Fear at the Doorstep

On January 20, 2026, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent removed five-year-old Liam from a car as he was returning home from preschool. The agent led him to his front door and instructed him to knock and ask to be let inside -- “to see if anyone else was home,” essentially using a five-year-old child as bait. Liam is one of four children in a Minnesota school district who have been detained by federal immigration agents in the past two weeks. One is forced to ask: Why detain a five-year-old? Is a child now to be classified as a violent criminal? Liam’s family is originally from Ecuador and had an active asylum case. They had formally asked the United States for protection and were awaiting a legal decision; they were not under a final order of deportation.

Who is ICE?

ICE was created in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, (after the attack on the Twin Towers) as part of the Department of Homeland Security. Its mandate was twofold: to enforce immigration law within the interior of the country and to investigate cross-border crimes such as trafficking and fraud. For much of its early history, ICE operated largely out of public view. That changed dramatically over the past decade, as immigration became one of the most polarizing political issues in the country.

One of the most visible developments is the expansion of ICE. It has increased arrests away from the border -- at homes, workplaces, courthouses, and on city streets. The agency declares that it is detaining individuals with criminal records, but many of those detained have no violent convictions, and some have lived in the United States for decades. Mixed-status families—where some members are citizens and others are not—have become especially vulnerable. The fear is not abstract.

Increased raids, and surveillance have left many people afraid to go to work, attend school, or even seek medical care. Families live with the constant anxiety that a routine traffic stop or workplace check could result in detention or separation.

I hold dual citizenship—Maltese and American—and I, too, live with that fear. I am afraid of being stopped by enforcement agents. Twice, I have unknowingly walked into ICE raids on the streets of Los Angeles. On both occasions, people called out to me, urging me to cross the street so I would not have to walk through the middle of the operation.

Why? Because I am almost always taken for Hispanic—meaning Mexican, Argentinian, Chilean and so on. At supermarkets, government offices, and pharmacies, people routinely speak to me in Spanish. So yes, I am afraid of being racially profiled by ICE. And let us be clear: ICE does not ask for proof of citizenship “on the spot.” Besides, who walks around carrying a citizenship certificate—the one most of us have framed and hanging on a living-room wall? And by the way, ICE agents are always masked!

In California, the fear is so real that some bishops have formally exempted people from attending Sunday Mass. In certain parishes, ushers stand at the church doors to warn worshippers if ICE agents are nearby.

Public reaction

Public reaction has been intense and deeply divided. Protests against ICE operations have erupted in both large and small cities. For some Americans, ICE has come to represent an enforcement regime that is harsh and morally indefensible. For others, it remains a necessary instrument of law and order.

The media has played a crucial role in shaping public awareness—showing families torn apart, children crying in courtrooms, and detainees pleading for medical care. ICE itself has struggled with transparency, often providing limited or distorted information about its operations. This lack of transparency has only fueled public mistrust.

The Catholic Church

The current situation should confront the Church with urgent moral questions, not particularly about political ideology but about human dignity, the common good and the responsibilities of society toward the stranger. The Catholic tradition begins with a clear and uncompromising claim: every human person is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). This dignity does not depend on citizenship, legal status, productivity, or social approval. It is inherent, inviolable, and precedes the authority of the state.

ICE exists to enforce immigration law, and the Church does not deny the right of nations to regulate borders or enact laws that promote order and security. “The more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin. . .” (CCC #2241)

What troubles many Catholics—and many non-Catholics—today is not simply that immigration law is enforced, but how it is enforced. Pope Francis had repeatedly warned that the separation of parents from their children, spouses from one another, inflicts deep and lasting wounds, especially on children.

Last November, Pope Leo reiterated his disapproval of Donald Trump’s immigration policies, stating that foreigners in the United States are being treated in an “extremely disrespectful way.” He said, “I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts; there’s a system of justice.”

The Pope acknowledged that “every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter. But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least – and there’s been some violence, unfortunately – I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said,” he added.

I must admit that I was deeply moved by Pope Leo’s words. I also remember, with pain, hearing some bishops, priests, and deacons urge Catholics on election day to vote for Donald Trump solely because of his opposition to abortion, while remaining silent about the suffering inflicted on immigrant families.

The most recent tragedy linked to ICE operations was the murder of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse. Video footage shows Pretti filming law enforcement agents with his phone and directing traffic. At one point, he stood between an agent and a woman who had been pushed to the ground (by an ICE agent), placing his arm around the woman.  The Trump administration defended the shooting, though several of its claims were contradicted by video evidence and witness testimony.

I would like to end this essay with a poem written by the acclaimed American poet, activist and author, Amanda Gorman, honoring Alex Pretti. Let this poem—and the life it honors—remind us of the Gospel’s call: to love the stranger, defend the defenseless and uphold the dignity of every human person.

We wake with no words,

just woe & wound.

Our own country

shooting us in the back

is not just brutality;

it’s jarring betrayal;

not enforcement,

but execution.

A message:

Love your people & you will die…

Yet our greatest threat

isn’t the outsiders among us,

but those among us

who never look within.

Fear not those without papers.

but those without conscience.

Know that to care intensively, united,

is to carry both pain-dark horror for today

& a profound, daring hope for tomorrow,

We can feel we have nothing to give,

& still belove this world waiting, trembling to change.

If we cannot find words,

may we find the will;

if we ever lose hope,

may we never lose our humanity.

The only undying thing is mercy, the courage to open ourselves like doors,

hug our neighbor,

& save one more bright, impossible life.

Blurb

Increased raids by ICE officers and surveillance have left many people afraid to go to work, attend school, or even seek medical care. Families live with the constant anxiety of ending up in detention or separation.

“I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts; there’s a system of justice” – Pope Leo XIV

I recall hearing some bishops, priests, and deacons urge Catholics on election day to vote for Donald Trump solely because of his opposition to abortion, while remaining silent about the suffering inflicted on immigrant families.