In (partial) defense of ICE
My basic view of ICE is that their current tactics and practices are bad policy and, in some cases, fundamentally immoral.
To wit: a poorly-trained and over-militarized police force roaming around in masks and unmarked cars and using administrative warrants they won't show in order to aggressively and silently apprehend people with no criminal history at their places of work and whisk them away just seems like it's inevitably going to cause serious trouble in a free republic.
And that's before they start making mistakes via racial profiling and scooping up U.S. citizens, or violating constitutional rights of free speech.
I also don't really understand the point of the current ICE strategy. Why are they spending time fighting with protestors in blue cities in blue states? It's just galling that we're spending this much money, getting this level of animosity, and still aren't achieving the deportation numbers Obama got.
Maybe Trump just likes the chaos or is wary of annoying business interests, but it's obvious that sending ICE to construction sites in Texas and the southwest and slaughterhouses in the red plains states would both yield more deportations and, in theory, find more welcoming citizens.
We're just getting terrible governance right now in my opinion.
Still, with all that said, a lot of liberals seem to have some views that I think are just plain wrong. So, in defense of ICE:
The administration has the right to enforce the immigration laws, including ones you don't agree with. I'm very critical of the executive governance choices here, and I certainly wouldn't spend this much money and resources to deal with this problem, but ICE's existence isn't legally illegitimate, and neither is a policy of deportation.
Again, in my view, it's dumb policy and often immoral in execution. And some of the tactics are indeed illegal or, worse, have caused significant harm to innocent people. But, frankly, most of the time they aren't and they haven't.
Protesting and civil disobedience are different. If you go down to the White House or stand on the sidewalk in front of an ICE facility and protest, you should have no expectation of hassle from law enforcement. And, to the degree you do, that's unconstitutional bullshit.
On the other hand, a lot of what is being sold as protesting against ICE is actually civil disobedience, where laws are being purposefully broken or the legal line is being walked right up to. And that's totally fine, I'm not opposed to civil disobedience. But driving your car in an otherwise-legal manner with the intent of frustrating ICE operations is very much that legal line.
As with any civil disobedience, you should expect to be arrested in these spots. I'm stunned by the number of people who seem to think you can impede law enforcement with zero consequences.