Driving illegal immigrants from American territory has become Donald Trump's great crusade since his return to the White House. In order to carry out this fight, the President of the United States used ICE, the immigration police, created in 2003 by George Bush after the September 11 attacks. During Donald Trump's first term, its mission was primarily to police the United States border with Mexico, but in 2025, ICE's powers were expanded and its budget was significantly increased.
Its agents, recruited in large numbers, are now responsible for traveling throughout the country to track down, arrest and expel people in an irregular situation. A hunt for illegal immigrants that divides Americans and sows chaos in many large cities. The documentary ICE, the manhunt, directed by Julie Peyrard and Christophe Astruc, broadcast Sunday October 11 at 9:05 p.m. on France 5, attempts to understand who makes up this federal police force, analyzes its uninhibited violence and looks at the political and financial interests hidden behind its missions.
Since the federal immigration police have cracked down, nearly 400,000 migrants have been arrested. In December 2025, a major ICE offensive, called “Metro Surge”, was launched in Minneapolis and Saint-Paul (Minnesota). Some 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are fanning out across the city to make mass arrests. Quickly, demonstrations by citizens hostile to these raids flooded the streets. In January 2026, two Americans, who campaigned against the presence of ICE, were killed by federal agents. These murders set the region ablaze, shocked a large part of America and terrified the population of Minneapolis.
“She was so terrified”
“The fear is palpable,” reports Julia Baez, a resident. "We're constantly looking over our shoulder. And I say that as a white person." Shocked by the brutality of this federal police, she decides to enter into a form of resistance with some of her neighbors by coming to the aid of the people in her neighborhood targeted by ICE.
As arrests increase in the city, a mother of foreign origin contacts her and asks her to take her children to school, because she fears leaving her home. "I said to myself: 'This mother considers that her best option is to entrust her children to a stranger, she is so terrified,'" says Julia Baez, who sees as the days go by, many parents mobilize to help migrant families. “And now, we accompany more than 300 students to school every day,” she says.
These solidarity movements by Minneapolis residents are increasing, because these violent arrests are considered arbitrary and above all affect immigrants who are perfectly integrated into the community. Because, if officially the immigration police are supposed to target migrants and asylum seekers who have committed abuses, the reality on the ground is quite different. The tracking concerns nearly 70% of people awaiting regularization, who are working and who have no criminal convictions, explains the documentary.
This is the case of Ingrid Cebeda who had been living with her husband for twenty years in Minneapolis when he was arrested. “My husband left for work like every day,” she says. “It was 8 a.m. and, two blocks from here, they caught him.” This couple, perfectly integrated, was at the time awaiting regularization. Ingrid is four months pregnant with their third child when Ramon, her husband, is deported to his country of origin, Mexico.
“It’s ethnic cleansing”
Their eldest son, a young teenager, is deeply upset by the absence of his father, whom he only sees behind a phone screen. At the mention of his arrest, he burst into tears. "When I think about all this, I don't know what my future will be. What will happen if I have to leave?" he whispers. According to the documentary, more than 140,000 children have been separated from a parent since ICE began making arrests in the country. “It’s ethnic cleansing,” laments Julia Baez. “I hate this expression, it seems archaic and barbaric, but that’s it.”
If the city of Minneapolis was the scene of such a spectacular show of force by ICE, it is not a coincidence, according to Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey. “They wanted to make Minneapolis an example,” analyzes the American elected official. “It was not a question of security, nor even a question of immigration, it was a political decision.” Jacob Frey is convinced that the Trump administration wanted revenge, because this city has for decades been a strong Democratic stronghold that has always fiercely opposed Republicans.
“They think that if you have power and strength, then you are within your rights,” adds Jacob Frey. “They are wrong, because it violates the fundamental principles of our Republic, and we all have a duty to oppose it.” What the mayor does not hesitate to do by loudly contesting the presence of the federal police in his city, supported by citizen movements which work to obstruct anti-immigration operations on a daily basis. Faced with this strong opposition, the White House had to withdraw its troops from Minneapolis at the beginning of February 2026.
The documentary ICE, the manhunt, directed by Julie Peyrard and Christophe Astruc, is broadcast on October 11 at 9:05 p.m. on France 5. It is also visible on the france.tv platform.
