ICE Is Going on a Surveillance Shopping Spree

Immediate context: Minneapolis shooting

• Much of the thread reacts to an ICE shooting of a woman in Minneapolis the same day the article ran, seen by many as validating fears about ICE violence.
• Eyewitness descriptions conflict with law-enforcement claims: some say it was a “public execution” as the car tried to maneuver away; others repeat the official line that she drove at and struck an agent.
• Commenters dispute bullet-hole trajectories and car movement; facts are acknowledged as still unclear, but many see it as unjustified lethal force against a U.S. citizen.

Legitimacy and role of ICE

• One camp argues ICE simply enforces democratically supported immigration laws; opposition is framed as de facto support for open borders.
• Others counter that the U.S. existed without ICE as a standalone agency, and that CBP and other entities could handle necessary functions.
• Some propose abolishing and replacing ICE due to institutional rot rather than abandoning immigration enforcement entirely.

Authoritarian and historical analogies

• Frequent comparisons to Stasi, Gestapo, Nazi SA/blackshirts, and “armed wing of the Party,” focused on extra-judicial punishment, camps, and lack of oversight.
• Some foresee future shame or denial by descendants of ICE personnel; others note past regimes where perpetrators never faced real reckoning.
• A minority rejects the Stasi comparison, arguing people are not fleeing the U.S. as East Germans fled the GDR.

Surveillance expansion and legality

• Debate over whether pervasive public recording makes mass surveillance inevitable or should still be constrained.
• Concerns about license plate readers, face recognition, centralized CCTV, and laws criminalizing attempts to evade automated tracking.
• Some suggest that if such surveillance is “legal” in public, corporations or governments could publish or integrate it at massive scale, with unclear legal limits.

Incentives, misconduct, and rule of law

• Several commenters describe ICE as lawless, citing today’s killing and prior deportations of U.S. citizens; others demand specific examples and deny systematic illegality.
• Allegations of per-deportation financial bounties are raised but explicitly acknowledged as unsupported hearsay.
• Many fear a broader erosion of civil liberties: normalized mass surveillance, militarized raids, and escalating violence framed as “self-defense.”

Borders, politics, and public opinion

• Strong disagreements over “millions of illegal aliens,” welfare impacts, and crime; some non-U.S. readers characterize these fears as exaggerated or “insane.”
• Polling is cited indicating a majority of voters disapprove of ICE’s conduct, though one commenter notes some disapprove for not being harsh enough.
• Overall, the thread reflects deep polarization: some demand more power for ICE against activists; others see ICE as indistinguishable from a criminal gang or proto–secret police.