ICE and Ireland: Refugee Repression in America

By Séamus Wagner

You are on a ship. Pressed against you, flesh against flesh, are hundreds of others just like you. The Atlantic rocks the vessel side to side. Behind you, a trail of sharks follows the steady stream of corpses thrown overboard. You haven’t eaten or drank anything for days. The Captain doesn’t want to waste rations on ‘Fenians’, and so, skin clinging to your bones, you wait for your death or your destination.

You are on a plane. Handcuffs clutch your wrists, turning them red and ragged. Far below, beneath your feet, is the island of Cuba. There, the Guantanamo Bay detention centre awaits. Tales of torture, psychological and physical, fill your mind as the plane begins to land. You are the first of 30,000 others to be held here. It has a maximum capacity of 680 prisoners [1].

The tale of Irish America is a well-told one. For many Americans, Irish heritage is a source of pride. Every year, the Chicago River is dyed green, 23andMe receives countless veils of spit, and the story of ‘Rags to Riches’ is repeated ad nauseum. Yet the system that created ‘Irish Need Not Apply’ isn’t gone. Rather, it has festered and turned its attention elsewhere.

Across America, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents raid homes, churches, schools, and more to deport undocumented immigrants [2]. The newly-signed Laken Riley Act, passed with bipartisan support, allows authorities to deport undocumented persons just accused of crimes like shoplifting [3]. Yet it seems the descendants of the first to leave Éire for Ellis Island have few qualms supporting xenophobia. The Laken Riley Act’s Republican co-sponsor, Bill Cassidy, is of Irish descent, as are countless ICE or Border Patrol agents performing these raids. Irish-American voters may have even been a deciding factor in Trump’s election victory [4]. 

With nearly two centuries’ separation, the Irish diaspora has replaced a history of xenophobic persecution with a sanitised myth of assimilation. This myth is the cause of the distortion of the Ulster Plantations, settler-colonies created to subjugate and ‘civilise’ Ulster, and ‘Irish Slaves’ as a means to oppose reparations for African-Americans. It is the reason why so many Irish Americans find little issue supporting an anti-immigrant platform, which is exactly why the real history of Irish immigration needs to be recognised. First and foremost with ICE.

After 9/11, ICE was formed to “prevent terrorism” at a time when ‘terrorist’ was synonymous with Muslims and Arabs [5]. With deportation and detention as its scalpel, ICE has, since then, excised groups deemed undesirable by the US. There is a reason that, by and large, ICE targets Muslims, Latinos, Africans, and even Native Americans instead of undocumented Europeans [6]. It’s the same reason that the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) was created. The RIC was formed in 19th Century Ireland in direct response to anti-colonial resistance. Events like the Young Irelander Rebellion, Tithe War, Land War, and others threatened British rule, and, along with other means, the RIC crushed said threats through deportation [7]. Following insurrections, political agitators were arrested and, along with petty criminals and thieves, deported to penal colonies in Australia and elsewhere. Like ICE, the RIC used deportation to remove those the state deemed inferior or a threat.

The similarities go beyond ICE and the RIC, however. Just as Donald Trump called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and “aliens”, Victorian-era American politicians expressed their disgust at the “filthy strangers” and “non-aryans” coming from Ireland [8][9]. In the same way Trump brands Latinos as inherently criminal and violent, Victorian America portrayed Irish people as ethnically inferior drunks and gangsters. So great was the vitriol against Irish immigrants that the anti-immigration ‘Know Nothing Party’ was formed in the mid-1800s. One of their core claims was that a ‘Romanist’ plot to infiltrate and take over the US government existed, and the way to solve it was to remove undesirable immigrants [9]. The most notable of these Romanists were Irish immigrants, who they accused of illegal voting en masse. It’s a claim not far off from Elon Musk’s talk about “massive numbers of illegals” being brought in by Democrats to create a “one party, deep blue socialist” America [10].

This isn’t to say the Irish Americans of old did not have their fair share of xenophobia and racism. Arguably, Irish America’s role in the development of American law enforcement laid the foundation ICE was built on [11]. But, that being said, now more than ever we need to recognise the importance of solidarity between the immigrants of old and the immigrants of now. The RIC and Know Nothings didn’t go away, they became ICE and the Trump administration. They evolved along with the white supremacist system they were born out of, and Irish Americans have a duty to their ancestors to fight the same system that persecuted them. Afterall, none of us are free until all of us are free.

Sources:

[1] Borresen, J. 2025. ‘Migrant flights to Guantánamo Bay have begun. Satellite images show activity at naval base,’ USA TODAY, 5 February. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2025/02/05/guantanamo-bay-explained-migrant-detainees-us-military/78084272007/.

[2] Trump’s immigration crackdown begins first week back in office 2025.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/trump-mass-deportations-ice-raids-executive-immigration-rcna188620.

[3] Bustillo, X. 2025. ‘Trump signs first bill of his second presidency, the Laken Riley Act, into law,’ NPR, 29 January. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/29/g-s1-45275/trump-laken-riley-act.

[4] O’Dowd, E. 2024. How the Irish-American vote split and turned Republican in Philadelphia. https://www.irishtimes.com/video/world/us/2024/11/04/how-the-irish-american-vote-split-and-turned-republican-in-philadelphia/.

[5] What we do (no date). https://web.archive.org/web/20200604010102/https://www.ice.gov/overview.

[6] Elassar, A. 2025. ‘Navajo Nation leaders raise alarm over reports of Indigenous people being questioned and detained during immigration sweeps,’ CNN, 27 January. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/27/us/navajo-detained-ice-indigenous-immigration-trump/index.html.

[7] Fedorowich, K. 1996. The Problems of Disbandment: The Royal Irish Constabulary and Imperial Migration, 1919-29.

[8] Kopan, T. 2016. ‘What Donald Trump has said about Mexico and vice versa,’ CNN, 31 August. https://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/31/politics/donald-trump-mexico-statements/index.html.

[9] Trew, J.D. and Pierse, M. 2018. Rethinking the Irish diaspora, Springer eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40784-5.

[10] X.com. https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1849718117297246377.

[11] Potter, G. 1960. To the golden door; the story of the Irish in Ireland and America : Potter, George W : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (1960). https://archive.org/details/togoldendoors00pott/page/n11/mode/2up.

[12] Ignatiev, N. 1995. How the Irish Became White : Noel Ignatiev : Free download, borrow, and streaming : Internet Archive (1995). https://archive.org/details/HowTheIrishBecameWhite/page/40/mode/2up.