Overview

• President Trump issued a Truth Social directive on July 12 empowering ICE and Border Patrol to stop vehicles and arrest anyone who throws rocks or bricks at federal agents.
• The order instructs agents to use “whatever means necessary” to apprehend assailants, marking a shift beyond ICE’s traditional immigration enforcement scope.
• The directive follows viral footage of protesters hurling projectiles at ICE vehicles during mid-July raids on California farms backed by National Guard troops.
• Legal authorities question whether empowering ICE to arrest for non-immigration offenses exceeds federal statutory limits and violates separation-of-powers principles.
• State officials and civil rights groups have filed lawsuits under the Posse Comitatus Act and decried the administration’s aggressive tactics in local communities.