Recent cases of ICE targeting people in legal immigration processes

1. ICE encounters during routine civil immigration interviews and interviews that turned into arrests

Advocates and local reporting describe cases where people attending routine immigration appointments or undergoing processes tied to family-based relief were stopped, photographed, or arrested by ICE, feeding fears that civil administrative processes are being used as enforcement traps; legal observers and immigrant-rights groups have documented specific field-office practices in San Diego and other cities where individuals married to U.S. citizens or otherwise in the immigration pipeline were handcuffed or detained during interviews ^{[4] [1]}.

2. Southern California and the new permissive legal standard for questioning

A September 2025 Supreme Court decision (and related stays) effectively broadened the ability of immigration authorities in some parts of the country to approach and interrogate people they suspect are undocumented, with court commentary explicitly allowing perceived race or ethnicity as one factor, a change advocates say has increased encounters for people who are legally present or citizens who “look” a certain way ^{[3] [1]}.

3. Interior raids, “surge” operations and targeting in sensitive locations

Cities such as Minneapolis and St. Paul saw what local officials described as militarized operations — dubbed “Operation Metro Surge” by critics — where thousands of DHS agents carried out arrests in public and in sensitive locations including schools, medical facilities and places of worship, prompting a suit from Minnesota officials and claims that some detained were citizens or wrongly profiled ^{[2] [5]}.

4. High-volume detention and use of administrative warrants to pick up people in-process

Policy changes and an ICE memo from May 2025 authorizing administrative-warrant arrests at residences have coincided with a major expansion of detention beds and a rising ratio of deportations from custody versus releases, creating an environment where people in pending cases can be detained and rapidly deported rather than released to pursue relief—data show detention populations and deportation ratios soared through 2025 ^{[6] [7] [8]}.

5. Wrongful stops of U.S. citizens, Tribal members, and legal observers

Local tribal groups and the Native American Rights Fund have reported instances where Tribal citizens or descendants were targeted despite U.S. citizenship, and journalists and legal observers say they have been photographed, detained, or labeled as security threats while monitoring ICE activity—raising concerns about racial profiling and surveillance of those documenting enforcement ^{[9] [10] [3]}.

6. Government framing versus community and legal critiques

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE emphasize arrests of violent criminals and “worst of the worst” removals as their stated priority, releasing lists and statements of criminal arrests to justify broad operations, but independent reporting and civil-rights groups highlight that a substantial share of people detained have no criminal conviction and that detention policies appear designed to increase removals rather than preserve due process ^{[11] [12] [8] [6]}.

7. Legal tools, litigation, and political pushback shaping next steps

Courts, state attorneys general and civil-rights litigators have responded with lawsuits and emergency orders seeking limits on ICE’s tactics, while legal experts point to the May 2025 memo and related court rulings as critical legal plumbing that enables interior arrests; simultaneously, public polling and some conservative voices question the breadth of raids and due-process shortcuts, suggesting the political reaction could influence enforcement practice ^{[1] [13] [4]}.