The killing of Renee Good by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in January 2026 stands as a shocking marker of how swiftly state power can unravel fundamental freedoms. Amid violent street confrontations and protests in Minneapolis, the agency's actions have transformed from border enforcement into a paramilitary presence on American streets.
The Anatomy of an Authoritarian Shift
While the escalation is pronounced under Donald Trump's second administration, the foundation for ICE's power was laid years earlier. The agency was established post-9/11 under President George W. Bush, merging immigration control with national security. This granted it a vast budget and sweeping investigative powers from the outset.
The scope widened under Barack Obama, targeting not just security threats but a broader range of immigrants. However, it was Trump who supercharged ICE into the country's largest federal law enforcement body. Its budget now surpasses that of most national militaries, and it operates with a mandate framed as protecting the nation from existential threat.
The Cultural and Media Engine Behind the Crackdowns
This transformation did not occur in a vacuum. A relentless right-wing media campaign successfully painted illegal immigration as an overwhelming demographic and safety crisis. This scaremongering primed the public to accept increasingly draconian measures.
Furthermore, a deep-seated culture of racism, often masked as concern for public safety, fuels these operations. It channels discontent about America's changing demographics. The militarisation is evident: ICE officers, heavily armed, now resemble US soldiers deployed overseas, a blurring of lines between policing and warfare underscored by personnel moving between combat zones and domestic enforcement.
A Chilling Precursor for the United Kingdom?
For observers in Britain, the ICE phenomenon carries disturbing echoes. The UK has seen its own relentless portrayal of immigrants as threats to social cohesion and safety. The government has increasingly glamorised crackdown imagery, with ministers attending high-profile Home Office raids.
Police powers are expanding, with public order definitions broadening to include concepts like the "cumulative impact" of protests, such as pro-Palestine rallies. Protest is being reframed as dissidence. Meanwhile, the UK Border Force's powers grow, including the right to seize mobile phones from individuals not under arrest.
This is all underpinned by a swelling nativist sentiment. The warning is clear: combine this with a charismatic, mendacious leader and a compliant press amplifying crisis narratives, and Britain could pass through the same veil. The end result may look similar, just with fewer guns.
The Core Lesson: The Erosion of Everyday Liberty
The most insidious lesson from the US is not the scale of force, but the capriciousness it introduces into daily life. Authoritarianism's hallmark is the constant, low-grade fear that anyone, not just a stated target, could suddenly be in trouble—at a traffic stop, a gathering, or even online.
It represents the effacement of civil rights and the elevation of the state into a volatile overlord, with safety dependent on the discretion of a single empowered officer. The United States has arrived at this point. The question for Britain is whether it will heed the warning signs visible in its own political landscape.
