Where ICE came from, and where it needs to go

Code Switch

NPR

Society & Culture

4.6 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

In 2018, in light of some pretty aggressive rhetoric and policies being enacted by the Trump administration, many people were asking a pretty direct question: Should ICE be abolished? Seven years later, amidst arguably even harsher policies and language, many are still asking that same question. So today, on the second installment in our Code Switch History Class series, we're taking a look at where ICE came from, and talking to an expert about what a more humane immigration system might necessitate.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Just a heads up, there's some salty language in this episode, including a racial slur.
0:05.0	All right, on to the show.
0:09.6	Hey, everyone, you're listening to Code Switch from NPR.
0:13.7	I'm Bea Parker.
0:15.2	And I'm Gene Demby.
0:16.6	We are continuing our Code Switch history class series with an episode more befitting now than ever.
0:23.6	Because, Gene, in 2018, you and the team were on the feed exploring a question that a lot of people were asking at the time.
0:31.7	Should ICE be abolished?
0:34.4	I mean, people are asking that now, too.
0:36.7	So, yeah, back then, during President Trump's first administration, he enacted some very
0:41.3	aggressive policies to try to limit or discourage immigration to the United States.
0:46.7	Y'all probably remember, you know, building the wall and the Muslim ban and shithole
0:51.8	country gate.
0:52.7	And now with this deluge of attacks against Somalis and Venezuelans and Haitians.
0:58.0	Everyone on his current travel ban list.
1:00.4	Right.
1:00.9	And with the expansion of the parameters of what ICE is allowed to do, or at the very least
1:05.8	get away with, we thought it was probably worth looking back at the deep dive we took into
1:10.6	how we even ended up with ice in the first place.
1:13.7	Right. Now, throughout this episode, you'll hear Gene and Coach, which is former co-host, Shereen Marisol Maragi.
1:20.5	And again, this episode first aired in 2018. So the time references you're hearing are from back then.
1:30.4	So in February of this year, the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services, the agency that processes
	...

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