On Wednesday Vice President JD Vance announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would soon be conducting door-to-door operations across the country to locate and arrest undocumented immigrants.

The door-to-door enforcement strategy is already underway in Minneapolis, where up to 2,000 federal agents from ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations have been deployed.

Speaking on Fox News, Vance stated: “I think we’re going to see those numbers ramp up as we get more and more people online and working for ICE, going door to door and making sure that if you’re an illegal alien, you’ve got to get out of this country.”

The announcement came hours after an ICE agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen.

ICE has more than doubled its workforce, adding 12,000 officers and agents in less than a year—bringing total personnel from 10,000 to 22,000. 

Congress approved $170 billion for ICE and Border Patrol through 2029, with ICE’s annual budget tripling to approximately $30 billion in 2026. The funding includes $45 billion for expanding detention capacity, $29.9 billion for enforcement and deportation operations.

Former ICE officials have warned that these “wartime recruitment” tactics are dangerous. The accelerated training means new recruits are entering the field without adequate training or the time necessary to develop sound judgment.

“On the training issue, we all know, and we knew before, ICE is an agency that is satisfying a massive mandate by this White House,” assistant secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security in the Obama administration Juliette Kayyem said. “And so training to get all of those bodies into ICE, all of the right law enforcement folks into ICE, training has been reduced from about 16 weeks to about six, six and a half weeks. Yeah. And so you’re starting from a pool of people who are not getting the training, don’t have the time to have judgment, who are being launched in missions that are hard to describe with a political overlay. And that’s the generic mix that you’re getting. This specific case may be very different, but that’s what’s happening throughout the United States.”

Video footage shared on social media shows heavily armed ICE agents raiding homes without valid judicial warrants while children are present.

In a residential neighborhood of single-family homes in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, heavily armed federal agents rammed the front door of a house and pushed inside to arrest a man sought in the ongoing immigration operation. The entry came just minutes after agents pepper-sprayed protesters gathered outside, who had attempted to block or disrupt the arrest by honking car horns, banging drums, and blowing whistles.

Video captured by The Associated Press shows agents shoving back protesters as they advanced toward the home. A visibly distraught woman later emerged from the residence clutching a document agents had presented as authority for the arrest.

That document was not a warrant signed by a judge, but an administrative warrant signed by an immigration officer. Such warrants authorize agents to arrest someone in a public place but do not permit forced entry into a private residence.

If ICE comes to your home:

• Do not open the door unless agents present a valid judicial warrant signed by a judge
• Most ICE warrants are administrative and do not grant entry without permission
• Ask agents to slide the warrant under the door for review
• Clearly state you do not consent to searches or entry​

Communities across the country have organized whistles to alert neighbors when ICE is present, established rapid response hotlines, and protested outside hotels where federal agents are staying.

The killing of Good in Minneapolis, along with the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, has spurred dozens of protests in cities across the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Oakland, California.

Demonstrators have called for greater accountability and transparency from federal agencies, limits on immigration enforcement operations in local communities, and stronger protections for immigrants and asylum seekers.