Shots by ICE; surviving the ice - Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng writes

In recent times, the particularly aggressive antics of the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in accosting and detaining undocumented (and sometimes even the documented) migrants in the US has grabbed global headlines, with Minneapolis, Minnesota, as a melting point. In the process, two people have been shot dead, raising political tensions and flinging the Trump administration unto the ropes as public opinion tanks.

Contents

Migration, fact of life
Adverse public sentiment
Immigration realities

Beyond the bluster, high drama and even the tragedies that seem to be defining ICE and by extension the USA, the fundamental, wider issues of immigration control is a common denominator among many western nations.

In particular, I have been reminded of my time in the UK many years ago when I worked in the immigration sector, visiting immigration detainees and supporting others to either remain in the UK or have their family members join them there from abroad.

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Migration, fact of life

Given their generally more advanced economies and social freedoms, western countries are far more likely to attract immigrants seeking to improve their lives, whether they are fleeing wars, droughts, all manner of persecution (political, religious or social) or they are simply seeking to make better lives for themselves, quite understandably.

All over the world, migration is a fact of life and has been with us from ancient times.

Many ethnic groups in Ghana arrived here centuries ago from elsewhere.

Ironically, the history of the United States is anchored in the wave after wave of immigrants fleeing from Europe in particular as far back as the 17th Century in search of a better life and to escape persecution.

American cities such as New York, Cambridge and Plymouth were named after English cities whose natives had founded them.

Between 1892 and 1954, at Ellis Island, in New York harbour, 12 million 3rd class and steerage passengers were processed and admitted into the country.

Nearby, the Statue of Liberty, towering into the skies, symbolised the breath of freedom that these migrants were expected to enjoy in what eventually became known as ‘the land of the brave and the free.’

Perhaps with the notable exception of black slaves who were dragged away from their liberty in Africa and into a life of misery as chattel in the USA, every other race that made their way into the US did so in pursuit of liberty and opportunity.

Adverse public sentiment

No country can and should be reasonably be expected to throw open its borders and fold its arms.

That would be suicidal and no state does that. What most sensible governments do is to provide fair but rigorous legal pathways for people who seek to travel for visits, studies, work, or join their families in the host nation, balancing the reality of immigration with regulation.

To that extent, it is appropriate that overstayers and illegal entrants are removed from these host countries, otherwise it undermines the very system of rules and regulations for migration.

When that happens, it gives easy fodder for local sentiment to rise against migrants as a whole, which leads to blaming and scape-goating for all social ills and economic challenges.

In the USA, one of the things that endeared the then candidate Trump to many was his hard line rhetoric on immigration when he sought office, so to that extent his crackdown is perhaps not surprising per se. His government is simply delivering on its promise, including visa bans on certain nationals.

What jars in the ICE situation and attracts the headlines is the unacceptable brutality, intimidation and quasi-Gestapo tactics, with legal migrants and even US citizens of foreign extraction sometimes caught in the fray.

In Europe, public backlash on immigration has seen the rise of far-right governments that play on those strings, with nine EU countries demanding tougher restrictions on migration in the union.

Germany increased deportations by 20 per cent in 2025 compared to 2024. In the UK, immigration raids on businesses in the hunt for illegal workers rose by 77 per cent between July 2024 and December 2025, leading to 12,300 arrests. Almost every year, the UK introduces new measures to tighten aspects of its immigration rules.

Immigration realities

Of course, every country has a right to protect its borders and ensure compliance with its laws, including its immigration regulations, to the extent that it is done humanely and in accordance with due process as established by law.

This does not in any way diminish the several harsh realities in this whole enterprise, particularly from the migrant perspective.

For starters, there are many undocumented Ghanaian and African migrants in the US and Europe who sustain whole families back home through illegal work, which no doubt forms part of the countries’ foreign exchange earnings through remittances.

Their deportation would have severe repercussions for those families.

For those who have young children in the host countries, deportation would mean separation from these children, with its own emotional baggage.

Interestingly, many migrants now in possession of western passports have a history of long spells of undocumented status, during which period they had to navigate around the system below the radar.

It is an exhausting and draining experience, from what I have witnessed in my work in the UK.

Perhaps the most obvious question posed by those who have no intention to migrate is two-fold; why bother to risk this indignity?

Why not stay home, or return home and help build your country?

However well-intended, these questions fail to take into account two realities.

The first, which has already been emphasised, is that migration is almost natural in pursuit of the proverbial milk and honey, since the world is an unequal place.

It even has divine authority, I dare say, taking into account the Lord’s command to Abraham to depart Ur for Canaan, and the subsequent migration by the Israelites.

But perhaps more fundamentally, economic migration is a direct consequence of a grossly unequal global economic order and political instability largely driven by the west.

It is therefore ironic when they seek to pull the drawbridge following the inevitable consequences of their actions.

But it is also a consequence of poor leadership, corruption and mismanagement in many of these countries of origin.

It is therefore difficult to blame the migrant for seeking a better life elsewhere – sometimes through perilous, desperate means such as stowing away on ships or braving the deadly Sahara Desert.

In a fairer world and with better governance, a hearty bowl of fufu and groundnut soup on a hot Sunday afternoon or a casual cold beer at a roadside pub in the evening would definitely be much more preferable to trudging through the snow at dawn to get to work in someone else’s country, or living in morbid fear of immigration agents breaking your door down and carting you off to a detention centre for onward transportation to the bright lights of Kotoka International Airport, Accra

We can definitely do better.

Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng (rodboat@yahoo.com)