The brutal rollout of Trump's police state.

An army of masked ICE agents snatching people when they show up to work, to church, to their child’s day care, to immigration court. A return of family separations. That deportation flight ASMR video the White House posted on X. Kristi Noem posing in front of ­tattooed detainees at El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison.

When it comes to President Donald Trump’s immigration policy, cruelty has always been the point, but anti-immigrant animus is now being paired with unprecedented funding, manpower, and technology. The GOP-controlled Congress poured tens of billions of dollars into ICE’s coffers and set off a feeding frenzy: States are lining up behind Florida to run their own detention centers, while administration-friendly contractors are busily pitching iris-scanning apps, logistics expertise, fleets of deportation-ready aircraft—sometimes without competing bids.

The new immigration dragnet is everywhere, rife with conflicts, and it’s only just begun.

Illustration of a uniformed officer walking between two rows of people lying face down with their hands restrained behind their backs.### The Vast, Terrifying Scale of Trump’s Detention State

With $75 billion and thousands of masked agents, ICE is just getting started.

Illustration of a woman holding a child’s hand while walking past police vehicles, with officers watching from a car and a van.### Minority Report

Ballard Partners is helping companies cash in on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Illustration of detainees in green uniforms inside a crowded cell with bunk beds and chain-link walls, many holding or hanging their heads in distress.### Inside the Hell of Alligator Alcatraz

Despite shocking conditions and rampant “psychological warfare,” copycats are popping up around the country.

Illustration of a hand gripping a locked chain-link fence with a padlock shaped like a dollar sign.### How a Tiny, Inexperienced Firm Landed a $1.3 Billion Detention Deal

To hold 5,000 human beings.

Dee Maes-Sandoval, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, stands in front of a painted mural. The mural depicts a woman in a white shawl holding a red rose, a man wearing a beige cowboy hat, and a house where a man hands a baby to a woman standing in the doorway.### A Town Divided by ICE

Trump has unleashed a gold rush among immigrant-detaining private prison companies. In cash-strapped cities, residents aren’t sure the money is worth it.

Group of masked ICE agents standing in hallway.### A Photographer’s View of the Relentless Courthouse Arrests

The shattering of faith in America’s goodness is the hardest part to watch.

A woman and a girl with frightened expressions face masked agents.### Taken by ICE

“Being forced apart like this is tearing through the heart of our home and community.”

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