ICE Pledges to Stop Illegal ‘Ideas’ From Entering U.S., Deletes Post

Donald Trump’s Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has proudly announced that if it crosses the border illegally, they will stop it. This includes people, money, products, and… ideas? 

In posts published — and later deleted — on X and Instagram on Thursday, ICE declared that it would stop any “ideas” that tried to enter the U.S. “illegally.” What idea is de-facto illegal in the United States? None, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from increasingly targeting individuals for detention and removal based on their ideology and political beliefs. 

While the U.S. government is empowered to deny entry to travelers and applicants based on national security concerns and connections to criminal organizations, the Immigration Act of 1990 codified efforts to ban the denial of entry to visitors and migrants based only on political or ideological beliefs — although immigration enforcement officials still retain broad latitude to deny applicants entry into the United States. 

For weeks now, the Trump administration has been detaining and deporting green card holders for participating in pro-Palestinian protests, many of them students and teachers at prominent American universities. According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, over 300 students and academics are now targets for expulsion based on their political ideology. 

On Thursday, the Associated Press obtained a memo signed by Rubio that laid out Trump’s authority to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a legal resident and Columbia University protester who remains in ICE detention without criminal charges after the government attempted to deport him without due process. The memo did not allege any criminal conduct by Khalil. Instead, Rubio wrote that his continued presence in the United States “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest.” 

Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — which oversees ICE — announced that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin monitoring the social media of non-citizens for “antisemitic activity.” 

“USCIS will consider social media content that indicates an alien endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity as a negative factor in any USCIS discretionary analysis when adjudicating immigration benefit requests. This guidance is effective immediately,” the announcement from DHS read. 

Given the recent actions by the Trump administration, activities that evidently qualify for detention and removal include protests against human rights abuses by the Israeli military. 

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Demand Progress Education Fund Executive Director Sean Vitka said that “ideas cannot be illegal in a free society, and making threats based on them is a hallmark sign of fascism and tyranny. This is one of the clearest examples yet of Trump and his allies intentionally chilling free speech — the goal is to scare people, to push them into silence, and to undermine our Constitutional and human rights at the most fundamental levels.” 

“ICE is not and no government entity ever should be the thought police, but they want us to believe they are. At this point ICE is more dangerous to people in the United States than the ideas they are claiming to police,” Vitka added. 

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Rolling Stone. The agency did, however, delete the post.