Does trump want to change the name of ice to nice

Checked on February 6, 2026
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Executive summary

There is no evidence in the reporting provided that President Trump has proposed officially changing the name of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “NICE”; the phrase appears only as a media play on “Minnesota Nice” and as shorthand in coverage of enforcement actions, not as documentation of a renaming plan [1] [2]. The available articles focus on the Trump administration’s aggressive use of ICE in places like Minneapolis and on public pushback, not on any bureaucratic rebranding of the agency [3] [4].

1. How the “Minnesota Nice” language entered coverage

Several news items used the “Minnesota Nice” phrase to describe local resistance to a high-profile ICE deployment in Minnesota, turning the regional stereotype into a rhetorical foil for federal enforcement—The Independent’s reporting foregrounds protesters organizing community support and symbolic gestures against ICE operations, which prompted headlines linking ICE and “Minnesota Nice” [1] [2]. That framing is cultural and journalistic, aimed at contrasting community solidarity with the federal surge; it does not equate to evidence of a proposed institutional name-change.

2. What the major reporting actually documents about ICE under Trump

Long-form coverage and legal reporting in the supplied sources document an escalation in ICE activity, operational shifts and political fallout: The New York Times and Reuters describe a large “Operation Metro Surge” deployment to Minneapolis and subsequent directives to focus arrests on people with criminal records amid deadly encounters that sparked mass protests [3] [4]. Analytical pieces and advocacy reports likewise catalogue an expansion and hardening of ICE’s detention and arrest practices under Trump rather than mention any plan to rename the agency [5] [6].

3. Why a renaming claim would be plausible politically — and why the evidence is missing

Politically, presidents sometimes pursue rebranding or bureaucratic reorganizations to change perception or signal policy shifts, and critics have accused the Trump administration of remaking ICE’s mission and tactics [6] [5]. However, none of the supplied articles report a proposed formal name change to “NICE,” nor do they quote administration officials proposing such a rebrand; the coverage instead discusses operational orders, public relations battles and legal fights over oversight and tactics [4] [7]. The absence of reporting on a name-change in these substantial accounts is notable and means there is no documented basis in this set of sources to assert that Trump wants to rename ICE “NICE.”

4. How this kind of claim can spread and what to watch for

Name-change rumors often spread as shorthand, satire or political messaging—media puns can be amplified into claims on social platforms; coverage of ICE being “in Minnesota Nice” could be misread or misrepresented as an administrative intent rather than rhetorical framing [1]. Given the intensity of coverage about ICE’s tactics, expanded detention network and legal fights over oversight, any genuine effort to rename or rebrand the agency would likely produce primary documentation (press releases, executive orders or direct quotes) and wider reporting than the commentary and operational pieces cited here [5] [7].

5. Bottom line and limits of the available reporting

Based on the provided reporting, the direct answer is: no—there is no documented indication that President Trump wants to change ICE’s name to “NICE”; the phrase appears only as a journalistic pun tied to local reactions in Minnesota and not as evidence of a policy to rename the agency [1] [2]. This conclusion is constrained by the sources supplied: if there were a separate announcement, memo or credible report outside this set asserting a formal renaming effort, it is not included here and therefore cannot be confirmed or refuted by this review [3] [4].

Want to dive deeper?
Has the Trump administration proposed any formal rebranding or restructuring of ICE in official documents?
How have local communities in Minneapolis and other cities organized in response to ICE deployments since 2025?
What legal challenges have been filed regarding congressional oversight and tactics used by ICE during the 2025–2026 surge?