Obama’s former ICE director says Trump administration performing like ‘police state’

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Former Obama ICE Director Sarah Saldaña condemned President Donald Trump’s ICE enforcement on Friday, arguing it's akin to a police state.

Amid Trump’s effort to perform his flagship marketing campaign promise of mass deportations , many commentators have talked about his predecessor, Barack Obama, who was nicknamed the "Deporter-in-chief" throughout his presidency.

Whereas some argue that Obama’s deportations confronted much less pushback from native leaders throughout a relatively extra reasonable time in American politics, one official argued that Trump’s are an outlier.

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CNN performed a clip of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem talking concerning the focused enforcement of deportation efforts focusing not solely on particular individuals, however asking for the id verification of the individuals round them as effectively, saying this has been widespread observe.

CNN host Wolf Blitzer requested Saldaña, "What do you suppose? Is that commonplace observe for ICE agents to ask somebody to show their id and to indicate citizenship papers in the event that they’re requested whether or not they’re residents?"

Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a information convention to debate ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations as a part of President Donald Trump's immigration coverage at One World Commerce Middle in New York Metropolis Jan. 8, 2026. (David 'Dee' Delgado/Reuters)

Saldaña replied, "I do know a little bit bit about this topic, and that isn't the observe. That’s not a part of the protocol. After all, as was reported a little bit earlier, the purpose of the Obama administration in apprehensions and removals was to make the neighborhood safer. So, we weren't sweeping neighborhoods and metropolitan areas as a way to attempt to discover individuals who is perhaps within the nation with out authorization.

"I all the time object to the time period ‘raids' as a result of the way in which I’m accustomed to the method — and what we required — was focused operations," she continued. "I heard the secretary there say all their operations are focused. I believe it’s fairly clear that that's merely not the case, and requiring Americans to indicate identification is a large step ahead and may convey pause to all of us."

This coverage, Saldaña mentioned, is like one thing "near a police state."

"There’s concern I've that america choice final yr, the Vasquez Perdomo case, has opened the door to this challenge of identification, all the time been required," Saldaña added.

"Law enforcement officials can ask you to show your id, however that could be very totally different from proving you’re a citizen of america, and the papers you carry usually usually are not going to replicate that. So, it's placing an onus and getting very near infringing on the civil rights of the unusual citizen."

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A federal regulation enforcement agent exterior a house throughout a raid in south Minneapolis Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures)

She went on to argue that having 1000's of brokers engaged in such sweeps is an inordinate response to the problem at hand. Because it stands, many brokers are facing crowds of agitators and are having to do crowd management whereas doing their immigration raids.

"Florida and Texas have far bigger immigrant communities than the state of Minnesota. Once more, the purpose needs to be to make sure public security, and any such menacing presence doesn't accomplish that," Saldaña argued.

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Protesters collect exterior Metropolis Corridor in Houston, Texas, Jan. 10, 2026, for an illustration in opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Reginald Mathalone/NurPhoto through Getty Pictures)