The paper analyzes the changes in the role of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the start of Donald Trump’s second term. Following budget and policy measures in 2025, the agency gained access to significant resources, which enabled the expansion of mass deportations. Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota served as the most important test case for a new model of federal immigration enforcement. This strategy, built on large-scale, high-profile raids, triggered severe social and political backlash, contributing to a decline in ICE’s public standing and ultimately leading to a revision of the government’s strategy.
The full text of the analysis in Hungarian is available here.
