Over seven years ago, some asshole with a blog noted the following about ICE (boldface added):

The problem is similar to that of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Most DEA officials want to stop drug manufacturers. Most are not interested in the social phenomena underlying drug use and distribution here and abroad. They simply want to ‘get the bad guys.’ People who work for ICE and CBP want to stop illegal immigration. As the article notes, while some at DEA are opposed to the Trump policy (something I’ve heard anecdotally as well), most want to ‘stop illegals.’ Some do it because they believe in the legal immigration system and don’t like ‘line cutters.’ Some, like millions of Americans, have disturbing views on Muslims and other minority groups–and they’re not congregating in the National Endowment for the Arts. Some are just very ignorant or not-very-bright people, like millions of Americans (why would one possibly think a 62 year-old French historian would try to sneak into the U.S. illegally? What possible security threat could he be? And whose job would he be stealing?). And, of course, some are power-tripping assholes–as are millions of Americans.

Roll all of that together and you wind up with a lot of people who act like petty tyrants.

We turn to Hamilton Nolan who writes about the likely massive expansion of ICE (boldface mine):

So how can Trump be sure that the absolute loyalty he demands extends all the way down to his foot soldiers? By hiring new ones. Who do you think those ten thousand fresh new ICE agents will be? Well, one thing we can say for sure is that they will be people who are okay with the proposition of taking a job with ICE as it is run under Donald Trump. This is not a job anyone will take by accident. It’s on the news every day. Hundreds of thousands of people are in the streets protesting against it. This creates a self-selecting pool. It will attract only those who are not repulsed by it. Job applicants will consist of those who see pictures of dudes wearing tactical vests and face coverings jumping out of unmarked trucks and grabbing people and think to themselves, “that looks cool.”

The new and expanded version of ICE will not just be immigration enforcers. They will be the most ideologically reliable armed branch of government for Donald Trump. They will be the 2025 parallel of the brownshirts. They will be the most obvious place for the president to turn for dirty work in the streets. Because of this, I guarantee, once they are in place, you will see their sphere of activities expand. Enforcing immigration laws will be defined to include “going after those who try to impede the enforcement of immigration laws”—a group that, according to Trump and Miller, includes protesters, journalists, and Democratic politicians. The increasingly outrageous expansion of ICE activities will certainly be rubber stamped by a Republican Congress which is already busy trying to make it illegal to report the identities of the masked men who have come to arrest your neighbor.

If we survive what’s coming, Democrats will need to purge our immigration services–and shutter ICE.