It begins with a number - and could end in a political turning point. 3,000 arrests per day. That was the order Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's powerful deputy chief of staff and mastermind of immigration policy, gave to senior ICE officials in mid-May. Anyone who doesn't comply gets fired - that was the tone. Those who arrest too few “illegal immigrants,” those ranking in the bottom 10% of the arrest statistics, face dismissal. That is what two sources present at the meeting reported. And so begins a chapter of American history that reads like a security script from authoritarian states - politically directed mass arrests, quota pressure, the repurposing of entire federal agencies - all in the name of an ideological obsession.
“Operation At Large” is the name of the nationwide raid now underway - the largest deportation program of the Trump era to date. More than 5,000 officials from all federal agencies, up to 21,000 National Guard troops are to be involved. The concept of “proportionality” seems to have been suspended just as much as the principle of prioritizing crime by severity and societal risk. The new immigration strategy targets not only offenders but explicitly persons without documentation - even for purely administrative violations. Even those who have never broken a law can be arrested - simply because their visa expired.
What sounds like a logistically complex operational plan is in reality an expression of a profound systemic overhaul. 3,000 ICE agents, including 1,800 from the Homeland Security Investigations unit (normally responsible for transnational crimes), 2,000 personnel from the FBI, DEA, and U.S. Marshals Service, 500 from CBP, plus 250 IRS agents who, according to internal plans, are to provide location data based on tax records and in some cases even carry out arrests themselves. The tax authorities as immigration police - a nightmare for any constitutional democracy.
“Immigration status is now question No. 1”
A U.S. attorney puts it bluntly: “Immigration status is now the number one question when it comes to charging decisions.” No longer: What did someone do? But rather: Is he or she deportable? Cases without an immigration component are left behind, entire investigative teams are dissolved because they no longer fit the new grid. Even potentially dangerous offenders are no longer prosecuted at the federal level - because no immigration violation can be proven. NBC News obtained an internal email in which a prosecutor's office documents exactly such a case. This is a break with the principle that the severity of the punishment should be determined by the act - not by the passport.
The FBI, once a symbol of independent investigative work, has now been degraded to an auxiliary of ICE operations. Where criminal organizations, espionage networks, or terrorist cells once took precedence, today it is all about “access numbers.” Agents report being deployed in immigration raids despite having no experience in this area. They were advised to stay out of operational procedures as much as possible - especially when it comes to entering homes. Constitutionally questionable already - politically, a dire signal.
A shadow state emerges
The Trump administration is simultaneously working on the creation of a new task force led by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. Officially, the goal is the targeted prosecution of transnational groups. But the real objective lies between the lines. The task force is to cooperate with intelligence agencies, the Pentagon, and the National Counterterrorism Center - all in the fight against “criminal aliens.” This blurs the lines between law enforcement, counterintelligence, and immigration policy once and for all. A shadow state is forming, directed from within, immune to public scrutiny.
Missing numbers - growing fear
Official figures on daily arrests are no longer published. Since May 26, observers on social media have documented around 350 arrests. But the real number is likely much higher. A climate of fear has emerged - not only among migrants but also among lawyers, educators, employers, and neighbors. Those who help risk repression. Those who stay silent drift into moral apathy. The immigrant society of the United States, once the pride of the nation, is being systematically dismantled under Trump.
Stephen Miller, the architect of this policy, makes no secret of the fact that this is about more than law and order. According to insiders, he is actively seeking new “sources” for deportations - most recently in the vicinity of 7-Eleven stores and Home Depot branches. Every everyday place can become a target. And the greater the fear, the easier it is to govern. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson puts it euphemistically: “Immigration security is national security.” That the murder rate in the U.S. had already been declining before Trump took office in 2025 is something she conveniently omits.
What is happening here is no longer just strict immigration policy - it is an ideologically driven restructuring of the rule of law. The focus on the Constitution is being replaced by a grid of loyalty, status, and ancestry. And the question of whether someone is dangerous takes a back seat to the question of whether they are even “allowed” to be here. “Making America Safe Again” has long become a code - not for safety, but for an order in which origin matters more than justice, in which the police no longer protect, but exclude.
This is not a constitutional state. This is a state of emergency with a file number.
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