneapolis shows agents cutting a woman’s seatbelt and dragging her from her car on Jan. 13, clashing with protesters, ramming vehicles and approaching homes.
President Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy military force against anti-ICE demonstrations in Minnesota.
Arrest data reveal scope
University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project obtained internal ICE figures showing that of roughly 225,000 arrests during Trump’s first nine months back in office, nearly 75,000 involved people with no criminal record.
The records, released through litigation, indicate almost one-third of those detained had never been convicted of a crime. For arrestees with prior convictions, the data do not separate minor offenses from violent crimes.
ProPublica documented more than 170 cases in which U.S. citizens were detained at raids or protests during the same period, though comprehensive numbers remain incomplete.
Rogan backlash
Podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump over Kamala Harris in 2024, condemned the administration’s tactics on the Jan. 13 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
“Most people” agree law enforcement should arrest criminals, Rogan said, yet many of those same people believe ICE is “operating illegally.”
“We shouldn’t have militarized groups of people roaming the streets just showing up with masks on, snatching people up, some of them U.S. citizens, and shipping them to countries they didn’t even come from,” he told listeners.
Rogan, whose show tops Spotify and reaches more than 20 million YouTube subscribers, compared ICE asking residents for papers to the Gestapo, Hitler’s political police who used surveillance, home searches and interrogation against perceived enemies.
“Are we really going to be the Gestapo? ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?” he asked.
Key Takeaways
- ICE maintains that asking bystanders for ID is standard during targeted operations
- Violent encounters have intensified since Trump’s mass-deportation push resumed
- Internal data show tens of thousands of non-criminal arrests
- Even prominent Trump allies such as Rogan now criticize the agency’s street tactics
